TBT: Throwback Thursday as Sear’s in Tanforan Announces Upcoming Closure

South San Francisco, CA   November 16, 2019

Last week when we announced that Sears in Tanforan was going to close, our South City community had much to say on our FACEBOOK page;

378 reactions, 129 comments, 810 share! Some great memories were made at this Sears, and we share some of them here:

 

Patty Isla I worked in high school. I mainly worked in the men’s department but loved working in the candy department popping popcorn and icees

 

Connie Ricca Was a Great place to shop for guys gifts

 

Joyce Messing So sad, SEARS WHERE AMERICA SHOPS, I was the one saying that over the loud speaker at San Bruno store. I started in catalog and it was wall to wall people picking up packages! Sears made such a mistake closing catalog, they could have been Amazon! I worked there for 35 years!

 

Margaretta Wasson Joyce Messing and thank you for shopping at Sears San Bruno!!

 

Laurie Valmonte My folks used to take my sister and i there to buy our clothes, shoes and kitchen appliances. So sad to see all of these stores that we shopped at close Gemco. Mervyns, Emporium, Montgomery Wards. Toys R Us… just sad

 

Enríque René Salmerón Laurie Valmonte emporium Lol

 

Patricia Baker Last Sears in Western New York is part of this latest round of closings.

 

Marie Carelli-Partney I had a Christmas job in 1975

 

Maria Pineda To bad hard to believe that it’s closing all my appliance’s are from there

 

Debbie Alvarado Times are changing. Most brick n morter stores will be gone eventually due to all the on line shopping. So sad.

 

Lucinda Denning There are alot of vacant shops there. Plus there are like 10 shoes places like who needs that many of them. They need clothing especially trendy clothing not grandma style. Plus forever 21 is closing there also. Plus also not alot of shops caters to plus size and if they do its not trendy

 

Brian Keith The Sears CEO leveraged the hell out of the entire Corp. Then when Sears was bleeding cash, he loaned the Corp money, leveraging even more so they couldn’t pay suppliers and had to sell-off brands. The guy is a real piece of work and destroyed the entire thing.

 

Chris Greco I highly highly doubt Walmart will move in next to a target

 

Nanci Brignoli Nagel So are they going to build more housing there?

 

Paul Arretche That mall is going to be a ghost mall

 

Randy Quok Target is the only reason I go there.

 

Pete Rios I bought alot of back to school clothes from there.

 

Arlene Cuadra Remember when they candy and ices there

 

Clay Puskas Les Puskas no more Sears in San bruno

 

Les Puskas I know. I told Al last Thursday

 

Angel Figueroa I worked there from 2008-2011,and then got fired  Eunice Figueroa (Nuny)

 

Missy Malatesta My dad and I both worked there…sigh. 🙁

 

Tim Cole Sad, but now maybe the next tenant will finally pave the front parking lot.

 

Edmund Wodehouse Our Sears here in South Burlington, Vermont is on the list, too.

 

Ryan Martin That was my first job haha, definitely enjoyed getting employee discounts on tools!

 

Joni Morris I wish I could curtail Amazon and spare our stores but this is our life now

 

Liz Acevedo-Avila Joni Morris sad isn’t it.

 

La Valerie Mannnn no we love sears work clothes and boots

 

Becky Celli Woods That’s where I met my sweetheart!

 

Donna Dennis Sears and one end of the spectrum; Barney’s at the other end. Difference is Barney’s demise took a lot less time, but then Barney’s had far fewer stores. And yet both face the same problems. They ignored the changing shopping habits of the consumer, namely the shift to e-commerce & loss of foot traffic. Sears had the additional problem of allowing stores to get stale/fall in disrepair & not invest $$ from real estate sales into other stores.

 

Ldub White Been going there since I was young. Worked there for a while through one of the remodels. Gonna miss it!

 

Sal Mariscal Walmart is going to push hard for that spot! They’ve been trying to get in this area for decades.

 

Caryn Gonzalez Sal Mariscal hope so!

 

Ava Marie Romero Bought my mom and grandma slippers at tanforan sears the best gifts ever for your elderly

 

Bruce Mork Washers , dryers, Levi’s, car batteries, a weight set, but the most memorable. Deep Purple 8-track. Smoooooooke on the water……fire in da sky.

 

Randy Quok I feel sorry for the employees, but Sears has been out of date for awhile.

 

Jessica DeSalles My dad worked there from the day it opened till a couple years ago when he retired… geez and it was my first job, I worked in the Jr’s department

 

Rob Chapman Who is your dad? I worked at Sears Tanforan for over 15 years, so I probably know him.

 

Jessica DeSalles Rob Chapman Bob Marsh

 

Jocelynne Frazier Used to get my Halloween costumes there in the pre Spirit days. I always remember the smell of the popcorn on the lowest level floor and if I was well behaved while he did errands my dad would buy me a box.

 

Connie Simotas We always bought our appliances there and when I was a kid all our school clothes. Sorry to see another store close

 

Gina Eckhart The entire Tanforan Mall is going under with all the crime lately plus the rents. Quite sad.

