Is this a "weird" obsession, even for an aspie?

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Me too to the point at everyone in my life have forbid me to talk about it

i cant contribute, because i dont know anything about it. i will read it, because i really liked all i have read from you in this post

is this normal: i have as a hobby to collect first editions of famous authors like milne sheppard conan doyle etc... but i like to smell and even cudle with my first editions, and sometimes i guess i had eaten them if possible is this normal for you other guys on the spectrum, to hug and cuddle and physicaly love your collectibles, and not just own/read them (or just play with them if it is toys)?

Whenever I get done watching one of my special interest movies, I'll kiss and hug the DVD case.

OP sounds like an interesting hobby. My Hobbies are not that involved I do not feel, nor are they in any shape or form very employable.

Actually i am kind of interested in store chain histories too especially kmart. i love the way the old kmart from the 70's looked like including the blue light special and the cafe. i agree department stores have had an interesting history and it's pretty surprising how many stores ran for a while and died out and were totally forgotten in the past.

yes I used to live in Massachusetts and totally remember Ames as well as Zares before it became Ames. It was kind of an odd but interesting store. Most of them were in the New England area but there were also a few in the midwest. Do you also remeber Ann & Hope? man the text of it after me writing it itself brings a lot of memories!

@C-Rebel nothing to laugh at someone over, I enjoy eating peas, which is a real delicacy considering my green bean-loving family

Close to OP's interest, mine is probably a little more mainstream but I like visiting urban ruins; the many shells of once-thriving businesses on Rte 66. More locally things like former missile sites, decommissioned military bases, and one I'd like to explore further; an abandoned tract of mansions between the western boundary of LAX and the Pacific Ocean

Ty that somehow made me feel better

Here are some other oddities of car design from recently bygone decades. The Chevy Malibu had the same basic design from 1997 to 2003, but had some minor changes in 2000. This coincided with the discontinuation of the Oldsmobile Cutlass, the Malibu's "twin", at the end of the 1999 model year. So you can tell that a Malibu from the 1997-2003 period with just a blue Chevy logo on the front (but not the Malibu "swirl" logo as seen on the back) was made after the Cutlass got the ax. But a Malibu with a "swirl" on both the front and back was sold at a time when we who liked more luxurious cars could have chosen the Cutlass as a step up from the Malibu. I don't get why the Cutlass didn't last longer. The 1997-1999 Malibu was available with either gold or blue logos. Even though the gold was more traditional for Chevy, it was rarer on the Malibu, so I would have chosen it over the blue if the opportunity arose. Even after the Malibu got a brand new design in 2004 (which has since happened again), the "old" Malibu was still sold as a rental car called the "Classic" for a few years.

Also, you can tell that a 1998 Chevy Tracker is a 1998 and not any other year. Not too many were sold and they are rare today. It was 2003 when I first saw one in person and found out about this, in the parking lot of a Linens N Things (those stores are gone now!) in an NJ suburb of NYC. The Geo brand, which the Tracker was long sold under, was retired at the end of the 1997 model year, but the Tracker (now known as a normal Chevrolet) was redesigned in 1999. The first generation Tracker was also sold as the Suzuki Sidekick, but the Sidekick was renamed Vitara for the 1999 remodel.

Also, the GM minivans got a new design in 1997 (to keep up with Chrysler changing their designs in 1996). From 1990-1996, the Chevy version was called the Lumina APV, which created confusion with the Lumina sedan. So in 1997, the new model got a new name, Venture (ironically there was a chain of department stores called Venture which closed the same year!). Oldsmobile kept the Silhouette name from before. Pontiac kept the old Trans Sport name at first (for 1997 and 1998), but changed the name to Montana in 1999. The Montana name had already been used as a trim package of the "extended" Trans Sport in 1997 and 1998 though. I think the 1999 name change may have been due to controversy over a failed crash test of the 1997 Trans Sport. The Chevy TrailBlazer and GMC Envoy model names were originally used for luxury versions of the Blazer and Jimmy in the late 90's. Strangely, the MSN Autos website (which is otherwise a great resource) doesn't have special pages for the first-generation TrailBlazer, but for the first-generation Envoy it does.

