A Nostalgic Look Back At Owensboro’s Iconic Department Stores

National Department Store Day is recognized each October and, to celebrate, I am going back in the Owensboro, Kentucky archives. I grew up in the 70s and 80s and distinctly remember some of our now defunct department stores.

Now, if you live in Owensboro, there's one department store that we are reminded of to this day. That's Kuester's! Though Kuester's, which resided on Carter Road here in town, closed decades ago, the building that housed it looks exactly the same today as it did back then.

I loved Kuester's! I have a distinct memory of going there to buy Donna Summer's 'MacArthur Park' single. I accidentally picked up the wrong record. See, the music group KISS was on the same record label- Casablanca Records- and I grabbed a single of theirs instead of Donna's. Needless to say, when my parents and I got to the parking lot, we realized it and immediately took it back and traded it out.

There are five other Owensboro department stores that I don't have photos of, but still vividly remember as well. Here they are!

How many of these do YOU remember?

I grew up out on the east side of Daviess County. If memory serves me correctly, there was a King's location on Highway 60 East- right around where the Kroger store is now. It was just a few miles from our house and we shopped there a lot.

Here's an interesting look at that chain of stores, which eventually closed up shop in 1984.

Admittedly, I am going by memory here. But, I believe that Heck's took over that King's space when it closed.

I have various 'musical' memories of these department stores. I remember buying Cyndi Lauper's "She-Bop" at either King's or Heck's. I am pretty sure I bought Prince's "Purple Rain" album there too.

About fifteen years ago, downtown Owensboro enjoyed a significant revitalization project. But, there was a time when our downtown was truly the center of life and commerce in the city. It was there (and then) that S.W. Anderson's enjoyed its heyday.

Anderson's eventually opened a smaller, satellite location inside Towne Square Mall. I personally remember that one well. May Anderson's AND the mall rest in peace.

Towne Square Mall was also the site of two more incredibly popular department stores.

Bacon's was popular throughout the 80s and 90s. In fact, when I was in high school it was THE place to shop. The store even had a Teen Board, which was a group of high school-aged students who would 'model' Bacon's latest fashions.

Here's a vintage Bacon's Christmas commercial from Louisville.

Bacon's later gave way to . . .

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Remember shopping at Famous-Barr?

Famous-Barr was eventually consumed by Macy's, which resided in its Towne Square Mall home until shortly before the mall closed.