7 Stores in Loveland That Your Parents Shopped At

If you didn't grow up in Loveland, you missed out on some great stores for clothes, nick-nacks, farm supplies, and more.

My family moved to Loveland when I was about 5-years-old, so I've gotten to see a lot of places come and go over the years. Here's really just a snippet of some that 'used to be.'

BEN FRANKLIN

Ben Franklin was a 'Five-and-Dime' and arts-and-crafts place off of Taft and Eisenhower, next to the Westlake Grocery Store. Mom would often go in to get yarn for her crocheting hobby.

I remember vividly, my brother and I buying Mom a Mother's Day gift there, at least once, as kids. There are still a few Ben Franklins around the country if you look real hard.

Today that [general] location is the site for a Great Clips.

JCPenney

Oh, the amount of Plain Pocket jeans our Mom got us a JCPenney, I'm still amazed. It was a good store for Loveland, there on 4th Street, we'd probably stop in at the Heartland Cafe after,  it just didn't survive the 70s and the Foothills Fashion Mall coming to Fort Collins.

EAKERS

When we were kids in the 70s and 80s in Loveland, especially the 70s, Eakers was the place we'd go to on the rare occasion that we needed to wear something nice. Easter and school clothes, for example, would be the times that Mom would take us over to Eakers.

It was in the Orchards Shopping Center in the vicinity of where Ace Hardware is now.

WOOLWORTH'S

Loveland had one of those 'classic' Woolworth stores, with the cafe counter. General merchandise abounded in Woolworth's, it fit in perfect on 4th Street. You can still find their stores in Mexico, I hear.

The Loveland location was right in this area of 4th Street:

Get our free mobile app

SEARS

At Lincoln and Eisenhower, Loveland had a SEARS. It was where I got my first 'cool' hi-fi when I was 15. As I recall, they had an escalator.  For a while, it was a Colony supermarket, but it's been a Walgreens for many years.

This tree in front of the store could tell you a billion stories, too, I bet. But that's another article.

WHEELERS

One of my friends brought up Wheelers and I almost spit coffee. I'd forgotten about Wheelers, and I don't know why, because I had a high-school crush on a girl, Denise, whose dad ran Wheelers at the time.

It doesn't seem like you can even look up 'Wheeler's Store' and find anything relevant, anymore. They were like Wal-Mart but more like what Bomgaar's is today. They had a gas station too.

I have a great story about the wind taking my car door and over-extending it, while I'd stop to get gas there. A big guy across the way very kindly came over and re-adjusted my little Datsun's door, and I was on my way.

Wheeler's was across from Orchards on Garfield, where the ''Dollar Tree' strip mall is now located.

ALCO

I definitely remember Dad taking us over to ALCO for their 'Going out of Business sale, I was about five. ALCO stores were like Wal-Mart, everything under one roof. They were big in small, rural towns like Loveland once was.

They were located 'way out there' on Eisenhower off of Madison. It was a City Marke for a long time as well, Now, the blue roof stands empty.