In my hometown, Monroe, Louisiana, there was once a Service Merchandise, long gone.
Our twin city, West Monroe, had a K-Mart... No more.
Our first of two malls, the long defunct Twin City Mall, had a Montgomery Wards.
And way back in the '50s, '60s, and '70s, we had a Woolworth's downtown, along with a great multi-story department store called The Palace Department Store. It went belly up in the '80s, before my time.
Also downtown, about a half mile away, was a local store called Howard Griffin's, which every Christmas devoted an entire showroom to the "Howard Griffin Land of Toys."
They aired commercials on tv, with the jingle, "Howard Griffin Land of Toys! Loads of fun for girls and boys! Land of Toys is the place to buy, toy trains, airplanes, dolls that cry! Bring the kids and look around, The Greatest Toy Deal in the town!"
Sadly, Howard Griffin went under in the late '80s, and then, the final indignity, the long shuttered store was accidentally burned down by a homeless person in 2011. Here is a vid of the fire: https://youtu.be/b3wMQGGjsBQ .
Our other mall, the still open Pecanland Mall, likewise once had a Kay Bee Toys, but it closed several years ago after the entire Kay Bee company sadly went bankrupt.
