Let’s Pour One Out for Discount Department Stores

Why we should mourn the passing of this once ubiquitous retail category.

A picture of the Ames store in Lowville, NY. Public domain.

There’s a picture of my Dad from the mid-1970s where he is standing at the counter of a store. I don’t know who took it, but since it was a Polaroid and those were the going camera at the time, my guess it was a store clerk. The picture is significant not just…