 

Kathy Mahoney Montoya Gina Eckhart, sad but true. I think we will see shopping malls, turned into homeless housing.

 

William Gipe Guess I’ll have to stock up on shoes? They have very good shoe department, or I’ll go to Southland Mall in Hayward.

 

Wendy Sinclair-Smith Bought Xmas stuff last year. Love the watch guy upstairs

 

Rowena Robles Wow… in the early 80s the malls ran small businesses out- now online shopping is now making malls a ghost town. Only thing to blame are the consumers ourselves.

 

Michi Toy Rowena Robles The 80’s was a very special time. I loved going to the mall, and you used to live around there too, didn’t you?

 

Janet Lutus So sorry to see them go. Maybe they could have gone back to a form of catalog sales, but online to compete with Amazon etc

 

Steven Kelly I applied there to be a cashier I think in 2011 and I didn’t get the job because I was “overqualified” lol

 

Ryan Alexander I used to buy clothes at Sears when I wanted people to make fun of me for dressing whiter than I already am

 

Ryan Alexander Jimmy Lowell nothing says my wife cheats on me and I don’t know it then using the word “toolkit” hahahah

 

Steven Douglas The Sears at Newpark Mall closed Feb 2019. Damn another one. I worked Tanforan for 15.5 years.

 

Paul Hoem More and more retail leaving the state. What a shame they had a great tool department

 

Rod Boltz Next store to close at Tanforan in San Bruno is JC Penny

 

Cynthia Marie Lopez Again? They went out and business years ago and came back

 

Jorge A Pineda Sr. One of the problems are those who due all or most of there shopping online or through Amazon.

 

David Kaye When people buy online they kill local stores — and for what? So they save a few dollars here and there? Is it really worth it?

 

Shawn H. ONeil Who ever is the last to leave, turn out the lights would ya…

 

Rosetta Fazio There’s nothing left around here except Macy’s !!

 

Joyce Messing Rosetta Fazio Macy’s is closing stores too .

 

Rosetta Fazio Joyce Messing sad too many stores and people out of jobs.

 

David Merino No wonder they had boots 50% off today I’m glad I got me a pair lol

 

Mike Merlo Never was a big fan, but I did buy a hammer once.

 

Pushpa Maharaj Shop there for Christmas

 

Connie Ricca They will all be closed heartbreaking

 

Jim Antonis Wow.. what a shame … I worked at Sears in 1976-78 men’s suits, automotive, hardware department.. started as a floater

 

Neva Wandersee Really great place to buy tools

 

Adrienne Hudson Awwww… I used to work there in high school. Everything is changing

 

Mateo James Kirk Martenson Use To Shop There When I Was Younger My Mom Bought My Clothes There Sears Was A Good Store At One Time

 

Renee Gomes So sad. This is my favorite store

 

Barbara Lee Thayer Renee Gomes That is your favorite store oh no

 

Arlene Cuadra Remember when they popcorn there I worked there to

 

Denise Eldred When I was a kid we always parked at the entrance close to the candy and nut counter. My grandfather would buy 25 cents worth of Spanish peanuts and we would share them on the way home.

 

Also at Halloween time they had a mix of black & orange jelly beans. My dad would eat the black jelly beans and give me the orange ones.

 

Donna Dennis My mom would buy Spanish peanuts the same way!

 

Sheri Medina Denise Eldred my Dad always bought a little bag of Spanish Peanuts, too. Wonderful memory! So sad it’s closing.

 

Charles B Waffles Rumor has it, the store location will be turned into HUGE T-Pumps.. lol

 

Pam Lawrence Worked there at Petrie’s

 

Jim Smith tehre goes my childhood

 

Austin Caba I never shopped there….

 

Lolita Batis-Mccoy I can’t believe it…oh nooo !!

 

BabeNalani Nahoku Martinez This is so sad. So many memories!

 

Angel Figueroa Farzana Hussain good memories div 44. A few black for days

 

Farzana Hussain Angel Figueroa awwww I know

 

Ana P Lugo Young Wow!!

 

Guillermo A Bernal Bout time.

 

Skuba Steve Arciniega Jeff we had some good times there.

 

Jeff Malfatti I can still smell the formaldehyde from underneath the CD cabinets…

 

Arlene Cuadra sad emoticon

 

Skuba Steve Arciniega Rommel Helen our high years were spent here

 

Rommel Mallari Skuba, yup!! Great high school experience! All good and excellent memories! First job ever.

 

Margoth Turcios Ivania V Velez another store bites the dust

 

Ivania V Velez Margoth see this is why I stopped leaving the house there’s no where to go

 

Katie Rodriguez Jessica Carranza we worked here forever lol

 

Jessica Carranza Katie Rodriguez we did! That’s sad.

 

Dion Anthony Afuha’amango-Co My dad used to ride his bike down to Tanforan as a kid in the 80’s.

