Well, Shinders folded.
Chances are this means nothing to you. Shinders was a Minneapoliis area newstand/collectables store. It was founded in 1916 and from 1992-2004 was my employer. 4 years of the current (prior to the recent shutdown) ownership managed what the Great Depression, WWII, Vietnam, and Iraq failed to do: shut 'er down.
I have fond childhood memories of Shinders. It was always a part of what "big city" to me. A place I could pick up the latest issue of "Maximum Rock n Roll" or whatever. Where I could feel a part of whatever pop culture clique I was aspiring to. Where the folks picking up "Better Homes and Gardens" were the odd ones out, and folks like me looking for obscure imported titles were the norm.
As an employer Shinders was a mixed bag. I was probably lucky to move on when I did. However, it was during my time at Shinders I moved from casual comics reader to die hard collector. It is a hobby that greatly enhanced my life, and working at Shinders had more than a little to do with my becoming passionate about it.
The downtown location used to be open 24 hours. I remember the lights, shopping in that store at 3 am.
Those lights are gone, now. There are other places with similar product, but Shinders is gone.
One commentator after the shutdown said he couldn't understand why folks were so loyal to that store.
Guess he never saw the lights.
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2 comments:
I wonder what happens to all the merchandise?
I imagine they have some good books.
Jason
I saw some talk of a blowout sale, but that never materialized. I imagine all the stock went to creditors. My understanding is that at the end quite a bit of monry was in the 'owed' column.
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