I discovered through Remembering Retail a site called notfoolinganybody.com, which bills itself as “a chronicle of bad conversions and storefronts past.”Liz Clayton’s site, which made its debut nearly two years ago, features over 100 businesses, many of them restaurants, who have undergone bizarre or just plain lame conversions from one business to another.
Also included is a field guide so that you can discover bad conversions and old storefronts in your neck of the woods.
I was quoted in the Tube City Almanac for mocking the neighborhood's disingenuously morose response to the neighborhood True Value's merciful euthanization, er closing, a few years back. That particular block-long strip from my childhood, once a True Value, an Associated Grocers market, a pharmacy and dry cleaners (did I get that right?) has undergone some interesting iterations, the latest being a pretty successful hipster strip mall (The coffee shop is the magnet).
ReplyDeleteBut that's just the grocery and dry cleaner half. The Hardware store has undergone the most bizarre set of transformations as: a 'Korean-guy-always-there beer, cigarette and crack pipe (plus myriad kitchy mercantile knock-offs from the orient) convenience store,' owned by a dude whose BC plates and weekend visitations by wife and daughters indicate he is a Canadian citizen; and the bizarre revolving door of Vietnamese and/or Sushi walk-ins next door. No customers in evidence at these, but that live eely thing in the aquarium is quite the draw for my 'shall we go to the gummi worm store?' nephew during his infrequent visits. The eel or the gummi's? And who owns these places? The buildings are all connected..........
.....yet another self-serving irrelevant post from your friendly neighborhood cyber-stalker...
It's a good post though, and you're the best stalker I've ever had ;-)
ReplyDeleteThe evolution of commercial structures is endlessly facinating to me. I bought this book a few years ago calle "Main Street to Miracle Mile" that showed the progression of businesses as buldings aged on several pages. It's amazing how a building can remain a semblence of itself, but yet be radically different as time progresses.
Your local building sounds par for the course, and you painted a good visaul for my imagination. Thanks for sharing
I've got a Ground Round turned into a Hibachi down the street I'll have to snap for that site. It's simply awful...last time I checked you could still see the faded paint area where the "Ground Round" sign used to be.
ReplyDeleteNow that Ground Round went under, I'm sure there will be a whole new genre of bad conversions with green and white striped roofs!
~Carrie =)
Before I saw that site, I never thought about photographing second and third-generation chain store disasters, but now I could potentially have a new hobby :-)
ReplyDeleteOur local Ground Round (originally a spinoff from the Howard Johnson's chain, believe it or not) went under about ten years ago and had one of the worst conversions ever: it turned into a casual dining place called Hurricane Hattie's with a "hurricane ravaged shack" theme. It died quickly, and no wonder why. It looked like it should have been condemned!
Hardee's and Howard Johnson's conversions are the worst. I've never seen one yet that was done well. They always look ghetto.
This could be the start of a fun new hobby! You just reminded me of a terrible Hardee's conversion in my old city of Cuyahoga Falls...in fact, the conversion was so horrific, that it appears to still be a Hardee's less the signage. Thus, the customer is thoroughly confused and doesn't really know what exactly is being sold there.
ReplyDeleteWorst conversion ever (in my opinion of course): A funeral home in Kent, OH is now a college book store...can you smell the formaldehyde?
~Carrie =)
Funeral home to bookstore? At least the employees didn't have to change. LOL
ReplyDeleteYou gotta keep me abreast of the bad coversions you find :-) I love stuff like that!
I linked to the site from Remembering Retail and enjoyed it as well. You should definitely keep an eye out for these conversions and document them.
ReplyDeleteFor my part, I offer this Taco Bell on Hollywood Boulevard that was converted into a Thai BBQ almost 2 years ago: Photo. While I think the outdoor seating is a nice addition, I miss running over there for some late-night grubbin'.
That's actually a pretty nice conversion. If you know the Bell, you can pick up it once was a taco stand, but it looks pretty good.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a huge Taco Bell fan, but something about the place seems right when you're hungry late at night. IHOP, Waffle House and Denny's are like that for me too. It always seems to taste better at 3 AM after a night out! :-)