One of the Last Ben Franklin Stores in America…

One of the last Ben Franklin stores in America…

References:

Google Maps

George Bush Presidential Library and Museum

Images:

"Walton's 5 & 10" by KB35 is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

"Ben Franklin Store, Miles City" by dave_mcmt is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

"Business, Ben Franklin" by IMLS DCC is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

[AndyM.]

SWEET MOTHER OF JUPITOR! I DID NOT KNOW these even existed THANKS for the 411 DUDEZILLA!!!!

[annfrost]

In the 1980s my daughter worked at Woolworth's when she was in high school. I recently told my teenaged grandson about his mother having worked at the 5 and 10. He looked at me seriously and asked "what is that? " 😅

[jensonphillips]

Had no idea this was a chain! Always the highlight of my trip traveling up to East Tawas, MI from the Detroit area. Bought everything from candy to board games, home decor to toys, even pet hermit crabs! By far my favorite store.

[behntubman]

There is a beautiful Ben Franklin in East Tawas Michigan. It is thriving in the summer!!

[PWynn-yf]

This is so cool ... one of my fondest memories is walking around on the old wooden floors of Ben Franklin with my mother ... trying to see over the boxes filled with fabric, sewing notions & the like. It was directly across from what use to be an old 1800's livery stable & hotel. I never knew till I was older what history I had been surrounded by. Thanks for posting this! 😊

[DavidLimofLimReport]

Come to New Zealand. We have shops that look exactly like this all over the place.

[danielbowden]

That looks like an awesome store. Miss my 5 and 10.

[RR]

As of a couple years ago, things may have changed, you could get a franchise for the ridiculously low amount of $1, 000. The catch is all that gets you is the right to use the name, everything else is up to you. As far as I can determine a company that owns some Ace Hardware stores owns the rights to the name and does whatever franchising still exists.

[muffsmercury]

Didn't know any were still around. The last one I was in was in 1992 in a small town in southwest Missouri. I bought a box of Christmas tree ornaments which I still have today. The store closed a year later and has been vacant for much of the time since.
FYI: there's also a few Western Auto stores left. I've been to one on Oklahoma a while back and there's one in Texas that I passed but.

[NecromancyForKids]

We had one shut down here not too long ago. During the closeout sale, the cashier didn't even pay attention and was just watching movies on their iPad lol

[TotoFrancey]

There is still a Ben Franklin store in Grand Marais, MN. Always a stop whenever I go there. I think there are more Ben Franklin stores than there are Sears and Kmart combined.

[marieb]

Their are two Ben Franklin stores in Missouri. They are around 43 miles apart.

[BackTheNerd]

There's another one in Carrollton, Ohio too as Ashton's 5 and dime. It's by a museum too.

[anthonyminimum]

0:24 Okay, I get it, He called it Walmart because its short for Walton’s Mart

[paddycowhey]

damn, I remember being like three or four years old, and there was one of these near my house in the south chicago suburbs and I left my teddy bear or whatever by accident and we went home and had to go back to get it. I can still picture the aisle I left it on. An employee had picked it up and put it behind the register for when we came back to get it, this must have been in the late 80s. One of my earliest memories.

[ramblingsadrift]

Great thought but NOWHERE CLOSE to ANY Ben Frank;in of decades ago.

[noahbyerly]

There is still one abt 25 minutes from me, haven't been to it in close to 20 years 😅 time to make a trip and commemorate

[DTD]

I know there used to be one in the Oakdale-West Sayville, New York area. I never went there, but I feel like I should've gone at least once.

[jeffkasper]

I thought there was still one in Canton Ohio.

[danlaub]

One of the few redeeming factors of Oberlin.