11 WA Retail Chain Stores We Miss Badly and Wish Were Still Here

The reason I believe we miss certain retail chain stores so much is because of the nostalgic memories we have attached to them. Most of these stores were not only a big part of our Washington state lives, they were nationwide. Our generations collectively share happy memories of shopping there for the holidays, regular days, and sometimes, for special events.

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These formerly beloved retail chains offered us great sales (and layaways). Hopefully, you didn’t get trampled trying to take advantage of any Black Friday sales at them, but if you did, oh the crazy memories you must have!

Quite a few of these stores were etched into our childhoods and early adulthood lives. We shopped there with our parents and later, with some of our schoolmates on the weekends.

Who doesn’t have great memories of visiting the record store and hearing new music on (broken) headphones before you bought the CD or cassette tape?

How about those great Friday nights spent in the video store looking over hundreds of movies, only to pick one you wanted to see and find out it was out of stock?

Good times, good times!

I have so many fond memories of retail stores we all grew up with that are in that big Retail Chain Marketplace in the sky.

RIP.

The stores I’ve included in this list have all impacted our lives in meaningful ways over the decades.

Remember that bookstore that was there for you on those lonely nights, first dates, and self-help book runs?

What about that department store that had “Blue Light Specials” and watered-down “Muzac” hits as you shopped down the aisles?

Raise your hand if you loved running through that certain toy store “where a kid could be a kid” no matter what age you really were!

Let’s take a stroll down Memory Lane and reminisce over the beloved stores we miss and in most cases, we wish were still around.

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