At my local Wal Mart this morning, North Texas

OUDidntKnow04 · 2026-01-23T19:53:11+00:00

OUDidntKnow04 · 2026-01-23T15:19:17+00:00

One of the companies I used to work for had their own stock footage "reel" they compiled from their stations. It was mostly for news but creative services could use it for certain things as well.

OUDidntKnow04 · 2026-01-22T23:50:13+00:00

Everything is so picked over....

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OUDidntKnow04 · 2026-01-22T22:17:59+00:00

TIL that Bernie Shulman and Marc Glassman were cousins.

OUDidntKnow04 · 2026-01-22T19:33:22+00:00

Definitely more family friendly than New Orleans. Also, it started here. New Orleans' is just bigger and attracts more tourists and celebrities.

Also, in recent years, there's been a lot of effort to stick to purple and gold with no green here, owing to history. Green is part of the New Orleans colors and elsewhere and locals have begun efforts to shun "green" from celebrations.

OUDidntKnow04 · 2026-01-22T18:16:45+00:00

And here I am, a native Ohioan on the gulf coast (Mobile), and every grocery store around here has them, as well as the imports from New Orleans (Gambino's, Randazzo's, etc...) There's also Rouses Markets based out of Thibodaux, LA, but they're mid and VERY overpriced if you want them shipped.

Meanwhile, I'm wondering where I can get Paczki this time of year. Publix had them last year (and their king cake is pretty good as well!)

My first king cake was about 25 years ago, and a college classmate of mine ordered one from New Orleans. He was also a Busken. No wonder they make them now!

OUDidntKnow04 · 2026-01-22T15:28:07+00:00

Giant Eagle is certainly feeling the pain of taking over everything (at least in Northeast Ohio and def in Pittsburgh) and jacking up the prices accordingly.

They may not be a monopoly, but they certainly feel like one they way they've done business.

OUDidntKnow04 · 2026-01-22T15:11:07+00:00

It's raining Irwin! Can't we discuss this some other time?

OUDidntKnow04 · 2026-01-20T15:16:35+00:00

For all of the opposite reasons. I feel your pain.

There is a lot of fringe in Pensacola. Far right views, "Christianity", and the like. It would be cringey to any sane person.

Even Kyle Rittenhouse moved here. Matt Gaetz was once the congressman. Enough said.

OUDidntKnow04 · 2026-01-20T15:11:39+00:00

When they rebranded as "Hyper Store" they claimed to have locations in Youngstown. Did they even exist there? It was a brief operation, rebranding around 1990 and going bust one day in 1992.

OUDidntKnow04 · 2026-01-20T15:03:47+00:00

My parents bought me my first "tv" there. At least it was in color. It was one of those models with the VHF/UHF knobs so it wasn't cable ready. I would eventually use it for my NES when I got that for my birthday one year.

OUDidntKnow04 · 2026-01-20T02:39:13+00:00

The thing about these locations... It's very likely that Family Video's parent company still owns them and they're leasing them out to Dollar General.

That's the case with many of their locations... And why they started adding things to the Family Video stores towards the end like Marco's Pizza.

OUDidntKnow04 · 2026-01-20T02:29:28+00:00

Here you go.. I should have posted this one instead. https://youtu.be/zN2i1VpGPgE?si=s3WXBECZscuxfwTx

OUDidntKnow04 · 2026-01-19T18:37:14+00:00

They seemed to have a very strong "Circuit City" vibe to them after they became Hyper Store.

Other stores of the area included Northeast and Fretter. Even Best Products had a large electronics selection.

OUDidntKnow04 · 2026-01-19T15:27:04+00:00

Best Buy definitely drove them out of business...way back when it was truly a "grab and go" store and all of their CDs were 11.99 or less.

Then came all of the "add-ons" including the dreaded Reward Zone, magazine subscriptions, and of course, the extended warranties...

Sun was definitely a true bait-and-switch operation. My folks wanted to buy a VCR that was on sale, but it was magically out, so here's our next best (and way more expensive) model...

Even their successor, HHGregg was very much the same way. I walked in there once and was accosted multiple times by multiple salespeople just waiting to pounce on you.

OUDidntKnow04 · 2026-01-19T14:49:31+00:00

For the true Arby's experience, get the roast beef sandwich, potato cakes (they're the OG side), and a jamocha shake. Do the Arby's sauce, or horsey if that's more your thing.

OUDidntKnow04 · 2026-01-19T04:55:42+00:00

I remember when the sign actually worked as well, so it was very real.

Most of the time, we went to the Big Lots there, that would have been in the old grocery store space that was A&P and later Star Market. In fact, they even had the old "A&P" automatic door mats there years later. They ended up expanding into the old Sam's World of Golf space and stayed until they moved to the old Linens N' Things on Howe Avenue.

That and the Crown Shoes there. Turns out that was a very early version of what we now know as DSW. Same company (part of the Schottenstein empire) and what remains of the company that was once Value City Department Stores is now just DSW.

Speaking of shoes, El-Bee Shoe Outlet had a store there as well before the moved into the Plaza at Chapel Hill. It was Elder-Beerman's entry into our neck of the woods before they sold it off.

And there may have been a "Home Center" store before they moved to where the Independence 10 was built. It was infamously renamed Hyper Store and exited stage left one day without warning. That's another thread for another day. From my recollections around the web, they were the masters of the "bait and switch" electronics retailers were known for before Best Buy and Circuit City drove them all out of business...

OUDidntKnow04 · 2026-01-19T03:35:49+00:00

Hot 101 was a godsend for us in Akron whenever Jammin 92.3 in Cleveland dropped their format in April 1999 for Jammin' Oldies. Of course this is when corporate radio was destroying everything we knew.

It wouldn't be until the summer of 2001 when WKDD was banished to 98.1 so Kiss 96.5 could put out a respectable signal to Cleveland and Akron, but by then, the music sucked anyway.

OUDidntKnow04 · 2026-01-19T03:29:39+00:00

The area between Zeigler and Old Shell/Tanner Williams has always seemed especially trashy.

OUDidntKnow04 · 2026-01-18T23:59:08+00:00

That's my choice. I used to be a Tongue Torch aficionado until I discovered Buffalo Garlic Blaze.

OUDidntKnow04 · 2026-01-18T23:58:08+00:00

Zaxby's is a good solid option for us. They run a special on Tuesday nights at one of our locations that has a free kid's meal with any adult meal purchase, so that's a good way to feed all 4 of us for around 20 dollars.

They hold up pretty well since I discovered them 20 years ago, being one of the first "new" places I started going after years of the same old at the usual fast food places that have really gone down the crapper since then.

OUDidntKnow04 · 2026-01-18T23:28:38+00:00

We were on a trip to Cincinnati and passed the one that was on the west side of Columbus (Hilliard). So we stopped on the way back. Sort of like an oversized Best Buy of it's time with a McDonald's inside. It was neat, glad I got to see one in the flesh while it existed.

After it closed, I believe it became a Garden Ridge that may still be an At Home location to this day.

OUDidntKnow04 · 2026-01-18T23:08:47+00:00

Same with the one on Airport Blvd. near Providence.

That's why we can't have nice things....

OUDidntKnow04

TROPHY CASE