Abandoned - Montgomery Ward

We still have a Montgomery Ward deep freezer from 1992. The thing still refrigerates our hunting trip meats like a champ.

My mom actually made a career out of working for Montgomery Ward. She worked there for 25 years, and started off on the docks before working all the way up to Store Manager before they shuttered her store as a part of the 1997/1998 round of store closings. She'd go off to work for Kmart (which is ironically how I discovered you and this video from your Abandoned: Kmart video) for another 5 years before retiring for good. The picture you show at 9:20 is actually my mother's store. It was the Montgomery Ward located at 2500 W Colonial Drive in Orlando, Florida. This Wards location actually had a very large Automotive Center attached to it as well. When the Wards closed, thankfully the location did not go abandoned and Orange County Sheriff's Office bought the land and with some renovations to the interior and the removal of the stone pebble exterior walls, some paint, and a small foyer built onto the front of the building as an addition along with some minor renovations to the auto center to serve as a fleet mechanic repair shop for the sheriff's vehicles, the location is now the Headquarters of the Orange County Sheriff's Office. As an aside, the other Wards location in Orlando in South Orlando near the Florida Mall went abandoned for many years until eventually it was purchased in the early 2000's I remember and turned into a warehouse/retail store combination for our local Goodwill Industries. The exterior was very similar to the store you showed at 7:56. Not sure if it was the same one or not, I don't know that much about the South Orlando store, only my mothers and that's been through years of on and off research. I was very young when all this happened with Wards closing (around 7-8 years old) but even into my teens and even after I went off to college (which was after my mom passed away sadly) we had perfectly functioning Montgomery Ward appliances in the house and my mom used to get all of my kid clothes from there. My mom even got me my first video game console (an NES) from Electric Avenue. I was too young to really appreciate Wards for what it was, and I always love hearing about a company that my mom gave 1/3rd of her life to working at and serving and learning more about them. Thank you very much for this very well put together video and in a roundabout way for also commemorating my mom's store.

I have a Wards refrigerator that my parents bought in 1977. Works well.

146 years. It was a good run, Montgomery Ward. It was a good run indeed.

A suggestion of the difference between Abandoned and Bankrupt. Abandoned: Anything with a Physical remnant to it. While theme-parks, malls, and cruise ships are obvious; companies with remaining unused stores fit this. Bankrupt: Any company that has not left anything physically behind. PanAm worked because it's presence at an airport has completely vanished due to other companies swiftly coming in. Banks, Telecommunication, Energy Companies and such. Cancelled: Anything that had a potential but never came to be. I just realized you have an ABC of programming! A-bandoned, B-ankrupt, and C-ancelled! You should do something like that with your banner! (For a fourth series, maybe "Demolished")

My first credit card was a Montgomery Ward card, went right to the store and bought me a Super Nintendo NES with Donkey Kong, teenage priorities my friends.

It always breaks my heart to hear of these things. Now I realize I'm part of that dying era too. The days of skating rinks, arcades and malls are sadly being phased out. I wonder being replaced by what?...

My grandma had an AC unit from them that worked for 20+ years. They really don’t make things like they use to

I find it astonishing that both Montgomery Wards & Sears exited the catalog business just before the internet brought back the catalog business. Both invested heavily in brick & mortar stores at just the time that brick & mortar stores were going out of date. Wards is gone. If Sears isn't gone yet, it may as well be.

It’s sad when stores from your childhood are no longer there. Thanks for making videos like this. Keep up the awesome work!!! 👍

My dad was an engineer at Mobil Research Corp all through the 70’s and 80’s. In ‘74 when Mobil acquired Montgomery Wards all Mobil Research employees got a substantial discount on all Montgomery Wards items so everything new around our house came from them. Washer, dryer, vacuum, dehumidifier, air conditioner, everything. I never really heard of them before that and then suddenly everything had the Montgomery Ward brand on it.

Now that I think about it, a lot of retailers went bankrupt in the early 2000s 🤔

I cannot lie when I say that this is possibly my favorite YouTube channel of all time, your content has so much thought put into it and soul, it’s almost as if the audience can feel the love put forth by the creator. Thanks for continually making this content dude.

This continues to be my favorite series on YouTube ... every episode is great

I missed the 80s, watching those old commercials made me realize how much i missed those times.

There was a point in my childhood where every appliance and electronic device in the house was bought from Montgomery Ward.

You know, I've always been under the impression that the company way pronounced the same way the city in Alabama is. It's spelt the same way, though I do look like an idiot lol

This one actually hit kinda close to home since my parents met being coworkers at a Montgomery Ward's. If they had gone under a few decades before they did, I might not even exist. Wasn't expecting an existential crisis from an Abandoned video but still enjoyed it!

The Montgomery Ward building a few miles from home is still standing abandoned since 1999.