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Remembering Best
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Best 1978
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Best 1979
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I still have a few pieces I bought at Best. A GE alarm clock in 1993 that I still use, and my Casio G-Shock watch I bought in March of '89. Some idiot in second grade stole my umbrella that my mother bought me there back in '85. That's all right, it was rainbow colored and would certainly give the wrong impression of my sexuality in this day and age 
There was nothing esoteric about the building in Dublin, it was just your standard rectangle structure. I remember them closing down only a year or so after they drastically remodeled the interior/exterior.
This brings back other memories of stores that disappeared around here about the same time as Best. Sprouse Ritz and Pak n Save come to mind. Gemco turned into Target around early 1987.
It makes me feel like an old fart sharing stories with my co-workers how the tri-valley used to be in the 80's. Sometimes it's hard even for me to believe how things here once were, particularly open landscapes and house prices, lol. Time to start digging my grave!
There was nothing esoteric about the building in Dublin, it was just your standard rectangle structure. I remember them closing down only a year or so after they drastically remodeled the interior/exterior.
This brings back other memories of stores that disappeared around here about the same time as Best. Sprouse Ritz and Pak n Save come to mind. Gemco turned into Target around early 1987.
It makes me feel like an old fart sharing stories with my co-workers how the tri-valley used to be in the 80's. Sometimes it's hard even for me to believe how things here once were, particularly open landscapes and house prices, lol. Time to start digging my grave!
programcomputer
Well-known member
bEST Thru the 70's.
Im missing only a few years of Best material fro the 1970's, with 1977 being my main wishbook for future finding. I posted just vacuum cleaners for now, as Im not really wanting to overstep my bandwidth for the year, but considering that the Super Forum isn't archived, I guess it wouldnt hurt much to post more.
A few things. I was a frequent shopper, with moms, aunts and grandmas at most of the Catalog showrooms that Michigan had including Best, Century House, Serv Merch, Whitmark and Sid Youngs which was a family owned store in Jackson Michigan that put out their own catalog. We also had Gambles-Skogmo too, but they were a bit before my time. We also had Western Autos too. In fact my hometown Grand Ledge had a Western Auto department store so to speak until 1990. Or at least the sineage and product was still inside. It was also the towns hardware.
Best and many other catalog showrooms were kinda mystifying as they would always advertise every item at the mfg. suggested retail price. THen embedded not so coyly in the previous stock, model number, and price numer allin one you owuld find that YOU PAY: Or if a 1976 Hoover Convertible was MSRP'd at $79.99, you look just to the left and youd see a long mumber line U70401HVR408006495. The 6495 translates to $64.95 USD and that was your special PRICE for shopping them.
If you also notice, thru the 1970's models, and model lines changed and slowly got shorter and shorter in scope. Ending in 1979 being taken care of within three pages. Several second and theird tier brands that weren't Hoover and Eureka were gone, or severely crimped back to where a market niche' was set aside for them. Look at Regina for example. By 1979 They are just doing brooms, where at one point in 1974 they were doing canisters, brooms and an upright vacuum that wasn't sold by Best, but by others as the Brush-N-Beat.
I figured since the topic of bEST has surfaced, Id put in a few pages of history for us to enjoy. Again I would do this over on the vacuum site, but for reasons of my own I no longer post there. So hopefully enough vac people that I still know and chat with will get to se a small portion of my catalog collection.
Chad
Im missing only a few years of Best material fro the 1970's, with 1977 being my main wishbook for future finding. I posted just vacuum cleaners for now, as Im not really wanting to overstep my bandwidth for the year, but considering that the Super Forum isn't archived, I guess it wouldnt hurt much to post more.
A few things. I was a frequent shopper, with moms, aunts and grandmas at most of the Catalog showrooms that Michigan had including Best, Century House, Serv Merch, Whitmark and Sid Youngs which was a family owned store in Jackson Michigan that put out their own catalog. We also had Gambles-Skogmo too, but they were a bit before my time. We also had Western Autos too. In fact my hometown Grand Ledge had a Western Auto department store so to speak until 1990. Or at least the sineage and product was still inside. It was also the towns hardware.
Best and many other catalog showrooms were kinda mystifying as they would always advertise every item at the mfg. suggested retail price. THen embedded not so coyly in the previous stock, model number, and price numer allin one you owuld find that YOU PAY: Or if a 1976 Hoover Convertible was MSRP'd at $79.99, you look just to the left and youd see a long mumber line U70401HVR408006495. The 6495 translates to $64.95 USD and that was your special PRICE for shopping them.
If you also notice, thru the 1970's models, and model lines changed and slowly got shorter and shorter in scope. Ending in 1979 being taken care of within three pages. Several second and theird tier brands that weren't Hoover and Eureka were gone, or severely crimped back to where a market niche' was set aside for them. Look at Regina for example. By 1979 They are just doing brooms, where at one point in 1974 they were doing canisters, brooms and an upright vacuum that wasn't sold by Best, but by others as the Brush-N-Beat.
I figured since the topic of bEST has surfaced, Id put in a few pages of history for us to enjoy. Again I would do this over on the vacuum site, but for reasons of my own I no longer post there. So hopefully enough vac people that I still know and chat with will get to se a small portion of my catalog collection.
Chad
WOW!!
Thanks Chad! Those scans are great!
Oh, the days when catalogues were exciting and were chock full of merchandise you really wanted.
Anyone want to look at the Hoovers now?
*crickets chirp*
Here's a fun montage I found online as well. Check out the store with the crazy-daisy pattern
Thanks Chad! Those scans are great!
