Old School Radio Shack in Bedford and Woburn, Mass.

It's a shame that Radio Shack recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but comes as no surprise as online and big-box brick and mortar electronics retailers have a virtual monopoly on the industry.

I can't help but think, however, that a little bit of good old fashioned customer service might have tipped the scales in a more positive direction for the once giant electronics retailer.

Case in point: back in the 1970s, a young man named Peter Reed worked at the Bedford and Woburn, Mass., Radio Shacks, and made our trips there worthwhile every time. Peter loved his job, truly enjoyed helping customers, and had this great mind that always made me wonder why he wasn't at MIT instead of Radio Shack. Most importantly, Peter came across as human and one who could talk with anyone from a nine-year-old kid like me that loved radios to the grown-up technically savvy egghead looking to challenge his knowledge.  While the revolving door of eggheads always thought they were the smartest men in the room, it was almost always Peter who came across with the greatest know-how -- and he didn't even know it, given his humble nature.

During the "me decade," Peter with his glasses, wide smile and plain short haircut came across somewhat old-fashioned and out-of-place -- even at his very young age -- but that was a good thing.  He knew his stuff, always exhibited "consideration of others" before it became a mandatory class at some private and public sectors, and generally became the face of those two Radio Shacks. When was the last time we could say that about a Radio Shack employee?

Sure, I have run across some good employees at Radio Shack through the years but, unfortunately, not at a uniform level -- that is, where the majority of workers adhered to the highest standard possible. I remember inquiring about a certain air purifier at a local Rado Shack, and the surfer dude-like employee said, "Yes, like that a real good brand." He could not go beyond that initial statement when pressed with my questions that sought detailed answers.

In all fairness, however, I am not so sure that any type of high-standard uniformity existed back in the day -- and that perhaps Peter Reed was just a stellar exception rather than the rule. Who really knows?

Here it is nearly 45 years later and I still remember this great Radio Shack employee. I always wondered what happened to Peter, and if he stayed with Radio Shack or went onto another career. Whatever the case, Peter made the Bedford and Woburn Radio Shacks special places.

Radio Shack will sell as many as 2,400 stores to Sprint and an affiliate of hedge fund Standard General.   Hopefully, the powers that be can hire a lot of Peter Reeds to make the next chapter of business operation stay strong for the long run.

Bowens Toyland, Bedford, Mass.

For some reason, kids always seemed to behave at Bowens Toyland in Bedford, Mass.

I never saw anyone break a toy here, talk fresh to their parents or the owners, draw inappropriate things on the Etch A Sketch, send the water powered toy space rocket ship through the ceiling, or create bad words on any of the word-oriented board games.

I think I know why. First, parents, back then, generally had the temerity to say "no" to their kids, as needed, and that Bowens Toyland owners Ruth and John Bowen made everyone feel at home. Unlike the many disinterested, cell phone-addicted chain toy store employees of today, Ruth and John also came across like caring parents, prioritized customer service, spoke softly and thoughtfully, and clearly loved their career business choice. In another words, they were great role models themselves. They also lived in Bedford for a very long time, thus confirming their commitment to the community.

Having stopped playing with toys after graduating college (just kidding), I can't tell you exactly when Bowens closed as I went onto bigger and better things (Radio Shack became my new "toy store"). I do know, however, that Bowens opened in 1955 and stayed in business a very long time.

Bowens Toyland also had the best toy selection of any area toy store -- not the usual junk but a thoughtfully laid out display of popular and hard-to-find toys also an incredible selection of model kits. They sure jam-packed a lot of toys into a modest-sized, unassuming storefront.

Ruth and John are no longer with us. I wish I had a chance to say "Thank-you" to them for all the joyful years they brought us in the form of a toy store. They just don't make toy stores like this as much anymore, as well as store owners with such grace and goodness.

Boston Area Malls of Yesteryear

Malls have sure taken on a sophisticated, super sized, rather sterile-looking appearance these days.  I like to look back at some of the Boston area malls of the past that had a modest, imperfect look -- and with some added "fun factors." Here are some examples:

How about the amusement park rides located at the south side of the then open-air North Shore Shopping center in Peabody? The fast-moving "POW" ride scared the heck out of me!

Anyone recall when the Burlington Mall was just one story?

Do you remember the Methuen Mall? It's not there anymore, demolished in 1999 -- amazing, given the impressive mix of stores and overall size of this shopping area. They had a Jordan Marsh, Sears and about 70 other stores.

What about the older version of Shoppers World in Framingham? This two-story, open courtyard mall was one of the first malls in the country and featured a Jordan Marsh with a dome, Kennedy's Clothing Store, a movie theater, a water fountain with colored lights and some heartwarming Christmas designs during the holiday season. I loved Shoppers World's beautifully landscaped village green look, surrounded by the 40 or so stores. Sadly today, Shoppers World looks like any other retail shopping center in our country.

What memories do you have of area malls that differ greatly from the malls of today? Please comment below!

