Who Remembers These Defunct Kentucky Mall Anchor Stores?

A friend of mine who doesn't live in Owensboro recently asked me if the mega-church on New Hartford Road used to be a mall. The church in question is Owensboro Christian Church and the answer was "yes." It was Lincoln Mall, Owensboro's first.

Woolco

I explained that, in hindsight, its anchor store, Woolco, would be considered a bit unusual by today's standards. Part of the Woolworth empire, Woolco was along the lines of today's big box stores like Walmart and Target, only smaller.

With traditional malls going by the wayside more and more these days, traditional ANCHOR stores have gone with them. Take, for example,...

Bacon's

Bacon's Department Store was an enormous hit in Owensboro's Towne Square Mall and was the west side anchor of that mall for many years before it yielded to yet another store we'll get to on this list. I particularly liked Bacon's because they had a big & tall men's department, and it was a good one. And it was reasonable.

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Lazarus

This is the chain that supplanted Bacon's in Towne Square Mall. It occupied that space for many years before moving to Wesleyan Park Plaza. I never was much of a Lazarus shopper, so I don't know how I ended up with a Lazarus credit card, but I did. And it saved my butt one Christmas a long while back. I'd been in a car accident--my second one inside of a month--and it was my fault--also for the second time inside of a month. I paid for the second one out of pocket so my insurance company wouldn't drop me. That led to having no money at Christmas. So I bought everyone's gifts with the card.

Sears

While proximity, comfortable clothing, and a life-saving credit card were the respective personal highlights of the aforementioned department stores, this one was all about the TOYS. Yes, the iconic retailer led the league in appliances, but my favorite memories are the annual Christmas catalogues (Wish Books) and the accompanying toy department that would materialize at the end of the year. Sears never kept a toy department outside of the holiday season. While they carried all the top brands, Sears manufactured its OWN toys, and I loved them. When I pass the Wax Works building downtown--the former Sears location before it moved to Towne Square Mall--I still get a little tinge of nostalgia.

I hope you've enjoyed this trip down memory lane as much as I have.