Monday, August 27, 2012

Giant Tiger Grand Opening August 1967

Here's an ad for the grand opening of a store that many of you longtime Lorainites will remember: Giant Tiger, at 20th and Elyria Avenue. The ad ran in the Lorain Journal on August 23, 1967 – 45 years ago – announcing the store's opening the next day.

The ad artwork is a little jangled looking; the words DISCOUNT STORE are jammed in there pretty good. But's a nice illustration of the building.

A small, front page Journal article that same day read, "Mayor Woodrow Mathna and Miss Lorain County, Jan Musarra of Avon, will assist in brief ribbon-cutting ceremonies, which, in turn, will launch a three-day spree of special events, prizes and gifts.

Captain Penny
"Tomorrow at 7 p.m. Captain Penny, Cleveland television personality, will chat with youngsters and provide free autographed photos. Saturday afternoon Cleveland Browns football stars Paul Wiggin and Dick Schafrath will visit with customers.

"There will also be live bands, surprise guest stars; free gifts for everyone with a color television topping the list."

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I don't think we ever shopped at Giant Tiger. There were just too many other stores closer to us (such as Big Town) or on the way to Midway Mall (such as Ontario). It would have been fun to meet Captain Penny at the grand opening, though!

Giant Tiger was sold to Gaylords in 1968. I don't think we shopped there either, although I remember at least one TV commercial for Gaylords that featured Cleveland Indian pitcher Gaylord Perry.

Here is a photo of the former Giant Tiger/Gaylords property on Elyria Avenue today (it's for sale).


Here's an interesting link with some additional information on the former Giant Tiger building on a blog called Dead and Dying retail! If you look along the left side of the blog, there is a listing of Ohio links.

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6 comments:

  1. -Alan D HopewellAugust 27, 2012 at 2:18 PM

    My house used to be there! 1867 Elyria Avenue, along with all the houses on that block, was torn down to build Giant Tiger.

    My brother Mike and I did get to meet Captain Penny, though.

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  2. Dan BradyAugust 27, 2012 at 3:40 PM

    So I guess it was worth it then?

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  3. fancycatAugust 28, 2012 at 10:15 AM

    Two memories, a childhood friends' Dad was an architect for the building Foder and Friedman. And the storm that blew the roof in
    69 or 70ish and dont laugh as kids we heard there was all kinds of treasure at the dump. And there was! All kinds of things intermingled with cement and rebar. I remember a transistor radio and fishing tackle

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  4. -Alan D HopewellAugust 28, 2012 at 1:24 PM

    I remember that storm-it was 1974, and personally, I saw it as poetic justice.

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  5. AnonymousFebruary 1, 2016 at 9:49 PM

    when it was gaylords they had 2 spinner racks of comic books i used to buy my comic books there....lol

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  6. AnonymousFebruary 4, 2024 at 1:34 PM

    Another store opened here after Gaylords in Lorain closed. It was OK, not as good as Gaylords. Does any one remember what it was called?

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