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Venture Stores: The Forgotten Midwestern Giant - Post-Mortar
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- čas přidán 12. 08. 2024
- Venture Stores was a discount department store chain founded by Target creator John Geisse and May Company Executive Dave Babcock. Borrowing heavily from his former chain, Geisse would start what would become one of the last regional discounters. Watch their rapid rise and anti-climactic, yet equally rapid, decline in this episode of Post-Mortar.
*Choice clips of this video have been cut out due to inaccuracies*
Main theme:
Branches by DanoSongs
danosongs.com/
(used with permission)
Mike Kalasnik: www.flickr.com/photos/1054240...
Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
0:26 - John Geisse and Target Stores
1:29 - The May Company
2:13 - The Founding Fathers
3:01 - Venture is Ready to Compete
4:12 - Geisse Leaves & Venture Expands Rapidly
7:09 - The Fall of Venture
9:40 - Final Words
10:18 - Credits
Citations:
justpaste.it/venture
Alex Nuelle, 2020
Videos and images used in this episode belong to their respective owners.
#venturestores #target #discount
I am one of John Geisse's daughters. I really enjoyed this video which brought back a lot of fond memories. I remember sitting around the dinner table with my mother, father, and 9 siblings looking at proposed logos for both Target and Venture, and attending the ribbon cutting ceremonies of many store openings. I do want to point out that the photo used multiple times of the beautiful, red haired woman alongside my father is his sister, my Aunt Nancy Falls. My mother, the equally beautiful dark haired Mary W. Geisse, is depicted in only one photo with my father. She is wearing a white dress. She is also in the family group pictures towards the end of the video. Thank you, Terry G. Dunagan
Your father made a great store and I barely remember it now.
Jesse the body V also ASD
This is really cool!! I love Target! But was sadly not around for venture, I know my grandma LOVED VENTURE more than other stores, it was her go to!! Your dad was a pioneer and made just amazing go to stores ❤❤❤ I’m forever grateful
Wow it's really cool that you're here I have looked up to your dad since I was very young. We loved going to Venture and that subsequently led me to doing research on your dad and being amazed by how awesome he was. He was a PIONEER.
@@taylorp535 In 1993, My Mom worked for Venture in North Houston. They had Tons of great benefits at the time, and REAL good Inventory on inexpensive items. I remember the "Take Your Children to Work" Day. And on October 8,1993, she took me and my little brother to work. We stayed in the Back Lounge, I got to also try out 3DO and CDi in the Back Kiosk department. I'm sad that Venture's Expansion was a Failure. The Location closed in 1997.
I remember shopping at Venture with my mom, grandma, and great grandma often. My grandma would always get me a popcorn and icee from the snack bar.
I remember Ventures from my childhood!
Same!!! I was around 6/7 yr old
Oh yeah, same here💯
Same, I was born in 88 and my folks use to take us in there when we were kids.
@@mizzoupatriot8814I remember they always had fresh popcorn popping when you came in!!😅😂😤
@@descolabandz8855 Me Too! I remember their Brief time in Houston in 1993-94!
I might be wrong, but I believe the Venture we went to in the 70's and 80's had a cafeteria. They served some good food. Kmart's had little cafes too, in the beginning.
Cafe Venture! All the department stores had those much needed lunch areas. I had a bit about it but removed it for time.
I'd suggest taking a look at the article version of this video at www.postmortar.org
It has stuff I couldn't fit in the video, as well as edits I make. Thanks so much for watching!
They did have a cafe! Remember going with my mom and getting popcorn as a kid. I miss venture
I know they used to have a great bakery! They had a delicious cake with thick white icing and chocolate drizzled on top of it! I remember that from the 1970s and 1980s!
My first ever job at the age of 17 was at a Venture..in Chicago...on Grand and Kostner...I am dating myself but i do remember that before Venture, it was a Turn Style store at that location...Those were da days!!! (before Amazon ruled the world)
I loved Venture!!!
Honestly I miss Venture stores. My mom would take us there to get clothes and school supplies.
I used to get a cookie when I was a kid in the 70’s and my mom always told me that Kmart sucks Yeah she was right
I remember a Venture store in the South Bend, Indiana area. I shopped there when I was a student at the University of Notre Dame, 1985 till 1989. While living in Indiana I also discovered Target, Big Lots, Aldi, and Walmart, stores which I was completely unfamiliar with, none of which we had growing up in southwestern Pennsylvania.
At what point did you get Caldor in Pennsylvania?
