Please explain; I’m not old enough to remember these stores. But I’m curious whats the difference between these department stores smell like compared to like a Mervin’s or any other department store and why?
The smell was just something else. Mothballs and... something else fabric related. It somehow smelled incredibly sanitary and vomit inducing at the same time.
Im not sure why it was so different than other department stores. Maybe because they didn’t have a perfume counter, or maybe because the shoes, handbags and belts were arranged near the front of the store. To me it had a strong smell of leather goods and something like a tire shop combined. Like leather and rubber. Very strong but not unpleasant smell. I loved it honestly.
I can't disagree. It's a unique smell. Like how Vegas casinos are pumped full of air freshener to cover up cigarettes and there's nothing that can replicate smoke + that air freshener. Weiners was just.... something else.
I remember it being on Garth and Decker in the strip center. Tia Maria’s on the end and Wok Delight out front. We weren’t wealthy and my parents didn’t spend big money on clothes. I always had to shop in the husky section. 😂😂😂
Core memories of No Fear and looney tunes graphic tshirts. I did get some dope ass Griffeys one time. I actually bought them again a few years ago on a rerelease.
Dude yeah exactly: back to school to get my one new pair of pants for the year and listen to my grandmother fuss about how being a growing boy was costing her money. If she was feeling generous I might get a shirt with the school mascot on it.
I remember the sound of the metal hangers being dragged around the metal rods throughout the entire place. "Squeek, Reek, Clang" (Heather so help me God!!! Don't hide in the clothing racks!!!)😂
I worked at the corporate headquarters up until the final day all the stores closed and the company went out of business. The headquarters was on north post oak @ west view road.
Antoine and little york. My poor ass got all my school clothes from Weiners and shoes from Payless. Back then, thrift shopping was not cool and us broke folk were shunned.
Yep, the only good thing about the weiner school clothes run was getting burger king, subway, or baskin robins. I did enjoy the crafts etc and the old pharmacy that had an antique penny gumball machine and the pharmacist would give a lolipop.
We may have gone to the same schools back in the day. My mom used to take me to that one to get cheap shoes since I would destroy them over a summers worth of time. (usually vans or airwalks)
290 and 34th. I got the knockoff Members Only jacket and Bugle Boy parachute pants. I think it set my confidence back a few notches in middle school. Thanks Weiner’s. 😤
Yes! One on Center Street in Deer Park. Got all my groovy earth tone Velour and Terry Cloth threads there. And Levi's "Slim Cut" for super skinny awkward boys😂
Yep, there was one on Shepherd and 11th (Heights). Remember one time, we were eating at Popeye's and then we saw a kid running down the street with a bunch of clothing (presumably borrowing it from the store).
I remember shopping there as a kid, but remember specifically after the 1994 flood after my house got flooded having some vouchers or donated gift cards or something and getting a bunch of clothes there. Someone also mentioned the smell. Yes, that smell was unique and if I were to come across it again I'd instantly transported to the 90s
Are you talking about the one on 45 and W Mt Houston? That’s the store I used to go to, but this was during the 90s! Have great memories of that place, turned into a giant dollar store years after they closed.
When I was real little in the late 80s (ages 5-7) we used to go to the Weiners on Federal road, on the east side of town. I remember it had a bullet hole in one window, at least I think it was a bullet hole. Guess who put their mouth on that hole EVERY TIME I was there? This guy.
First job... kind of... got fired... I was so green. I was sweeping the stock room and two coworkers were taking out the trash... it was my first week... they were putting shoes in trash bags and putting them out by the dumpster and then coming back and getting the items at the end of the night. I was on camera in the stock room and I may have held the door open so they had me doing that. I dont know if someone tried to blame me but I didnt add anything to the video evidence. I didn't see or hear anything. They fired me but at least they didnt press charges. Last time I trusted anyone at work. Definitely a core memory.
I used to work there, and it was a bit more upscale than Marshall’s. It carried the major brands like Ralph Lauren, etc., but a lot of knock-offs, too.
Went to the one on 45 and 249 for back to school shopping as a kid. I have a coworker that worked there up until they closed. That coworker pronounces it "whiners" but I remember the commercials saying "weeners" so not sure if we were mispronouncing it the whole time.