 

Loren Portillo That’s sad

 

Jenn Obina Genie Obina

 

Danielle Lynn Jessica DeSalles

 

Jessica DeSalles Danielle Lynn I was just saying to my mom the other day when I was driving her home that I thought Sears was closing a while back, and she’s like no, I bought Savannah her birthday outfit from there last month… then I see this

 

Danielle Lynn Jessica DeSalles so sad. Your first job.

 

Jessica DeSalles Danielle Lynn I know, lol!!! I know!!! I kinda forgot about that !!!

 

Hind Jawydeh Lourdes R Obligacion

 

Carmen Tobar Isabel surprised emoticon

 

Russ Toy good riddance, they screwed me with the extended warranty.

 

Mirna Avila-Patton Aww so sad

 

Sabrina Barela To everyone who’s blaming online shopping, it’s not just that but also the fact that rent is so crazy high to run a shop there.

 

Ex-BK employee said they were closing down cause the rent doubled. Over 4K I think they said. Imagine how much Sears was paying. Stores inside Tanfo go in and out all the time because of this.

 

Danielle Howard About time!!

 

Louisa Piazza Condos maybe

 

Mary Lou Molina Look how long sears made it at tanforan.They did good!!!

 

Ana Lorena Ojeda Cecilia Sainez wow  that is sad. We had some good times there.

 

Sandy Cedeño Gomez Cecilia Sainez good lord our good old days back there !!

 

Angie Vargas Cecilia Sainez that’s sad

 

Cecilia Sainez Angie Vargas i know

 

Indiana Galarza Cecilia Sainez Damn good old sears days!! We had fun

 

Gina Gomez Dang. sad emoticon

 

Anjuli Maharaj Alvin Maharaj Ashita Narayan ;(

 

Alvin Maharaj Anjuli Maharaj awe that’s where we all started at … Chris Pitambar

 

Anjuli Maharaj Alvin Maharaj oh yeah that’s right I forgot Chris Pitambar used to work there too

 

Lisa Flippen Sad to here – I used to work there

 

Anthony Michael Pollastrini Me 2

 

Depika Narewatt Poonam Narewatt Ravi Narewatt Simran Narewatt mom and Chachi are going to be sad

 

Simran Narewatt Depika Narewatt awww they’re going to be very sad about it

 

Noel Antonio Arauz Good, that place was super shitty to work for

 

Celia Dueñas Valencia Noel Antonio Arauz true

 

Wayman Wong Why? Not good.

 

Arlene Cuadra Oh how sad

 

Nurin Chand Wendee Marie im devastated

 

Wendee Marie Nurin Chand sales are gonna be hella good before they close

 

Nurin Chand Yessss we gotta save $$

 

Rob Chapman End of an era. This is all thanks to Eddie Lambert. He destroyed the company. I see the building being vacant for a long time after this. It won’t become a Walmart. And there’s really no other big box retailer or department store chain that’s in a position to open a large store. It could be subdivided like what was done with the old Mervyn’s at Hillsdale. As for Tanforan, the vacancy rate is skyrocketing. Their are empty storefronts all over the place, and with both Forever 21 and Dressbarn closing that leaves two more large empty spaces. Dare I say Tanforan is repeating history and once again heading towards becoming a dead mall. Target and the theater are really the only two things keeping that from happening.

 

Angelica Gonzales Sanchez Ayala Ana Gonzales Schwefel what r you serious? Worked there 10 years good ol days

 

Patrick Maness Melody Maidu the Sears by us closed a few years ago. Not surprised.

 

Rose McInnis-Salazar Nooo this is just totally an end to an era. An Era that should not b ending…

 

David W Wade Who didn’t see this Comming

 

Sheri Medina David W Wade Right?

 

John Kevranian I bet Walmart will move-in.

 

Linda Parrett Ryan John Kevranian if we’re lucky. It’s getting “ghost town” like around here.

 

Arlene Cuadra Sears has been there a long time how sad

 

Regina Balton Wtf

 

Monique Melaver-Gonzalez Laura Dito Colombo

 

I’m not surprised… But Hella good memories with you all

 

Cecilia Sainez Monique Melaver-Gonzalez i agree .:. It was so much different when we worked there

 

Daniele Derenzi I saw this in Scott Perez’s wall and I was like wow. What in the world is going to go there.

 

Erica Navarro Monique Melaver-Gonzalez miss those days

 

Carol Honan Monique Melaver-Gonzalez for sure great memories with lots of people

 

Mj Cedor Back in the days…. it was once a great store with lots of fun and amazing people to work with… I am glad I had the opportunity to work there and meet all of you! Miss you guys!

 

Ruthie Kimble We have great memories,will always remember all the good time we had,friends and family fun.

 

Ale Navarrete Monique Melaver-Gonzalez great times, great memories, greater friendships

 

Maria Castro Ale Navarrete Monique Melaver-Gonzalez Erica Navarro Fun Times!

 

Erica Navarro Maria Castro yes

 

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments