Iconic Army & Navy Department Store to Close Permanently After 101 Years

[samurai]

11 hours ago, thedestroyerofworlds said:

In PG we recently saw a long-time retailer close (Northern Hardware).  Those of us that prefer to shop in person are seeing more and more shops closing due to the change to online shopping and big box conglomerates gobbling up market share such that stores like this end up going the way of the dodo.   Sad.

 

https://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/news/local-news/after-100-years-northern-hardware-to-close-its-doors-1.24014198

Used to go there as a kid with my Dad. Was always busy. Had everything.  And the service was old school helpful/friendly. 

[Violator]

11 hours ago, DADDYROCK said:

It is getting harder to contend with huge corporate places like Walmart,OR Amazon great prices and treat their workers like slaves,(THIS IS HOW THEIR PRICES ARE SO LOW)

This is the new normal, but after 101 years it's a real shame.

Amazon is a great way to get your products into the public eye.

 

Problem with army and navy it became like every other place that turned it self into a walmart.

 

All the bigger stores that used to be good at one thing are closed and the places that are good at everything are terrible places to shop now.Its all cheap crap thats available on Amazon.

 

If you have any kind of money right know you can make alot of money.

Edited May 10, 2020 by Violator

[NewbieCanuckFan]

7 hours ago, DonLever said:

As for Chinatown, it was much more vibrant in the 1960's to the 1980's.    There were no boarded up stores like now.  There much variety in stores back then with many fruit and meat shops.   And lot of restaurants - there must be more than a dozen back then.  Well known ones like BC Royale and Hong Kong Café ( was in business from the 1930's to around 1980).  No only that but Chinatown was an entertainment district with night clubs like the Marco Polo,  Mings, and WK Gardens.   The Marco Polo had dancing and feature acts like the Smother Brothers who became big later on.

https://www.vancourier.com/community/vancouver-special/chinatown/chinatown-topless-joint-sparked-stoner-comedy-genre-1.808347

 

[DonLever]

https://www.vancourier.com/entertainment/this-legendary-chinatown-hotspot-once-hosted-richard-pryor-nina-simone-1.24008318

 

Among all the clubs that have existed in Chinatown over the years — including its many nameless illegal gambling and opium dens from the very early days — the Marco Polo is perhaps the most legendary nightspot in the neighbourhood’s history. The club became one of the city’s significant live entertainment venues of the 1960s and ’70s. Although local popular opinion might deem the Cave, the Palomar and Isy’s to be the city’s pre-eminent supper clubs, the Marco Polo, a late arrival on the scene, quickly acquired an audience and atmosphere all its own.

 

“You could usually rely on Chinatown being a good option for restaurants,” recalls legendary local radio DJ Red Robinson, who had ample opportunity to sample restaurants while broadcasting from practically everywhere across the Lower Mainland over the years. Back then, Robinson recalls, “there was nothing. The White Lunch? It was just diner food! Just boiled stuff, and maybe some tapioca pudding to finish, with the little eyes staring back at you! Trader Vic’s was a big deal when it opened, because before that, the benchmark places in Vancouver were the Devonshire Hotel restaurant or the Georgia. So Chinatown was always an option and welcome relief, with places like the Mandarin Gardens, the Ho Ho, and the On On. What was different was the Marco Polo was a cross between those places with Chinese food, but it also had the shows.”

 

The Cave and Isy’s featured more of the A-list performers in town, but the Marco Polo hosted many varied and notable acts. Hip American comedians Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx performed at the Marco Polo, as did musical comedy nightclub mainstays like Pete Barbutti. The club also hosted groups such as the 5th Dimension and Sly and the Family Stone, as well as retro acts like the Platters and Bill Haley & His Comets.

 

By the mid-1970s, the Marco Polo greatly reduced the number of shows they offered. As the Cave also experienced around that time, the era of the supper club acts was coming to an end, and with it, so did the clubs themselves.

 

The Marco Polo continued to function as a popular restaurant for a few more years but moved to North Vancouver in spring 1982. When the Marco Polo closed in Chinatown, it seemed to mark the end of a unique time in the history of Vancouver’s nightlife, especially for those who had been moved by the performances they’d seen in the club — people like Denny Boyd, who would never forgot that Nina Simone show, and believed that the Marco Polo closing, after the closure of the Cave a year before, marked the end of an era.

[NewbieCanuckFan]

Though one should note that the destruction of old neighborhoods happened WAY back in "those days" as well.  For example:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogan's_Alley,_Vancouver

 

(heck, I didn't even know this area had ever existed since it was gone before I was born/lived around there)....

 

Still, I'm not a big fan of the changes around Chinatown (even though it's 'cleaning up' alot of areas that need 'cleaning up').  Seems a little to sterile/yuppy for my tastes.  I prefer the old feel of 70s Chinatown.

Edited May 10, 2020 by NewbieCanuckFan

[Crabcakes]

5 hours ago, DADDYROCK said:

It is getting harder to contend with huge corporate places like Walmart,OR Amazon great prices and treat their workers like slaves,(THIS IS HOW THEIR PRICES ARE SO LOW)

This is the new normal, but after 101 years it's a real shame.

Walmart's business plan is revolutionary.  Some call it diabolical.  They don't actually own a lot of their stock.  The suppliers rent space in the store and are responsible to keep their shelves stocked.  If they let their shelves go empty, they are fined.  Their investment in inventory is low which is how they keep their prices so low

[thedestroyerofworlds]

1 hour ago, Crabcakes said:

Walmart's business plan is revolutionary.  Some call it diabolical.  They don't actually own a lot of their stock.  The suppliers rent space in the store and are responsible to keep their shelves stocked.  If they let their shelves go empty, they are fined.  Their investment in inventory is low which is how they keep their prices so low

That,  and they have a powerful computer system that tracks sales and inventory.   It allows them to move stock to where it's needed,  as well as anticipate when seasonal stock will be needed, and for how long. It allows them to maximize their space for stock that is likely to sell and not sit on the shelves. 

[Mainly Mattias]

Oh Army & Navy.