I remember my mother being pulled into Venture when they came to the Chicagoland area. We had a KMart right up the street, but she was willing to drive to get to the Venture. Then I remember the Target going in, we quickly converted to Target shoppers, especially when a Target Greatland opening nearby in the early 90s and the family was completely smitten.
Loved the black and white look of the Venture signage and logo. It seems like it’s just a blip in retail history now.
Loved Venture when I was a kid.
Good job on the history of Venture! I am from Chicago and worked at the Norridge, IL Venture (V-25) 1987-1992. My recollection of the May spin-off was that May saddled Venture with insurmountable debt and it was hoped the expansion into Texas could overcome the debt - a long shot at best. I remember a lot of older long-time employees were excited about about employee stock ownership after I left. Meantime, Target and Walmart finally started opening stores closer to large metro areas, infringing on the Venture strongholds as you point out. That said, there was no noticeable K-Mart expansion in Chicago in the 90's - it was just Target and Walmart closing in on the city - I don't recall new K-Marts, just the same old run-down ones.
The only new Kmarts I recall opening in Chicago in the 90s were Super Kmarts, but those usually were relocations.
Schaumburg got a Super K-Mart, but I don't recall it lasting long.
I live very close to an ex-Venture store in Houston, which was one of the ones that were purchased by Kmart. After Kmart pulled out of Houston in 2003, sadly that store bit the dust and Burlington moved right in not too long after. Today, it is currently a performing arts center for the school district it sits within (Burlington downsized and moved to a smaller spot down the street). Absolutely no traces of Venture left in the building to this day, other than a loading dock door in the back of the store.
Loved Venture. Well done. Look forward to more videos.
I remember going here with my father a lot as a kid back in the 90s.
Had one briefly in Texas City back in the early 90s.
Venture’s was my family store! We went there for any and everything, school supplies, Halloween costumes, Christmas presents and decorations, and of course, clothes! I got my first pair of Chic jeans from there, ice washed, size ten, man, you couldn’t tell me I wasn’t sexy in my Chic jeans! I was sad when Venture’s closed. They had the best popcorn and Icees! Thanks for the memories, Venture!
I loved my career with Venture Stores and was fortunate to work with great people - some of whom I am still in touch with to this day!
My mother often shopped at the Wentzville location. It was a very nice store. Clean, well-organized, great selection. There was even a little cafe at the rear of the store.
I remember them, anytime I went with my mom to Kmart or Kroger id beg her to go to Venture. I vaguely remember the store’s layout but I do recall they had a massive toy section that had things other stores didn’t carry. Great video!
This is my first ever comment on CZcams after over a decade. Alex, this is great! Really looking forward to more episodes from you.
Thank you so much!! Welcome back!
Thank you! I worded it poorly; I’ve been watching stuff on here for over a decade but I haven’t felt like my comment would have meant anything until now, so I meant it as a compliment to your video and channel for being so good I couldn’t stay quiet anymore 😊
That means a lot. So glad you did 👌🏽
Love the old 60s and 70s commercials interspersed thru your story. Hard to believe they appealed to anyone.
Great work man! Very well produced
Thanks so much!
My Ventures store in St.peters MO was everything to me in 78/79. I. Was a huge KISS fan and loved goin to the record department and seeing from floor to ceiling KISS 8 tracks and lps and later on cassettes. Dolls lunch boxes they had it all. My very fondest memories growing up in St.peters.
Still miss it. First job was at 17 at the Decatur, IL store. Lots of great memories with the other young ones who worked there part time at night. Snack bar, popcorn, lots of horsing around.
The ventures in Decatur was my favorite store going up. Always liked going through to the little mall with the arcade and movie theatre.. it looks so sad now
This is good. I'm happy to find another good retail historian that doesn't have that annoying droney voice.
Yes there was a Venture location in Chicago right across the street from the Norfolk Southern Railroad Landers Yard! My dad used to shop there!
Mine used to be close to 47th and Pulaski and then when they went out of business it became a big Kmart after that went out of business it turned into a Target
As a native St. Louisan, nothing compares to Venture. I still miss it so much.
Jus saw your Ch. 2 interview, great job! Would love to see one of these on Jamestown Mall (or Malls in the STL region). And maybe even a tour of Jamestown Mall now before its demolished and gone forever.
I'm currently working on a series for Malls, and that will definitely be an episode. Thank you so much!!
Alex Nuelle Awesome! Great work👍🏽
Love your videos, would really enjoy if you would create a flow chart showing all of the mergers/acquisition/consolidations of the major retail stores to current day, that's a lot of work but would be awesome to see!
That's actually a really great idea! I may have to do that in the future! Thanks for watching!
