In no particular order…

County Seat: This store was was a ’90s staple. The ’90s style was all about “casual fashions” and County Seat took full advantage of it. It was FLANNEL FLANNEL, EVERYWHERE. The “nicer” clothing was located at the front of the store – the itchy sweaters, wrap-around skirts, denim shirts, khakis, and long, shapeless button-down floral “Elaine from Seinfeld”-style dresses.

A typical sweater found in a County Seat store. Your typical '90s girl would pair it with a white turtleneck underneath and a velvet choker.

The denim was located in the back of the store. Most of the denim was displayed in cubby holes on the walls, arranged by size and color (yeah County Seat sold colored denim…remember, this WAS the ’90s. I had a pair of purple jeans…yeah! That’s right! Color me BADD!). The sale merchandise was displayed on the racks.

If you were looking for ANYTHING denim, County Seat had it. Denim button-down shirts, “jorts” (jean shorts, for those of you not in the know), lots of high waist, tapered leg jeans…which looked fab when paired with my tucked-in “Figure Skating is Life. The Rest is Just Details” t-shirt.

And you can’t forget denim overalls! County Seat had those, too.  You didn’t DARE wear them with both straps up. Oh no. You wore them with ONE strap up and a flannel shirt tied around your waist. Popularized by ’90s rap music, this fad took over my junior high and resulted in scrawny white kids from a Minnesota suburb thinking they were from the Wu Tang Clan.

The County Seat store where I shopped (the Crystal location), closed in 1997. I think most County Seat stores closed around that time.

Ben Franklin: I think Ben Franklin is still around in some small towns, but it does not have a presence in the Twin Cities, so on the list it goes. My mom used to take me to the Ben Franklin in the Village North Shopping Center. I loved this place. Ben Franklin was every do-it-yourself hobbyist’s DREAM. Latch hook kits, silk flowers, matchbox cars, wall-to-wall fabric, and my favorites – EMBROIDERY THREAD and BEADS.

I was a very creative, enterprising child, and made friendship bracelets, beaded necklaces, and fabric headbands – NOT for my BFFs, but FOR FUCKING PROFIT. As a damn 11-year old! So Ben Franklin was an important part in my business plan.

I’d safety-pin some embroidery thread to my pants (yeah, these days I would’ve had OSHA on my ass for a safety violation) and start braiding away, friendship-style, creating my “inventory” while watching Picket Fences and eating Giggles cookies (bought with my petty cash, of course). My handmade accessories were sold at neighborhood garage sales, to my BFFs (they’re not getting that shit for free!), door-to-door in the neighborhood, and even at craft shows (yes, I had my mom rent out a booth at a CRAFT SHOW for me to sell my wares!). A lot of the times, I’d end up keeping the handmade accessories for myself because they WERE JUST SOOOO CUTE OMG. (apparently, I hadn’t heard of the phrase “never get high on your own supply” yet. Live ‘n learn, right?).

St. Paul Book & Stationary: There was a location in Brooklyn Center, near Brookdale, but I’m sure there were more.  I’m guessing this place went out of business sometime in the early ’90s. It sold mostly art and office supplies. I was a crafty kid so any artsy store was right up my alley. They sold it all – puffy t-shirt paint,  whimsical stickers, peg-loom potholder kits, pens with 15 colors of ink, and any color of play-dough you could imagine. Mmm. Play-Dough. I would totally GRUB on that shit! And then chase it with a crayon. Oh come now, I know I’m not the only one!

Mr Bulky: Bulk candy at its finest, this place would make Willy Wonka blush. The Gene Wilder Wonka, not the Johnny Depp Wonka. Mr. Bulky was located in shopping malls and sold, well, BULK CANDY. No icky Brachs candy here – Mr. Bulky sold the good stuff, like Jelly Bellies, Runts, and designer gummy worms. Bulk candy is an enigma in itself though. How many grubby hands have been in that bin??? Who touched the scooper?? And when did it last fall onto the floor?? Bulk candy is still found in grocery stores these days, so sanitary reasons are not why this place went under. Not sure what happened. I mean, there’s all those studies out there saying candy is GOOD for you! …After all, my “small square” of dark chocolate will go nicely with my “moderate amounts” of red wine.

B Dalton: It was located next to Stuarts at Brookdale, so if I was patient enough while my mom shopped for clothes and not start throwing a whining fit, I was allowed to get the new Babysitters Club book (that is, if I didn’t already have it on order from the Troll Book Club) and read about Claudia Kishi hiding candy in her room (can you imagine the bugs & rodents she probably had in that room? DISGUSTING).

B Dalton was, well, just a bookstore. You don’t see that very often these days, with the presence of Barnes and Noble or a Borders. A bookstore is like a hangout place these days. Kind of like a libary, without all the strict rules.  At least at a B&N, you can sip coffee, page through a magazine, have a conversation, and not get harrased by bitchy librarians on a power trip.