Wallisville and Uvalde was the store for back to school clothes. Hated going there but loved playing super smash bros at the Kmart in the same shopping center.
I picked a husband and wife from Mexico at Hobby Airport for my work boss. On the way north on I-45 we passed both Weiners and Fingers. They looked at each other with surprise on their faces. I tried to explain to them what those stores were. 😂🤣
I remember being a kid in a Teach For America summer program, where new teachers from around the country got some teaching experience in during the summer before their first year started.
One of the teachers I had was from the Midwest somewhere and was using newspaper sale ad to illustrate something regarding percentages. The guy picked up a Wieners ad and started talking, "So if we look at this Why-en-ers ad we can see..." The whole class erupted in laughter.
The teacher stopped to ask what we were laughing at. We told him, "It's not Why-en-ers, it's weeners!" He looked dumbfounded and was like, "No way. There's no way they named this store Wieners (weeners)!" Once he accepted what we were telling him we all had a huge laugh... then learned about percentages.
I still remember the smell.
I came here to say this. That's what I remember when I was a kid.
Please explain; I’m not old enough to remember these stores. But I’m curious whats the difference between these department stores smell like compared to like a Mervin’s or any other department store and why?
The smell was just something else. Mothballs and... something else fabric related. It somehow smelled incredibly sanitary and vomit inducing at the same time.
I remember the fitting rooms smelled like urine
It’s like how subway sandwich always smells like bleach.
Im not sure why it was so different than other department stores. Maybe because they didn’t have a perfume counter, or maybe because the shoes, handbags and belts were arranged near the front of the store. To me it had a strong smell of leather goods and something like a tire shop combined. Like leather and rubber. Very strong but not unpleasant smell. I loved it honestly.
I can't disagree. It's a unique smell. Like how Vegas casinos are pumped full of air freshener to cover up cigarettes and there's nothing that can replicate smoke + that air freshener. Weiners was just.... something else.
I think it was mainly formaldehyde from the sizing (chemical sprayed on the clothes to protect in storage and transport).
I hated going to this place. My mom would take us back-to-school shopping and I would just check out and let her get whatever.
Me too, I dreaded going to Weiner's for school clothes but we were poor.
I remember it being on Garth and Decker in the strip center. Tia Maria’s on the end and Wok Delight out front. We weren’t wealthy and my parents didn’t spend big money on clothes. I always had to shop in the husky section. 😂😂😂
Yeah you are right it was Woodcreek shopping center, fixed.
Core memories of No Fear and looney tunes graphic tshirts. I did get some dope ass Griffeys one time. I actually bought them again a few years ago on a rerelease.
Same. All we could afford at times, but she always tried so ehh. Definitely checked out though lol.
The 20% off sale hit!!!
Didn’t they have a toy section? I remember some cool Gijoe movie action figure around 1994 but I could be mistaken.
Dude yeah exactly: back to school to get my one new pair of pants for the year and listen to my grandmother fuss about how being a growing boy was costing her money. If she was feeling generous I might get a shirt with the school mascot on it.
I remember the sound of the metal hangers being dragged around the metal rods throughout the entire place. "Squeek, Reek, Clang" (Heather so help me God!!! Don't hide in the clothing racks!!!)😂
Weiners have a distinct smell.
Hahaha same here
I worked at the corporate headquarters up until the final day all the stores closed and the company went out of business. The headquarters was on north post oak @ west view road.
Antoine and little york. My poor ass got all my school clothes from Weiners and shoes from Payless. Back then, thrift shopping was not cool and us broke folk were shunned.
Yep, the only good thing about the weiner school clothes run was getting burger king, subway, or baskin robins. I did enjoy the crafts etc and the old pharmacy that had an antique penny gumball machine and the pharmacist would give a lolipop.
Weiners and Payless was the ultimate back to school team up
I remember clothes from Weiners and Woolco. I bought my Levi's at Weiner's.
I would hide in the racks if a popular high school girl walked in... EHS '78
We may have gone to the same schools back in the day. My mom used to take me to that one to get cheap shoes since I would destroy them over a summers worth of time. (usually vans or airwalks)
On Beechnut near Meyerland.
