Two Guys, We Hardly Knew Ye
Chris Holmes
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- 8 Comments
I never pass up an opportunity to purchase a reminder of my childhood. Toys, books, music, you name it. I got just such an opportunity a few years ago at a flea market in Dover, New Jersey. I was just about to leave this one particularly interesting booth empty-handed when I spotted a bag of these beauties:
I don’t smoke, so purchasing a bag of matchbooks probably seems like a silly idea. But you see, that’s how nostalgia works. And besides, it was like a dollar for the whole bunch. Back in the day (up until the early ’80s), the name Two Guys was synonymous in the Northeast with discount stores. It was sort of the Wal-Mart of its day, minus the shady business practices.
A typical family outing to Two Guys could yield everything to new records (the vinyl kind) to a window fan or a bowling ball. I hear many people tell of purchasing furniture at Two Guys some 30 years ago that they still own. This is a testament not only to the fact that a discount store can actually sell quality merchandise, but that there are probably a lot of people out there who still have really dated and tacky bedrooms.
The chain’s sales had been declining for years prior to the 1982 decision by Vornado (the parent company) to abandon the retail business. After Two Guys left my area, it was replaced by (in no particular order) Jamesway, K-Mart, Caldor and Ames. Each new store seemed worse than the one before, not surprisingly.
Wendy M. Levy
I grew up in Dover, and I remember Two Guys fondly, albeit kind of foggily. (Is that a word?) I was born on the early-70s, and I think the Dover Two Guys closed in… 1981? Anyway, good find at the Flea Market! I would have bought the matches, too, and given them to my Mom. Neither of us smoke.
Chris Holmes
No doubt we shopped at the same one then!
Sharon GR
“I never pass up an opportunity to purchase a reminder of my childhood.”I know what you mean- I just spent the morning watching my Schoolhouse Rock DVD with my kids. I still love watching them, but it’s just not quite the same as waiting to the end of a show to see if one would be on, and which one it would be.
wildsnowflake
One of my childhood memories was my mom and I buying Tinkerbell records of fairytales at the Two Guys in Watchung (not far from Korvett’s)
Joe
I remember the local Two Guys store quite well. Before MALLS came into being, Two Guys was the place to go! I used to hang in the “Sight and Sound” or arcade section while Mom went grocery shopping!
Sharon GR
“I never pass up an opportunity to purchase a reminder of my childhood.”
I know what you mean- I just spent the morning watching my Schoolhouse Rock DVD with my kids. I still love watching them, but it’s just not quite the same as waiting to the end of a show to see if one would be on, and which one it would be.
wildsnowflake
One of my childhood memories was my mom and I buying Tinkerbell records of fairytales at the Two Guys in Watchung (not far from Korvett’s)
Joe
I remember the local Two Guys store quite well. Before MALLS came into being, Two Guys was the place to go! I used to hang in the “Sight and Sound” or arcade section while Mom went grocery shopping!