BrandonDaCollector wrote:
Now here is a local store that has been gone about a decade already. It was one of My favorites to go to. Whenever Me & My Grandma were out and about to go to her bank on Hampton and grocery shopping at Schnucks. Sometimes I'd what to go to Target but I also I wanted to go to check out ALMOST EVERYTHING. Back in the times when I was a youngster and even these days of later times, Hampton Avenue was so fun, I have showcased Hampton Village before within this topic when I showcased Johnny Brock's. We were quite thrilled that a new store was opening up there in the early/mid 2000s and when Almost Everything was ready to open We weren't a bit disappointed. They were mostly a sports store. They really focused on our beloved St. Louis Cardinals of MLB, the St. Louis Blues of NHL and of course the St. Louis Rams when they were here (shows you how long it's been). It was always pleasant there. They had an odd entry way, you entered the store from the back door Yep but actually I liked that way because it was different. There wasn't many sports stores around in Our area believe it or not. There was one further down on Hampton but it was hardly open so We never gave it chance. Sadly Almost Everything has been defunct at least a decade now
Almost Everything & Louie's Pizza Co.
Here is the building they were in and shared it with Louie's Pizza Co. Both are unfortunately out of business. I will talk about Louie's in a moment. They were the second door on the left of Elite Title, Almost Everything, the third door on the left/middle from Elite Title which is still there on the corner/first door.
So here is the back entrance I was talking about in the prolog. It was really convenient to do this because it was a really large parking lot plus it was very easy to access when Me & My Grandma MiMi was doing our banking as the bank is right next door on the other side of the lot. It was really cool seeing Louie's Pizza Dudes coming out of the back getting their orders ready to deliver
So as a special bonus, here is Louie's Pizza Co. I thought show them too since they were also major part of My life for a long while. They were really good. They had some issues along the way like oh we have to discontinue our Hot Dogs, burger & Chicken Wraps when We always ordered them from Louie's but according to their explanations it did no good and just didn't sell enough. As foolish as they seemed they had such great food items. They specialized in Chicago Pizza but also St. Louis Style Pizza as well. If you never had St. Louis Style Pizza, its very thin crust and arguably the best type. I loved their taste. I loved to dip their Calzones, Strombolis & Mozzarella Cheese Sticks in Marinara & Garlic Butter Sauce. I absolutely loved their Fries, they arguably had the absolute best Fries, I would order at least two cartons each time We'd order from Louie's. They had some great Chicken Tenders & Breast as well. I really liked to get their 32 oz soft drinks. The 2 usual delivery dudes for a very long time was a somewhat moody but nice Caucasian guy who always wore a Mizzou cap and a the other was a crippled up Black guy. I always felt sorry for him and he was very nice too. In Louie's final years and of course their last days before the p!@Demic a younger guy, teenage-like was extremely charming and always thanked Me for the business. He'd always go back right away if an item was missing and be back ASAP with it. Even though they no longer exist, today the company has been totally taken over a new company & management and their new name is Salvage Yard Bar and Grill. When the TPTB slowed down the p!@Demic this happened and I was really bummed about it. I have no idea how their food is nor if their doing good business or not. No matter how good they are they will never replace the original Louie's. So here is Louie's logo. I loved how they depicted St. Louis & Chicago together. It was such a very creative box graphic on their part. I mean back in the day the most greatest rivalries was the Yankees & Red Sox and then their was the St. Louis Cardinals & the Chicago Cubs and Louie's brought that mental aspect every time you ordered from them
Now here is special that I made of Louie's & Almost Everything back to restoration the way it was back in the day
So now going back to focus on Almost Everything. the owner of the great shop was Chip Bartz. He has a small eBay store still but like anything that is digital and has a digital location, its absolutely nothing compared to the physical item and/or physical area. I mean in this androgynous day & age where this generation is obsessed with digitality, VR, Meta and streaming has no clue how it was going to old fashion stores regardless of what kind they were nor do they care. Its so pathetic, it irks Me a lot. TPTB has conditioned this limbolic society so much, its beyond deplorable I mean the thrill of going to places like this was fun So many times when We went to Almost Everything the nice lady that I do not recall her name was usually there and sometimes Chip Bartz was too and he was a decent fellow. He gave Me his business card. It's quite fancy with puffy raised lettering. I have kept it in pristine shape and HERE IT IS
So during the early days of Almost Everything's, I appreciate the great sports stuff but he had a special section where he had toys which was mostly adult collectibles. He had some McFarlane action figures. I had some of'em but then I noticed he had the movie figures from the 2000 movie Little Nicky. I wasn't absolutely crazy about the film but gosh I had to have the figures because not only are they McFarlane but he had the entire collection and get this...they were only about $2.99 a piece His stuff was very cheap and arguably the most affordable place of the whole region. So it was a no brainer that I had to get everyone he had The good guy's comic shop down the street on Hampton was great too (I have spoken about him before, more on him in a later showcase) but charged a lot more for his McFarlane figures however I miss his little comic shop a lot too I had previously and briefly showcased My Little Nicky figures in My overlooked ginormous Halloween topic that I posted last year along with so many other great spooky stuff in My collection
So that wasn't all that I got from his wonderfully fun shop, I got a lot of other things but here is 2 major...MAJOR PRIZED items that I got from Almost Everything and these two were the Headliners XL MARK MCGWIRE and the We Shocked The World: 2006 St. Louis Cardinals Win the World Series Book!
As I spoke just a moment ago about how cheap My Little Nickyfigures were, well check the lovely price stickers here My Headliners XL Mark McGwire was only a $1.99 My special Cardinals Book was only $4.99 Now where in the world could you get this terrific MLB merchandise at for these insanely low prices...huh.. you tell Me Now see, this was way before this era we're stuck in now where prices keep on soaring to ridicules heights on just about everything especially action figures & collectibles alike. Things were much, much cheaper then but Almost Everything was really the cheapest around which to this very moment I have never understood why his great shop went under...one of the reasons I know is because of people of course
BrandonDaCollector wrote:
Do you remember when Bill Goldberg met Mark McGwire
Oh man I sure do, this was such a special time for Me on so many levels This WCW crossover with MLB happen on 8/31/98 which was on a Monday and Bill Goldberg was WCW World Champion at the time. This is how I found out about it cause Me & My family was watching WCW Monday Nitro and I just flipped out about it, I mean I just totally marked out and yelled "The Man" meets "The Man" (never mind about that Becky Lynch Man crap we have now). I was so excited [/b]98[/b] was a great year in WCW. The Warrior also made an appearance that night too! It was in Miami Florida and Goldberg visited there and met The Homerun King! He and the St. Louis Cardinals was against The Florida Marlins. They won the game but Mark didn't bang any outta the park this time.
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