ANN & HOPE (the Original)
Cumberland, RI -
Cumberland, RI -
credited with pioneering many practices that are commonplace
today in modern big box stores. The building and store were
named after a ship, the Ann and Hope, which was lost at sea
off of Block Island, Rhode Island in 1806. All of the Ann & Hope
department stores closed in the spring of 2001, except for the
two Rhode Island stores: the original location in Cumberland
and the store in Warwick. The two locations that remained open
were downsized significantly and turned into off-price "outlet stores."
We always shopped at Ann & Hope. My first typewriter, a Smith Corona Galaxie Deluxe, came from Ann & Hope. They had the best popcorn in town, too..."Air Popt" it was called. I was rummaging around in my old things the other day and found a price tag from Ann & Hope!
ReplyDeleteYup, awesome popcorn. The snack bar area was in between Ann & Hope and the Stop & Shop. Places to sit down and have a hot dog, hamburger or my favorite, the infamous Ann & Hope pizza! If you got two pepperonis on a slice, you were lucky, but the pizza itself was the best.
Deletecan someone please tell me if they remember having to pay to use the bathroom. I recall a coin dispenser (similar to a bubble gum machine) on the stall door. Did I dream that up?
ReplyDeleteYup, you had to put a dime in the door latch to let you in. And just outside the door at the Warwick store was the "smoke shop" I used to love the smell of the pipe tobacco! And the cash registers had no change in them, at the end of the conveyor belt, the change automatically rolled out of the dispenser into the little dish. Mom would always let us get the change for the dozen assorted gumball machines near the exit doors!
Deleteha, Funny you can remember that - there was a fee to use the toilet BUT if someone was in the stall that would almost Always let you in for Free - i guess it wasn't much of a MoneMaker for the outlet !!!
ReplyDeleteLol I do remember that I think I may have crawled under a time or two..
DeleteI remember the Dartmouth one had them too. As a kid I never understood why you needed to pay to pee! As kids we used to just crawl under the door to go if we had to go really bad. I got yelled at by an old lady for doing it.
ReplyDeleteI miss Ann & Hope. I do shop at the outlets. I have bags and price tags from A & H in my defunct retail collection.
Worst business practice ever was charging customers to pay to use the restrooms. I always got an icee and popcorn at ann+hope.
ReplyDeleteLoved the one in Cumberland. I use to walk the train tracks from the Pawtucket/Attleboro line to go there...
ReplyDeleteStill there but it's all home goods. The only place I can find 54 " long curtains. I loved their clothes - many good names at reasonable prices and up-to-date. I remember my youngest son wanting a "Michael Jackson" jacket so I took him there. I didn't have much money, it was what the kids called 'pleather' but he always had it on. We used to laugh as he headed off to school in the rain. I figured someday he'd come home and all the zippers would be rusted and I'd have to cut the jacket off him.
ReplyDeleteHA!. I am still wearing a Pulsar watch I bought there (in the 80s?) at the jewellery counter right near where there was an escalator to take the carts up and down stairs.
ReplyDeleteI used to work there in 1965 and I I was just there at the Flea market this morning! Things sure have changed!
do you remember stop & shop next door and when did that close..what was there afterwards?
DeleteIt was called the scratch and dent show
DeleteRocky point park had 10 cent toilet booths too.. Ann and Hope was good for letting you do your Xmas shopping and they would store everything for you while you paid for it on a layaway plan.
ReplyDeleteMy Mom always took me clothes shopping at Ann & Hope. Used to go to the one in Warwick. It was cheaper than the Mall and they had nice stuff. Good memories!
ReplyDeleteSame here. I remember picking up our school clothes and that certain smell when we opened the box.. It was thart back to school smell! LOL.. I remember when i got my blue jean overalls. corduroys and turtle neck shirts how I loved them?
DeleteI will never forget this Store,alot of memories for me! the one on Post Road Warwick RI, was a favorite shopping place for my Mother,and Grandmother's
ReplyDeleteAnn & Hope had the very best curtain dept in RI. The quality and prices were awesome!! Now the curtains come from China and you get 1/2 pair in a package......it's like getting 1 sock in a package......the cloth is cheezy and falls apart after one washing........
ReplyDeleteI used to buy really cheap reel-to-reel audio tape there in the early 60's for my Webcor tape recorder. Best Chrisrmas present ever! I still have some of the reels, but no way to play them.
ReplyDeleteMy mother took me back-to-school clothes shopping at the Ann & Hope near the airport in Warwick every year until about 7th grade. Other memories include going to visit Santa at Christmas, standing in the line, but being too afraid, crying and leaving the line when it was almost my turn. Also remember going to buy Polaroid film before vacations. And the BEST: getting ICEE's or soft serve ice cream cones with chocolate or rainbow jimmies after a long afternoon of shopping.
ReplyDeleteIf Ann & Hope didn't have it, you didn't need it! More Cadillac's in the parking lot than anywhere else. I remember parking in the wrinkle inn area and taking a shuttle to the store (early 60's). The long staircase to Broad st. People would leave their lights on to disrupt the patrons at Lonsdale drive in north. Best place to buy records in the 60's and 70's.
ReplyDeleteI miss getting lost in the toy aisle in the Cumberland, RI location. All the Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, and X-Men toy selections were amazing and a kid's dream. My mom would put many things on layaway for my sister and I growing up. Going here was a family affair with my grandma and aunts along for the ride. Those were the gold old days.
ReplyDeleteAnyone remember the loud sounds in the ceiling from supply carts zipping across? My sis and I would always be amazed by that for whatever reason.
I was just at the Cumberland one this afternoon. I bought a mesh neon green laundry bag for $1.00. It looks like something a cage dancer wears.
ReplyDeleteThey still have cheap stuff but it’s like the bottles of detergent and air freshener that will probably give you a rash if it touches your skin.
Who remembers Ann and Hope
ReplyDeletePIZZA?
Yes!!!
DeleteI loved that pizza! I grew up across the street at 425 Broad. My dad owned a diner there in the late 40s & 50s, but had to close when the new high school opened. My mom worked at the pizza & grinders spot for awhile. Bought my first records there. And I ended up being one of the long haired kids that hung around in the parking lot. I have fond memories of Santa showing up every year. I remember one year he showed up on a helicopter and another on the back of a fire truck. Great memories!
DeleteAfter Ann & Hope downgraded their 2 stores in Warwick & Cumberland they opened more outlet stores over the years in CT & MA until all of the outlet stores closed.
ReplyDeleteI had a beautiful used drum kit space for a very brief time at the Bargain City flea on the lower floor of the Cumberland Ann&Hope We just got going when Covid closed us up for two months Which at the time was fine with me. After getting the green light to reopen it was not but two weeks later that Ann&Hope sent a letter to the Flea Market operators to have all of us vendors vacate the building within 30 days, as the property was being sold.. That created a mad dash by dozens and dozens of vendors to move out all at the same time. It was a hectic stressful enormous amount of wasted time and money.
ReplyDelete