There’s no way could you read read an entire book at B Dalton, the way you can at B&N. There was no coffee shop inside. No chairs or tables.  Just books. I miss bookstores like that.

Inside a McGlynn's store

McGlynn’s Bakery: They used to have a presence in most Target and grocery stores. I’d always, always beg for a large frosted cookie whenever we’d shop at the Crystal Target, but MOM SAID NO! (frequent readers of this blog probably think my mom deprived me of every joy of childhood, the way my poor mom is written about in this blog – so far, she’s deprived me of a slushie in Kmart...movies, and a wood-paneled mini van. But no, that’s really not the case )

Mom might’ve said no, but GRANDMA said yes! After all, Grandma didn’t mind if I was loaded up with sugar – I’d be out of her hair in about 10 minutes. After we were done at Target, we’d drop Grandma off at her house, and I’d have my mom to pester and annoy while on my sugar high from that damn cookie.

I worked at a McGlynn’s Bakery for about 3 days when I was in high school. I took the job expecting to, you know, BAKE stuff. Cookies! cakes! Bread! Oh how I LOVE the smell of baking bread! You can keep your meth; there’s no better high.

To my utter disappointment, I found out that all of McGlynn’s products were “baked” offsite and sent to the stores. Nothing was fresh. All you did is heat it up in the toaster oven, Applebees-style. It forever ruined McGlynn’s bakeries for me. I was expecting to decorate cakes and bake cookies, but no, all I did was shove stuff into toaster ovens and pull cakes out of the fridge, even though I had to wear the plastic white chef hat and apron.  I can only imagine what a TGIFriday’s “chef” feels like. McGlynn’s closed in December 2003

Builders Square: Whenever we’d shop for lumber for the cabin, it was either here or Menards, never Knox. My parents hated Knox for some reason. My mom did all the shopping for the supplies instead of my dad, and she would always write the check out to “Builders” and then draw a square. It always caused the cashier to LOL. The Brooklyn Center location was located next to a County Market grocery store. The whole strip center was razed though, sometime in the ’90s when the Rainbow Foods came to

Builders Square logo

town (which is now closed). I think Builders Square went out of business in the late ’90s, around ’97 or so. I know why, too. They didn’t have a decent candy section, like the other home improvement stores. I don’t know about you, but Menards has a damn good candy and beef jerky selection! I’ll go there just for the candy sometimes.

Contempo Casuals:  Contempo died out long ago – around the time Britney Spears was carousing around in a Catholic school girl’s uniform….that she probably bought at Contempo. They sold that sort of shit there.  This is where ALL the girls in high school got their wardrobe. Backless shirts, asymmetrical skirts, pleather jackets with shoulder pads, plaid flannel babydoll dresses with matching t-shirts to wear underneath, velvet chokers, plaid mini skirts, and BODY SUITS – those always confused me – how are you supposed to go to the bathroom?? Snaps on the crotch area, but that’s a lot of fiddling around to do…

Contempo Casuals is now Wet Seal. It just isn’t the same.

Two + Two: PLASTIC JEWELRY AHOY! The jewelry this place sold could be compared to the stuff you’d find in the Perkins Wishing Well. This is where you bought those plastic charm necklaces that were so popular

I don't think my friend in the diamond business would approve...

back in the ’80s. It was a neon-colored plastic chain-link necklace and you’d buy random colorful plastic charms to hook onto it. The charms were very random. I had baseball bat charm, a strawberry, an eagle, a hairdryer. a soda pop bottle…it really didn’t matter what the charm was – the more charms on your necklace, the cooler you were. The 2+2 I went to was located in the Brookdale Mall, in a tent-like structure in the middle of the mall, right outside of Dayton’s and next to the Piercing Pagoda (also in a tent).

LaBelle’s/BEST: This store was a catalog showroom. They sold a lot of glass knick-knacks, bridge sets, household items, and jewelry – TONS of jewelry. This is the place where you’d get a gadget for $19.99 and only use once before it ends up forgotten in a storage closet. They’d have a display model out on the shelf, and if you wanted it, you’d take a ticket to a store employee who would give it to somebody in the “back” and your purchase would be rolled out of the stockroom. It was kind of cool – my mom worked there for a little while, so we bought a lot of stuff there with her discount. The LaBelle’s/BEST store in Brooklyn Center is now the Best Buy.

RUNNER UP: Abercromie & Fitch: I only miss OLD SKOOL A&F. Back in the old days when they sold camping supplies, pop-up bathtubs, and guns. It had a men’s smoking room type feel to the place. Now you step into the place and walk out with a pounding headache, smelling like a whorehouse.