Caldor "Price Break!" Ad for Atari & ColecoVision - Friday, March 11, 1983

[The Professor]

Here is a vintage Caldor newspaper ad for Atari and ColecoVision games. This ran in the Poughkeepsie Journal on Friday, March 11, 1983. I think it's interesting that they're advertising Donkey Kong for Atari 2600 in the ColecoVision section. It was a Coleco product, but better suited in the Atari section, not mixed in with ColecoVision games. That seems like it would be confusing to some. My first thought was "Why would they be advertising Donkey Kong on its own if it came with every ColecoVision sold?" Then I saw it was for the 2600. Also notice that by March, 1983 E.T. was already marked down to $14.76. E.T. had retailed for around $40 during the 1982 Christmas shopping season only a few months earlier. That's quite a price drop!

 

 

Caldor was a discount retailer that was popular in the North East during the 1970s and 1980s. Caldor could best be explained as K-Mart dressed up to look like JCPenny. The interior of each Caldor store was designed to look more like a department store than a discounter, and many were even designed by the same firms used by more up-scale retail environments. They featured wide aisles, bright lighting, and large, colorful display treatment, and were typically remodeled every 6 years. They were best recognized for "The Caldor Rainbow" with a mix of brown, yellow, and orange. Caldor struggled to compete against Wal-Mart and filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection in 1999. Here are some vintage pictures of Caldor:

 

 

[TrekMD]

That is cool.  I had never heard of this store chain. 

[StormSurge]

Caldor was my go-to store here in CT for all things Atari & Star Wars. Lots & lots of memories shopping there.

[fergojisan]

Got both of my NES Zelda games and the Nelsonic watch at Caldor. We didn't have one in the Atari days.

Edited June 21, 2017 by fergojisan

[Mcorleonep]

That would have been the equivalent of Zayre (or Woolco) where I grew up in the Chicago area.  I miss those old stores....

[Atari Creep]

I miss Caldor. Though, I went to Sears for all my Atari needs but mom dragged us to Caldor ALL the time for a great many other things!!!

[The Professor]

That would have been the equivalent of Zayre (or Woolco) where I grew up in the Chicago area.  I miss those old stores....

We had Zayre which I think became Ames around 1990. They had "departments" and a nice area for video games, it was mostly NES at the time. It was a square glass jewelry counter with a sales clerk behind it, and TVs up in the center behind the clerk. That's where I bought Excitebike.

[StormSurge]

Most of our Caldors become Ames.

[Arenafoot]

That is cool.  I had never heard of this store chain. 

Me neither.

[Arenafoot]

We had Zayre which I think became Ames around 1990. They had "departments" and a nice area for video games, it was mostly NES at the time. It was a square glass jewelry counter with a sales clerk behind it, and TVs up in the center behind the clerk. That's where I bought Excitebike.

We did too! Bought alot of my Atari games brand new around 1986-1989 for $4.99 each from there!