I remember being 11 when Venture closed, and it was then turned into K-Mart (the location we usually went to). They had a very large Venture sign at the entrance to the parking lot. So the slapped a K-Mart banner over it. We’ll last year, after sitting vacant for some years, the K-Mart banner flew off due to some strong winds, to reveal the old Venture sign. Maybe the sign is way too massive for it to be removed, but it’s pretty cool seeing the Venture sign in tact in 2020.
The Florissant location, right? That was really cool when it blew off. It happened again a while back and I was there for it.
@@PostMortar yep.
Back in the day, I used to work for the following department stores, discount department, and superstore are:
#1. Hudson's, #2. Montgomery Ward, #3. Kmart, and #4. Meijer, which is a superstore chain based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Between the 4 chain stores that I worked for either closed permanently or merged with a national chain store.
Venture truly was in a league of their own
Yeah I know it was f***** up they had managers who treated us workers like dogs it was pitiful
Our Venture at 801 West Lake Street Peoria IL closed April 18 1998 right after they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 1997 and changed to Liquidation by February 1998 and all closed by June 31 1998
Illinois had some great locations. Sorry to hear that. Thanks for sharing.
Loved Venture as a kid growing up in the 80’s. Great video.
Thank you!
I remember getting all my Batman and Ninja turtle action figures at ventures
Worked for Venture from 1997 to 98. I was only part-time, so wasn’t exposed to the same issues full-timers were. We had a good location, good merchandise, and plenty of shoppers. We also had hilariously bad management and tons of relationship drama between employees. Keeping the store in order became more and more impossible. Finally reached the point where nightly recovery was just clearing goods off the floor so it could be swept. Sad.
My only memory of this store is usually bringing home a big bag of popcorn each time we went.
Had a venture in my town (st. joe mo). Played the SNES demo system there as a kid.
I used to shop at Venture a lot in the 1980s. This really took me back.
In their day, they were one of the best out there.
Venture Stores will ALWAYS be my Favorite regular job I ever had. They treated their employees like gold... if they hadn't gone out of business I'd likely still be there. Started as cashier, picked up for Market Trainer (loved that position), then was the front end to everything else mgr as the company shrank the mgt force slowly and then closed. I was there when nothing was left, the store dead and empty. Sad day.
We had one in our town of Waukegan Illinois. I believe it opened in 1985.
I still miss Venture. I went to one in Merrillville, IN. Often, I would take my mom on Wednesdays, which was Senior Citizen Discount day-10% off. My grown children have fond memories of the big bags of different colored cotton candy that my mom paid 89 cents for after her discount. Got my oldest child her Cabbage Patch doll there when they first came out and before people started fighting for them in stores! A wonderful store! Target and Kohl’s appeared on the scene, and it was bye-bye Venture. 😢😢
I worked at Venture in the Homewood (Chicago area) store from July-November 1991. The managers there were incompetent but the staff were nice. i ended up quitting because I wanted to concentrate on college and they expected me to devote more time to working than I wanted.
Same here in Dallas! It was horribly mismanaged.
@@Debutante24 It was. The one that hired me would hire recent college grads who never worked retail yet expected us to know retail. Often they would sit in the cafeteria upfront just to watch us.
Oh, I miss the Venture that was in Indianapolis, Indiana on West Washington St. It turned into a Target and it is now an Emporium flea market.
Glad to hear someone in Indiana missed Venture. If only they expanded earlier, or planned it better…
damn I love these videos. I learn more about Murica!
This is fantastic. I love the whole design of your series...retro but very clean! Looking forward to seeing more of these. Excellent, excellent work!
Thank you so much!! Happy to have you watching!
I worked for Venture twice. Once in the print shop (making all of the interior signage for the stores), and again cataloguing corporate files for the court and receivers after the bankruptcy filing. I was there on the absolute last day that Venture existed. There were five or six of us working in a rented office/warehouse space on Midpoint Dr. in O'fallon, MO. At that point Venture was just a bunch of boxes of hastily filled file boxes. I remember that it took me months and months just to inventory the contents. It was kind of sad.
Thanks for the quick history. It was nice to see.
I live in the st. Peter's area and my dad used to live in st louis. He told me the stores used to be great and that he used to work there in the 80s. Currently off of arrow ln and East Terra in ofallon is where true manufacturing is located, in the former warehouses of Venture. I only know this because I work for the local phone company and on our phone prints it still has the location listed as Venture. I'm 23 so I never witnessed the stores myself but figured I would share what I know with a local person lol. Thanks for your recollection, I love learning about local history such as once great retailers
@@cameronr7223 Yeah, the Venture Office Building and warehouse. Now home to True Manufacturing. Venture built it in '85, I think (maybe '86). Before that, Venture was headquartered in offices at Northwest Plaza in north St. Louis county. Oddly enough, Northwest Plaza doesn't exist any more either.
