For those of us used to seeing the Lorain City Airport there, it was kind of a wistful thing. But it was nice to have a dept. store just a few minutes away. I bought my records over there!
I've mentioned Clarkins on this blog before (here).
Clarkins also had a small gas station operation (with really cheap gas) over there too near the entrance. I remember my older brother buying a dollar's worth of gas there while shuttling us home from Admiral King in the '63 Buick LeSabre. We really scrounged around for every bit of change under the seat that day!
Anyway, here's a few recent shots of the former Clarkins property. Today it's the P.C. Campana Industrial Park.
When did Clarkins close? As a kid in the mid 80s it seemed like it was already vacant then.
ReplyDeleteI remember the Clarkins in Elyria across from Kroger. The lobby/front end was darker and then opened up to higher roof, lit well and a huge store. Always got a ICEE at the snack bar.
ReplyDeleteClarkins had "jobbers", and their electronics section was a privately owned department. When Clarkins went under, the electronics department owners had all their connections and started "Tokyo Shapiro" (Tokyo Tech at Shapiro Prices.) I worked for them until they went under in 1990 and my boss was one of the founders of the company. He'd sold his shares in the company years before to Luskins. Luskins held on for a few more years and went under as well.
I worked at the Bedford Euclid Elyria and last at Brookpark stores back in the early seventies. I knew the founder of Bullet Distributing and worked 4 another who I think you know after clarkins was done and they started Tokyo-Shapiro
DeleteThe store was still open in the early 80's because I can remember my family stopping there a couple of times. Was it Clarkins until it closed or did the name change to something else before it closed?
ReplyDeleteI checked the city directories. The last listing was in the 1980 book or so. After that the address was listed as vacant.
ReplyDeleteI worked at the Lorain store off and on from 1974 to 1978 while in college. A number of departments (electronics, records, drugs) were leased to outside companies. It was Clarkins until the end when Unishops shut it down around 1981.
ReplyDeleteThe founder of Bullet was Bill McAlpin, with his wife Susan Russell.
ReplyDeleteTokyo Shaprio was around, while Clarkins Hi-Fi was operating. Tokyo Shapiro started as a mail order business in 1970, with a Wharehouse on Richmond Rd, near Miles
ReplyDeleteIn Canton, the Clarkins Carrousel had figures of carousel rides (like a carousel horse) as tiled decorations embedded into the sides of the building. Was this true for all Clarkins?
ReplyDeleteHi Greg! I don’t think so. The two Clarkins stores in Lorain County did not have the carousel graphic in their ads, and I do not remember it at the stores either. They were pretty generic.
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