Also, the Oldsmobile Bravada (which was one of the first luxury SUVs in history) was introduced in 1991, using the boxy 80's Chevy Blazer/GMC Jimmy style. The Blazer and Jimmy got redesigned in 1995, but for some reason the Bravada went on hiatus that year, but was relaunched in 1996. The Oldsmobile brand got a new logo in 1997, as seen on the then-new Cutlass and Silhouette, but the 1997 Bravada (along with the 88 and Cutlass Supreme, not related to the Malibu Cutlass) kept the old logo for that year. GM had been waiting to give the Blazer/Jimmy/Bravada a minor redesign (compared to what happened in 1995) for 1998. Soon after, the TrailBlazer and Envoy names started. There was also a "high performance" version of the 1992 and 1993 GMC Jimmy, called the Typhoon. The Blazer and Jimmy were themselves based on the smaller GM pickup trucks, the Chevy S10 and GMC Sonoma. This mirrors how the larger GM SUVs, the Chevy Tahoe (short body) and Suburban (long body) and GMC Yukon (short body) and Suburban (long body) were based on the larger GM pickups, Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra. I don't get why both Chevy and GMC used the Suburban name in the 90's, but now only Chevy calls it Suburban and GMC calls it Yukon XL. Also, the Blazer name was used from 1992-1994 on what would later be the smallest Tahoe from 1995-1999. The Cadillac Escalade used the larger Tahoe/Yukon (not Suburban) design for its first generation, 1999-2000. The first GMC Yukon Denali was almost exactly identical to this, but was a little bit cheaper. Also, the Chevy S10 and GMC Sonoma got redesigned in 1994, but GM waited until 1995 to change the Blazer and Jimmy.

Also, Chrysler Corporation made some eccentric naming choices in the 90's. For example, both Dodge and Plymouth made the Neon; the only difference between the two was in name. And the 1995 Plymouth Neon used the old "pentastar" logo (but in a circle with the Plymouth name) due to being introduced at an inconvenient time. Also, the Plymouth Voyager was renamed Chrysler Voyager halfway through the 2000 model year. But this vehicle (along with the Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Caravan) was redesigned in 2001. Coincidentally, the 1990 Chrysler Town & Country was kind of an oddball too, since it borrowed a mid-80's Dodge/Plymouth design which would be retired in 1991. The design changed again in 1996. Not sure but I think the 1995 Chrysler Concorde and Sebring had the new gold Chrysler logo, even though the other models never got it until 1996. The 1993 Dodge Spirit, 1993 Dodge Intrepid, along with 1994 Dodge Ram, 1995 Dodge Stratus, and 1995 Dodge Neon all got the new Dodge logo before the Caravan finally did in 1996.

This is exactly what people get paid a lot of money for, to know histories of various things. See if you can write about it or build a database holding all that info. Information is a commodity.

I am thinking of writing a book about it which may be published by Arcadia Publishing, a company which writes books about histories of neighborhoods based on contributions by ordinary residents.

I think the PA Wine & Spirits stores created this part of their website just for me: http://www.lcb.state.pa.us/PLCB/About/H ... /index.htm

Months ago, I emailed their customer service woman with a few questions about their history. A lot of companies already had history sections on their website, but not this one!

From 1979 until 1993, there was a Kroger at FM 1960 and Jones Rd in Houston, TX. It didn't actually close in 1993 but moved up the road a bit. Albertsons built a store across from the by then ex-Kroger (later a MacFrugal's, now their competitor Big Lots) in 1995, but moved to a new location in 2000... not sure what that was about. Then in 2002, Albertsons abruptly exited the Houston market, and their almost-new store here was bought by Kroger. If the old (1979) Kroger had stayed put less than a mile away, they wouldn't have wanted to (and it probably would have been illegal) for them to buy the Albertsons.

I don't honk it's strange at all. I'm on a mission to visit all of the oldest pubs in the UK (trying to resist moving it to the rest of the world). Spent 10 years trying to work out the oldest in London. Oldest ive found yet was built in 1400ish (been a pub on the site since 560ad) most were rebuilt in the 1800's.

Was over in Lancaster, PA for a year and got to say you have loads of fantastic shops (lot more interesting than the clones we have here in the Uk). Definately miss Walmart, RadioShack and Turkey hill/ Rutters Sheetz garages (24 hours of ice tea and comfort food)

Found the state liquor store idea odd but cool.

What do you mean by "clones"?

Today, the oldest and smallest Acme in the chain (Sharon Hill PA) announced it would be closing. I had been predicting this day for over 10 years!

When every high street is exactly the same as the next its usually like Coral, starbucks, Carphone Warehouse, shoe shop, mc donalds, Body Shop, Anne Summers, Burgerking, KFC, Ladbrooks, Mc Donalds, Coral, Greggs, Vodaphone, "random Kebab Shop" Iceland, Orange, Weatherspoons. With 'strip' malls containing B&Q, Maplins , Halfords, Tesco and PC World. Every store is branded and laid out identically, its the same whichever city you go to, only the pub names are different (and regional estate agents). Its like someone just planted the same bag of mixed seeds for each city center they grow in different orders and you get the odd local weed they need to kill.