Oh, the days when catalogues were exciting and were chock full of merchandise you really wanted.
Anyone want to look at the Hoovers now?
*crickets chirp*
Here's a fun montage I found online as well. Check out the store with the crazy-daisy pattern
My mom had the Regina vac in the bottom of the pic in post #415550 - the gold and chrome coloured one. She bought it to replace her Filter Queen. Biggest mistake ever. She had all kinds of problems with it. After a couple of years she purchased another Filter Queen and took the Regina out to the cottage where it still resides. It only gets used now to vacuum out the sauna and the cars.
Gary
Gary
Interesting
I never realized the price was coded in the product code itself. I do remember Regina and others going through expansion/contraction phases; sometimes just stick-brooms, and sometimes suites of uprights. Both Best and Penneys had Regina Housekeepers (were these supposed to be clones of the Electrolux uprights?) for a while; there was a more BOL model that had a squarish powerhead and a more deluxe model that had an L-shaped powerhead. Over time, the series collapsed down to the BOL model, and then the Housekeepers went away.
I also recall Best having VAX vacuums, and recalling that they were very odd looking. At the time, being allowed to play with them and test them out on the salesfloor seemed very novel.
I never realized the price was coded in the product code itself. I do remember Regina and others going through expansion/contraction phases; sometimes just stick-brooms, and sometimes suites of uprights. Both Best and Penneys had Regina Housekeepers (were these supposed to be clones of the Electrolux uprights?) for a while; there was a more BOL model that had a squarish powerhead and a more deluxe model that had an L-shaped powerhead. Over time, the series collapsed down to the BOL model, and then the Housekeepers went away.
I also recall Best having VAX vacuums, and recalling that they were very odd looking. At the time, being allowed to play with them and test them out on the salesfloor seemed very novel.
programcomputer
Well-known member
IIRC
Most if not all of the Catalog houses like the ones mentioned had these special codes. At one point I know Service Merchandise had them too.
I always thought that our BEST showroom was rather plain, the Service Merchandise Showrooms were the more fancy ones. I remember most if not all of the appliances, and things were enclosed in glass cases, which aggravated me. It did however make for a mostly clean sales floor.
Whitmark and Century House had more of an open floor plan, with things out in the open to inspect, but our Century showroom was VERY small, and had MAYBE one or two vacuums out as well as the other small household stuff.
My stepfather had a part time job with the Service Merchandise outfit where I grew up from about 1985 until just before they closed our store in IIRC 1995-96. And I can rememebr the stories he would tell about items being out of stock,bait and switch substitutions in the OOS products stead.
Also I noticed as I got older, and was more paying attention to the COST of the item, as well as the item itself, that many times ServMerch's prices were within dollars of a non-catalog store.
I know that after the 1980's dawned, most of these catalog showrooms started a non-compete agreement, that they would not undersell each other, or oversell an item etc. ;with many cases you would find that their catalogs were CARBON COPIES of each other, with a different cover with the stores name printed on it.
I know that by 1996 Serv Merch was the last to go in our area. Best retracted to a few stores across the state, and were gone by at the very latest 1997 but Whitmark, Century House had already thrown in the towel.
A sad ending yes.
Chad
Ann Arbor Michigan
Most if not all of the Catalog houses like the ones mentioned had these special codes. At one point I know Service Merchandise had them too.
I always thought that our BEST showroom was rather plain, the Service Merchandise Showrooms were the more fancy ones. I remember most if not all of the appliances, and things were enclosed in glass cases, which aggravated me. It did however make for a mostly clean sales floor.
Whitmark and Century House had more of an open floor plan, with things out in the open to inspect, but our Century showroom was VERY small, and had MAYBE one or two vacuums out as well as the other small household stuff.
My stepfather had a part time job with the Service Merchandise outfit where I grew up from about 1985 until just before they closed our store in IIRC 1995-96. And I can rememebr the stories he would tell about items being out of stock,bait and switch substitutions in the OOS products stead.
Also I noticed as I got older, and was more paying attention to the COST of the item, as well as the item itself, that many times ServMerch's prices were within dollars of a non-catalog store.
I know that after the 1980's dawned, most of these catalog showrooms started a non-compete agreement, that they would not undersell each other, or oversell an item etc. ;with many cases you would find that their catalogs were CARBON COPIES of each other, with a different cover with the stores name printed on it.
I know that by 1996 Serv Merch was the last to go in our area. Best retracted to a few stores across the state, and were gone by at the very latest 1997 but Whitmark, Century House had already thrown in the towel.
A sad ending yes.
Chad
Ann Arbor Michigan
YES!!!!
Nate, I believe your thread here has accomplished something that no other has yet, by causing members who are barely 30 to feel old! Nice work!
And no doubt about it, those Sunbeams like the Challenger with the floral pattern are beyond worthy of the Shirley Jones seal of approval.
Nate, I believe your thread here has accomplished something that no other has yet, by causing members who are barely 30 to feel old! Nice work!
And no doubt about it, those Sunbeams like the Challenger with the floral pattern are beyond worthy of the Shirley Jones seal of approval.
perc-o-prince
Well-known member
Did Best carry anything other than vacuums?? Didn't see a single Sears-sucker gee-tar in there anywhere!! ;-)
Chuck
Chuck
douglasdc6
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- Joined
- Apr 11, 2009
- Messages
- 271
I loved that store.
Oh how I miss the 1970`s - I bought my 1st sony trinitron at that store.
Oh The memories.
Oh how I miss the 1970`s - I bought my 1st sony trinitron at that store.
Oh The memories.
