Like the United States Postal Service, Hallmark is trying to find its way in a new era. But it has not always been successful. It has in recent years laid off some longtime employees, and some stores are closing. The store closures are particularly troublesome because they are locally owned,MORE HERE
MOLLUSK, Virginia – One of the most brilliant recent relaunches of a great American brand is the rebirth of Gulf. The company almost totally disappeared, the only remnant being the assorted consumer products branded with Gulf. Pictured here, a new Gulf station and pump in the tiny “town” of Mollusk,MORE HERE
In recent years, there have been a number of retro product re-issues by the original company. But a brand doesn’t have to be from the original company to grab the latent brand equity from a classic product that has been discontinued. One way to grab the brand equity from anotherMORE HERE
There are so many great old soda brands that are no longer around. One of the more clever, graphic wise, is Like, which was a diet version of 7Up. Here, a bottle in the Morattico Waterfront Museum in Morattico, Virginia. The museum is the old Morattico Country Store, which alsoMORE HERE
WARSAW, Virginia – On display in the window of this Northern Neck town at The Daily coffee shop is a snazzy Martin “40” outboard motor. Once, there were many American outboard brands. While Evinrude, Johnson and Mercury survive, Martin did not. Martin Motors was from Eau Claire, Wisconsin. This motorMORE HERE
Recently, Coleman brought back its original steel cooler. It’s sold as an exclusive for the 50th anniversary of the sporting goods supply company Cabela’s. It’s part of a trend of retro products, reintroduced as specialty products for particular retailers, similar to Fisher-Price toys sold at Cracker Barrel and vintage TideMORE HERE
In the 1970s PBS television series Crockett’s Victory Garden, James Underwood Crockett detailed popular bug-killing brands he uses. Today, some are gone and some still around. Poison brands are interesting. We still remember some of them like chlordane and DDT, even though they are no longer used. We have listedMORE HERE
NEW YORK – Sapolin was once a great decorative paint brand; like Rustoleum they specialized in unique colors for metals and uses other than walls. Here, a can that’s about 20 years old. Its main ingredients are listed as xylene and toluene. Toxic and flammable but certainly able to makeMORE HERE
This vintage flour sifter was made by the cooking utensil brand Androck. Androck products were made by the Washburn Company, which was founded in the 19th century in Massachusetts. Androck was a brand for all sorts of colorful and cool kitchen items. Well-made and amusingly designed, their products are stillMORE HERE
Broadwater Boat Company was a yacht manufacturer in Mayo, Maryland from 1956 to 1980. The brand made cabin cruisers out of plywood. They still have a following today. At right is a cabin cruiser, which was situated in the old Andy Wiley junkyard/marina and seaplane base in Irvington, Virginia. BelowMORE HERE