Caldor, Strawberries, Ken's Deli and Papa Gino's at the Middlesex Mall, Burlington, Mass.

Anyone remember the Middlesex Mall in Burlington, Mass., before it became the Middlesex Commons? This place had everything I could ever need: Caldor for general department store shopping, Strawberries Records and Tapes for records, Ken's Deli for a good corned beef sandwich and Papa Gino's for pizza. Parking was a snap and a Market Basket later opened up to sell groceries at its famous rock-bottom prices. The Middlesex Mall proved that just a few stores could cover all the bases -- for a college kid driving a decrepit Ford Escort, that is!

The Middlesex Mall clearly wasn't designed by the beautiful people set of the architectural world. This was a no frills, community mall with a small indoor corridor. Within a mile of the huge Burlington Mall, one had to wonder if the developers had a lack of vision opening the Middlesex Mall so close to one of New England's finest malls. For a long stretch, the vision worked before becoming a bit more expanded and refined as the Middlesex Commons shopping and dining complex.

Fond Memories of Hoffman News in Arlington, Mass.

How I loved Hoffman News in Arlington Heights, Mass. Mrs. Mooney proved that you could transform a basic variety store into something extraordinarily special. She always called us kids "honey," and our parents, too, for that matter. Mrs. Mooney was so sweet, sweeter than the candy we loved at Hoffman news including Pop Rocks, Sky Bars and Charlestown Chews. She took the time to get to know everyone, thus creating the ultimate neighborhood variety store. Every kid in town seemed to know her name. Just goes to show that the most memorable people in one's life are the ones that exemplify decency not only through talk but, more importantly actions.

I wish we had more stores today like Hoffman News.  Customer service today isn't what it used to be; we could all gain inspiration and pride of working with the public from someone like Mrs. Mooney.

What happened to Purity Supreme Supermarket?

Purity Supreme was, no doubt a major player  in the local chain supermarkets, but seemed to disappear overnight. They were located everywhere and better stocked than most other supermarkets, in my opinion. When I was living in Winchester (no, I am not rich, just rented an apartment on Washington St.), I would frequently buy my groceries at Purity Supreme. For some reason, it was always easier to get in and out of there -- although if Purity Supreme was around today, it would probably be congested like other markets with people clogging up the isles by talking or texting on their cell phones, daydreaming or just coming to a complete standstill for no apparent reason. I think the Winchester Purity Supreme was open 24 hours a day -- remember buying Yodels at a very good price very late at night. I believe that Purity also owned Heartland Foods, which was more of a warehouse type of market.

Too bad Purity Supreme closed. While I like Stop and Shop, Hannaford, Shaw's, Roche Brothers, and the Big Y for various reasons, Purity Supreme and I seemed more compatible. You don't appreciate a good business until it's gone, I suppose!

Loving Lechmere in Cambridge, Mass.

Lechmere, a retail chain in New England, seemed destined to last forever. It didn't, going out of business in 1997.

But this amazing store will, at least, last forever in my mind.  How could a New England household name-caliber store with everything you could ever need or want under the sun at great prices go out of business? Very sad, indeed.

The original store at 88 First St. in the "Lechmere" section of Cambridge, Mass. (now known, as Lechmere Square), remains strongest in my mind.  With a no-frills, plain facade and a palace of high quality merchandise inside, I remember, most prominently, the audio and television department on the left near the front entrance and the conveyor belt to the right delivering merchandise to you from the second floor. As a kid, I always wanted to visit that second floor. Was it Santa's elves working up there, or some guy named Joe? Did they work in the dark up there while dodging spider webs, or was it posh with a game room and snack bar with pizza and ice cream? I once heard someone belch from up there, so perhaps it was the latter.

Further back in the store -- past the appliances and luggage -- near the lighting department was a terrific toy section with every board game, G.I. Joe, stuffed toy animal and stone age electronics game (compared to what is out there now) you could imagine -- why, to me it was like a kid walking into a toy store coming here!

Although the colorful holiday lights, beautiful artificial Christmas trees, and even-more-expanded toy section during the Christmas season brought incredible joy, I also loved the Washington's Birthday time when Lechmere offered full-size Table Talk cherry pies for, as I recall, 10 cents!

The help was dedicated and knowledgeable with some employees making it a career here. Our Arlington neighbor, Charlie Linskey, was a good guy who worked the Cambridge location for many years and reflected the hard-working presence of the Lechmere staff.  Additionally, the owners -- the Cohen family -- would often walk around the store interacting with customers. Don't you miss those days when the customer mattered most and the owners went out of their way to make you feel important and wanted?   I certainly do.

Seemed like a lot of straight-shooting, decent, working-class son-of-a-guns shopped and worked here. Maybe it's a sign of the times, but so many people today seem to walk around stores in a daze -- like they are the only ones in the store -- while glued to their cell phones or social media devices. Back then, customers came to Lechmere Sales with a brisk step and a purpose, spending wisely their hard-earned money and loving their local Lechmere store as if it was a close friend. This was real-life "social media" at its finest back!