@@foxgodrecords2752 it's sad seeing places close, I almost worked at the radio shack and toys r us on mid rivers too, both now obviously gone. Walmart and amazon have killed so many businesses
Love this stuff man! Very enjoyable to watch
Thanks so much!!
Definitely! I saw the toys-r-is vid a few months back. Definitely another good one.
@@PostMortar My Mom worked for Venture in 1993!
VENTURE! I may not have been alive when venture was popular but I found so many receipts such from when my grandma shopped at venture back in the 70s and early 80s! It was one of her go to stores next to Zayre! They were both near each other in my neighborhood so she would normally go to both! But she did go to venture more! ❤
Same here. That’s similar to how I found out about the chain. I’m from St. Louis so I heard a lot about it.
Dude you should have more subs your videos are great
Thanks so much! So you agree? LOL
I can still smell these stores
Lots of behind the scenes names. BUT have store info mixed up. Kmart and Zayre were big in Chicago first. Ames later bought Zayre, who continues on as TJX Companies today. Venture fell out of favor along with Kmart due to both Walmart on Cheap and Target on Tar-shey - upscale discount. Venture was small and fell out of favor. Marshall Fields was not owned by Dayton until 1990s expansion of Target to Chicago with what I call GREEN TARGET - Greatland and Super stores - that were going for Marshall Field shoppers- and others with their cursive word combined in green with the target logo - and more upscale merchandise at a discount and scale.
Great video! Please do one on The Old Country Buffet 🙏🏻🙏🏻
I remember a location in Plano Texas (Dallas area) My mom liked going there. But it didn't last very long, maybe 2 or 3 years in the late 90s. They had these help buttons in some of the aisles that would activate the intercom with a pre-recorded message that played in the entire store "customer needs assistance, zone 13" or something like that. Me, bro and sister, would run around the store hitting all the buttons 😂😂 we were bad 😅
**Choice clips of this video have been cut out due to inaccuracies**
Want more Post-Mortar??
Here's the series playlist: czcams.com/video/8whzI9wyj-A/video.html
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Thanks so much for putting this together Alex!
Oh - and well done!
Thank you for watching! I'm so happy everyone likes it!
Venture. The discount store that didn't feel like a discount store.
I live right down the street from the 1st location in Overland, MO, which is now a Home Depot. I used to love going there and mom would get that big bag of popcorn and an Icee from the cafe.
Love this channel. Cover Incredible Universe & Fry’s! Also, Mervyns.
Thank you! Those are definitely on the list for future videos. Keep an eye out.
@@PostMortar seriously bringing back a lot of good memories…
There were 2 stores we went to a lot when I was a young child up till I was about 12 or 13 that I remember fondly. They were Shopper’s World and Topps! Does anyone else besides me, my husband, and several of my friends remember these stores? It would be great if you could do a video about those! 😊
I'd love to see Children's Palace
Definitely a future episode!
Yeah, do an episode on Child World/Children's Palace!
Loved Venture
I fondly remember them opening the venture store in baytown, texas around 1995 or so and our family shopping there a few times. It was a large, significant construction of a major shopping centre on garth rd, a pretty store which had some nice items and a comfy cafe at the front, as well a boston market was built in its parking lot, a strange restaurant we never got around to trying, and both of them seemed to have closed around the same time only a couple years later, and that was it-- no one seems to remember or speak of it, but its building still stands to this day, reopened as a hobby lobby, divided its left half into a ross and expanded on the other side into a chain of strip mall stores. Oh, and the boston market reopened later as a taco cabana, then later as a starbucks, which it remains.
We had a venture right across the street from kmart. As teens my sister worked for venture and I worked for kmart. The family always preferred kmart for some reason. When venture closed kmart moved into it. Home depot demolished the old kmart location and built themselves a rat infested spot. After the kmart that took over venture location closed they turned it into a medical office.
There was one in Arlington heights Illinois in the 90s that I remember.
Only here briefly in Texas, but a great store.
I remember venture
Used to have a venture in crest hill il always loved going there but when in closed down in 98 the building sat empty for a while til they tried to bring back ames and goldblatts, those didn't last long then it turned into a food 4 less which is still there to this day
I miss the old days I grew up in Orland Park IL I was surrounded by all the stores that are gone now Venture Montgomery Wards Sears Builders Square 1 and 2 Gately’s Service Merchandise Kmart Marshal Fields Circuit City Silo Electronics Store how time flies all of them were within a 5 mile radius
My god !! Burnt Orange 🤮🤮 Thanks for the Upload !! Xd
I miss when there was more competition in the market.. there used to be so many amazing companies.. I hate that America is a plutocracy now.