I worked there.
Dickinson TX from the late 70s checking in.. What a shit show, ha
Ours was on El Camino in clear lake.
My mom took us there so much I basically grew up in that store
290 and 34th. I got the knockoff Members Only jacket and Bugle Boy parachute pants. I think it set my confidence back a few notches in middle school. Thanks Weiner’s. 😤
I still remember when they had the silver Trans Am jackets like Burt Reynolds wore in Smokey and the Bandit. You could tell who shopped at Weiners
BUGLE BOY...good times!
That was our Weiners growing up.
This is where your mom would buy you 5 of the same outfit in different prints and that was your summer look.
Spring cypress and 45. All those clothes racks made for some awesome hide and seek games with siblings.
You could find me in the Husky section
My man! Same. My mom would announce it to the whole store when I was in the normal section. Come get the stretch waist band!!!!!
Late 80’s. I wanted Z. Cavaricci jeans. My mom brought home some bullshit knockoff “Bojos” jeans from Weiners.
Nothing said poor quite like Weiners.
My mom called it Weenies.
We shopped at the one on Bellaire near Stella Link in the 50’s.
Yeah, we used to get our school clothes on layaway thru the summer.
Where the poor kids got back to school clothes
And also your brown paper book wrappers covered in ads, to remove any doubt about your where your poor ass shopped.
yup, used to go to the one on Telephone road with my mom back in the day
Just a shitty dollar store nowadays 😔
There was one in Stafford at Ave E and Murphy in the late 90s/00s
That smell.
That's where I got all my Rollin' Hard shirts in the 90s
...just checked eBay they are now collectors items going for $50-$100 lol
Navigation and Wayside
Mine!
Harrisburg* and wayside
Yes! One on Center Street in Deer Park. Got all my groovy earth tone Velour and Terry Cloth threads there. And Levi's "Slim Cut" for super skinny awkward boys😂
My grandma used to take me to that one as well. I didn’t wear slim cut though. I was a size 12 “husky”. 😬😬😬
Well...I'm husky now🫣😵
I’m still on #teamhusky so it’s all good. 👌🏼😅
The one in Clear Lake, my mom use to buy the most god awful ugliest (I’m pretty sure flammable) dresses for me.
A guy I knew in school modeled in their ads a couple of times. I didn’t like him much, so I called him a Weiner model.
Catheter Kathy? Is that you?
One of my first jobs was converting old Gipsons stores into wieners.
Yep, there was one on Shepherd and 11th (Heights). Remember one time, we were eating at Popeye's and then we saw a kid running down the street with a bunch of clothing (presumably borrowing it from the store).
My mom would take me school clothes shopping at the one that was at I45 and Woodlands Parkway.
And Mervyn’s
OPEN OPEN OPEN
keeps you looking great for less
There was one at Shepherd and 11th
I remember shopping there as a kid, but remember specifically after the 1994 flood after my house got flooded having some vouchers or donated gift cards or something and getting a bunch of clothes there. Someone also mentioned the smell. Yes, that smell was unique and if I were to come across it again I'd instantly transported to the 90s
I used to love that store; even had a classmate in middle school who modeled for their catalogue.
wish i still had my Weiner's leather belt with my name stamped on it.
Where else would them cholos with slick back hair buy their Low-rider shirts?? They also sold Filas sneakers.
I had the Filas with the Velcro around the ankle. Boss.
Weiners and Payless
I used to get my 501s from there.
I worked there in high school at the one on Mt Houston 78,79
Are you talking about the one on 45 and W Mt Houston? That’s the store I used to go to, but this was during the 90s! Have great memories of that place, turned into a giant dollar store years after they closed.
No this one was Mt Houston by 59 North and McArthur HS
I didnt realize it was around since then.
Veterans Memorial, next to the Eckerd’s.
Texas City off of Palmer.
When I was real little in the late 80s (ages 5-7) we used to go to the Weiners on Federal road, on the east side of town. I remember it had a bullet hole in one window, at least I think it was a bullet hole. Guess who put their mouth on that hole EVERY TIME I was there? This guy.
At one point they had commercials with a superhero character called Weiner Man…it made elementary age me very uncomfortable.