We, unfortunately, lost this close retail friend. But, as mentioned, you can never take away the special memories of a place like this and I plan to embrace this happy constituent of my childhood, forever.

Child World Toy Store, Medford, Mass.

As a kid, I would have preferred a mom and pop toy store with the jolly, personality-filled owner, but the Child World retail toy chain, nevertheless, had a special place in my heart.

Truthfully, not much of an upgrade over the generic Kay Bee Toys and its often disinterested customer service ("Hey dude, it's a job..."), Child World did have more inventory and a convenient Wellington Circle Medford location. Here you could have it all: the Easy Bake Oven, Rockem Sockem Robots, Close 'N Play toy phonograph, LiteBrite, Spirograph, the Electroshot shooting gallery, etc. It was here I bought a magic set with such a strong smell of polyvinylchloride that I have to wonder if the powerful aroma affected my grades at the Parmenter Elementary School in Arlington.  Probably not, I am completely normbal now.

The Wonderful Aroma of Brewers Yeast at Arlington Health Foods

You have to wonder if the original Arlington Health Foods on Mass Ave. in Arlington Mass., was the basis for comedian Jackie Mason's famous quote: "Have you ever seen the people that work in health food stores who load themselves up with alfalfa sprouts and carrot juice? They all look sick and emaciated. None of them look healthy. In fact, the only healthy person in the entire health food store is the owner sitting in the back stuffing his face with a pastrami on rye."

I honestly don't know if the owner of Arlington Health Foods liked pastrami sandwiches, but I remember the hired help not looking healthy at all, and being occasionally snippy and quite preachy about what was  best to eat.  With the putrid aroma of Brewers Yeast and other cardboard-tasting delicacies, stopping by Arlington Health Foods was never pleasant to me. After buying a multivitamin with dessicated liver, I had then decided that going cross town to the Dairy Queen for a  Dilly Bar would be a far happier option!

Anyone Remember Gilchrist's Department Store?

The former Filene's and Jordan Marsh department stores were retail landmarks at Downtown Crossing in Boston, Mass., but does anyone remember Gilchrist's? This Boston department store wasn't as high end as Filene's or Jordan Marsh, but it wasn't Woolworth's either.

Gilchrist's did become sort of a household name in the Boston area, probably finishing in third place behind Filene's and Jordan Marsh. I remember this big department store being of a very solid nature -- a place where you wouldn't leave disappointed. They sold clothing, furniture, jewelry, shoes, housewares and, I think, some electronics.  Gilchrist's success was so good that they eventually branched out into Massachusetts towns and cities like Brockton, Cambridge, Framingham, Medford, Quincy, Waltham, Stoneham, Cambridge, and Dorchester (actually part of Boston).  I surmise that all those shopping malls built in the 1970s must have played a factor in Gilchrist's eventual demise. Or perhaps it was too much retail expansion into the suburbs? Whatever the case, Gilchrist's suffered and went bankrupt in the late 1970s.

It's funny how time makes something become more popular or just become forgotten. Sadly, Gilchrist's, for me, anyway, falls into that second category.

Zayre, a Former New England-Based Department Store

Does anyone remember the New England-based department store chain, Zayre? Sort of like an earlier-day Walmart, Zayre sold virtually everything under one roof. Local comedian Norm Crosby was a Zayre spokesperson (his beloved schtick was using big words incorrectly) on local radio and television commercials. I always loved riding the motorized horse in front of the store at Fresh Pond in Cambridge (for the record, I was a kid then, not an adult). "Sports Huddle" Boston radio legend Eddie Andelman had a great spoof in the 70s on Zayre called Zaire ( a region in Africa!).  Great memories of this place, would love to hear your experiences at Zayre!

Grover Cronin's Department Store, Waltham, Mass.

As a kid, I couldn't stand Grover Cronin’s Department Store in Waltham, Mass. I would have rather been at the Child World toy store in Medford.  It just stunk having to shop for underwear (perhaps that sentence should be rephrased).

In retrospect, I wish we had Grover Cronin's back. To have a locally-owned, large-sized department store that was every bit was good as the national chains was truly impressive. The look of Grover Cronin's wasn't cheap-looking like Woolworth's, and the merchandise was always top-notch. Add a staff that was  generally proud to work there, and you can understand why stores like this are so badly needed today. Pride of ownership is a timeless quality that sometimes seems so far away in today's world.

The First Shattuck's Hardware Store in Downtown Arlington, Mass.

Shattuck's Hardware in Arlington, Mass., remains a thriving local hardware store to this very day, but does anyone remember the original location in downtown Arlington?  The first store was a trip back in time with old wooden floors sprinkled with sawdust, a big head counter, lousy fans, heavy smoking employees and the wonderful smell of poisonous chemicals within what seemed like 15 square feet. One of its employees, Ed, knew everything about hardware supplies and beyond, and would frequently make free house calls to help "the neighbor." Ed's voice was lower than Lou Rawl's resonant tones and his likability in Arlington was about as high as could be -- a beloved local who everyone knew.