I really enjoy these types of videos. What video program do you use to make these?
I use Adobe Premiere and After Effects. For audio I use Audition and a Yeti X mic. Thanks so much for watching!
Never got to shop at Venture, but it seemed like it was a head of its time and unfortunately just couldn't adapt to the changes in the retail industry.
This popped up after the Child World one, and Service Merchandise is next on the feed. I shed more than a few manly tears for these fallen friends.
You know, 'round the back of the Big K-mart in Oak Lawn, there used to be the concrete striping of Venture, the last remnant of its former identity.
EDIT: Forgot to tell you: Even the Big K-Mart has gone the way of all flesh, and is now an Amazon Fresh market.
This is a long shot, but do you happen to know anything about the Venture's on Lemay Ferry in St. Louis that became a Kmart? I worked there in 2015 and there was a very odd backroom that felt more like a cave system, went unbelievably far, no windows, shoddy electric wiring. We weren't allowed to go in there alone unless we'd worked there for a long time, and even then, we were scared to. I think it spanned the entire store. I'd love to see any floorplans of the place if you have them. Wish I'd mapped it out when I worked there. Thanks, hope you're well
I went to the Lemay location several times and remember the backroom looking early-90s-ish. I wish I could say I have something from there, but no dice. Try the "Venture Stores" page on Facebook: facebook.com/venturestores
I have no memories of this store, but I think my parents know of it.
It was a scaled down version of target, just with out all that red
we had one as a child i went with my mom she loved it
I sure wish someone had the recipe for the cheesecake they used to sell in their bakery!!
Were is the May Company now headed for Bankruptcy. If May would have put their profits into Venture They could have made Super Venture Stores and MA would have gotten rid of the more expensive stores in the malls and went to Venture.
I think Super Venture would have been a fantastic idea, but it would have had to come sometime before the 90s. Venture couldn't have made a Super Target/Hypermarket competitor after being spun-off, they just had way too much debt. Perhaps around the time Sam's Club was established.
I Rember something like every 59th shopper had items free. That may just been grand opening thing or all the time not sure. Don’t know the year in north Texas but I Remember neo geo handheld being sold.
I loved venture
Does anyone know who or what form designed the Venture logo?
I've tried to find that out myself, but to no avail. I do know, however, that one of the preliminary logos was basically an exact copy of the Target's. So, perhaps it was the same firm who designed that logo, too?
i know it's a long shot, but i'm looking everywhere for some of the venture commercials from the early-mid 90s when they expanded to texas. it looks like you had more footage than i've seen on youtube. do you know where i'd be able to find any?
All the clips in this video came from CZcams, I believe. Here’s a couple later commercials:
Going out of business, 1998: czcams.com/video/DV1n_Xv1kbU/video.htmlsi=_9Tn68FVcToHHxkc
Indianapolis Expansion, 1992: czcams.com/video/OS7oKG5RSI4/video.htmlsi=T-yghH738zB53Idb
Here’s one from 1989, uploaded after I made this video: czcams.com/video/zvgl_liSFJ4/video.htmlsi=cLqZRU6tNBsGq5hu
I haven’t seen any from Texas unfortunately.
Venture made a mistake gambled expansion went after DFW markets than keeping the core stronger.
Good job. Thank you. Thomas Geisse son of John F Geisse
I miss this store me and my mom used to go there all the time each Saturday or Sunday I used to buy my boombox there and my CDs cassettes movies VCR player power rangers all type of toys smh I wish they bring this stores back target is a cheap wanna be Venture allot of cool stores are now closed like Kmart sears
Just bought some employee pins from a thrift shop.
Can we get a video on why Kmart failed compared to Walmart and target and why sears and jcpenny failed?
I'm considering a special series for chains that lost their dominance, so stay tuned but it'll probably be a while.
@@PostMortar STOKED. I can't imagine the type of research that goes into making these videos. Thank you for your work!
Goldblatts
I shop at ventures back in 1994 to buy my school clothes we had one in wichita kansas it didnt stay open to long they turn it into a shopko
Yup yup asd
The Venture store in Topeka sucked! Bait and switch ads, merchandise in bins marked one price but rang up higher at the counter, rain checks not honored, fraudulent rebates, etc.
Glad they're gone.
Fairlawn Plaza