A Surviving Ben Franklin

 

    For the most part, Ben Franklin variety stores have vanished for the public scene. Walmart and Micheals both have history by their founders being involved with the chain before they would go on and start their own. Yet, there are some locations that continue to hang on for whatever reason. Some have adapted to become tourist traps (looking at you Nags Head, NC) while others continue with the traditional general merchandise. Today's post takes you on a tour of the Ben Franklin store in Clarkstown, PA- which is near Muncy. 

Although known for being a variety store, Ben Franklin pushed to be more stationery, craft and decor focused in more recent decades. From my observations, I'd say about 1/2 of the store is just those categories. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have helped a lot for the chain as a whole.

    Interestingly, this particular location had a pharmacy operate within it until recently. I have a suspicion that this was ran by an outside company as I'm not aware of other instances of this occurring.

Former Kmart #9542

NOTE: This post comes from outside the blog's coverage area.

    Moving westward to tour our next Kmart, we come to Herkimer, NY. At the time of my visit, this location was defintely seeing signs of neglect such as a leaking roof. At one time, this location had a cafe and pharmacy. The cafe had actually been walled off, implying it had been closed for a while. But in a weird twist, it was actually being removed. A notable difference from most other stores is the garden center jutting out into the parking lot. To my knowledge, this location is now vacant.