We always went there for school clothes shopping and I also hid (and got lost a time or two) in the round racks.
The Weiner family is still here in Houston. Their mom passed away about a year or so ago. I still see her son once in a while.
K-mart, WalMart, Weiner punch the sac
Highway 6 and West Little York. So many racks of clothes.
First job... kind of... got fired... I was so green. I was sweeping the stock room and two coworkers were taking out the trash... it was my first week... they were putting shoes in trash bags and putting them out by the dumpster and then coming back and getting the items at the end of the night. I was on camera in the stock room and I may have held the door open so they had me doing that. I dont know if someone tried to blame me but I didnt add anything to the video evidence. I didn't see or hear anything. They fired me but at least they didnt press charges. Last time I trusted anyone at work. Definitely a core memory.
I was momentarily transported to the center of a round clothes rack. And believing that loss prevention employees hid in those mirrored columns.
Mervyn’s > Weiner’s
Who remembers the one in Jacinto City? I think it flooded during Tropical Storm Allison and that was the end
I do! Man I missed that store
There was on in Sugar Land in the Randall’s center at Williams Trace. Didn’t really go there though. Petco took over the Weiners in the mid 90’s.
Not that the Randall's is there anymore either.
Nope. It is EOS Fitness now. Walgreens, Petco, and Los Tios are still going stong!
Good store and good people. Went to elementary school with their two boys 70 years ago.
Would you tip the employees there?
Absolutely. Grandmom used drag me there at least once a week.
They should have never been replaced with Dick’s Sporting Goods
Hell yeah used to get my Converse there.
Wiener’s and Beals had similar vibe.
You guys remember a store called Front Row? I think it was Marshall’s before Marshall’s was Marshall’s.
I used to work there, and it was a bit more upscale than Marshall’s. It carried the major brands like Ralph Lauren, etc., but a lot of knock-offs, too.
Thank. It is impossible to google because “Front Row” is used so many different places. I did find an old commercial for it.
I remember that place because it was where I got the few Bugle Boy items when I was a kid.
N. Fry Rd, Katy
We were poors & Mervyn's was too upmarket for my family. I would pray that I didn't run into anyone I knew while I was shopping for school clothes
I did find a great pair of earrings there once. I wore them until the silver paint wore off
Yep, Edgebrook location, got school clothes there
I remember the parking blocks saying “parking for wieners only” and I’d call my dad a wiener every time!
Went to the one on 45 and 249 for back to school shopping as a kid. I have a coworker that worked there up until they closed. That coworker pronounces it "whiners" but I remember the commercials saying "weeners" so not sure if we were mispronouncing it the whole time.
We got all of our back to school clothes there on layaway. Walmart layaway too.
Wallisville and Uvalde was the store for back to school clothes. Hated going there but loved playing super smash bros at the Kmart in the same shopping center.
I picked a husband and wife from Mexico at Hobby Airport for my work boss. On the way north on I-45 we passed both Weiners and Fingers. They looked at each other with surprise on their faces. I tried to explain to them what those stores were. 😂🤣
I remember being a kid in a Teach For America summer program, where new teachers from around the country got some teaching experience in during the summer before their first year started.
One of the teachers I had was from the Midwest somewhere and was using newspaper sale ad to illustrate something regarding percentages. The guy picked up a Wieners ad and started talking, "So if we look at this Why-en-ers ad we can see..." The whole class erupted in laughter.
The teacher stopped to ask what we were laughing at. We told him, "It's not Why-en-ers, it's weeners!" He looked dumbfounded and was like, "No way. There's no way they named this store Wieners (weeners)!" Once he accepted what we were telling him we all had a huge laugh... then learned about percentages.
I could be mixing up stores but I think there was one at Antoine & Pinemont, along with Pistol Pete's in the same strip center
Ours was Gessner and Hammerly.
Hiding in the circular racks as a kid and scaring people!
Layway y'all
Damn, I'm sure if I look through our wardrobes we still have something we bought from there.
I remember that store
🤣 yes. Very near our local Weingarten’s grocery store back in the day.
I remember shopping there for school clothes and finding human turds on the floor on more than one occasion.
Nostalgia blast!
I think you pronounced that wrong.
Your mom