Here's what I remember of Lincoln Plaza. FYI, these memories of the plaza begin around 1968. I will try to list the stores as I know them in a sort of geographical order starting with a Shell Gasoline Station located approxiimately across from St Joan of Arc Church, all the way around the plaza to the boundary line on the downtown side of the plaza near what is now a CVS.
A Shell Gas Station was at the north end of the Plaza facing and servicing Lincoln Street.
Next, facing Lincoln Street, probably built onto the end of the plaza buildings was what was sort of a strip mall. This little strip mall contained a drycleaner and a laundromat. I don't remember the names. There may have been one or two other business between these and the gas station. On the 'corner' of this building there was added a Papa Ginos that I remember opened around 1972 +/- a couple of years. The front entryway of Papa Ginos faced the Lincoln Street Hill. Standing at this corner and walking east toward Rt 290 I remember the following businesses in the approx order listed:
Papa Ginos
Stop and Shop (closed aprox 1971?), which became Spree, which became TJ Maxx.
HFC ("Household Finance") a small office for procuring loans (not mentioined in other posts)
Radio Shack
Weintraubs (sewing goods)
Zayres with attached automotive center was at the end of this string of stores. I may have missed one or two stores.
Sort of in the Northeast corner of the plaza (but a ways from the Zayres) was an Anderson Little clothing store in its own seperate building. Around 1973 I believe an Abdows 'Big Boy' was added between Anderson Little and Zayres. To the right of Anderson Little there was a little service road that ran around the back of the stores (shipping and receiving docks) that faced Lincoln Street and the main parking lot.
You had to go down this little road to get to a small lumber/hardware store below. As stated by someone else, it may have been Plywood Ranch (which may now be on Park Ave).
Next to this service road, facing Lincoln Street and the main parking lot, was another group of buildings. From left to right in approximate order was:
Fanny Farmer Chocolates
perhaps another store??
Woolworths, a drug store (Liggetts?) which later became a CVS. I'm not sure whether the drugstores took over the Woolworths space, or whether they were side-by-side...they were probably all leasors (sp) at different points in time of the same space.
This Woolworths/Liggetts/CVS space came to be a large shoestore (Payless?
) around the early 90s.
Next to Woolworths in the same building (perhaps seperated by a store or two?) I remember:
LB Wheatons (cameras, film, and greeting cards) which is now on Park Ave.
An optician (Magay and Barrons ?)
Fells Package Store was there around 1973.
A bank?
Sams Bakery (1967 thru at least 1973)
A barber shop (which may now be 'The Plaza Barber Shop' which is located across from Quinsigamiond College on W.Boylston St)
The barber shop was on the end corner of this building.
Around the corner from the barber shop (on the end opposite this building from the Fanny Farmer) was another bank (Worcester County National Bank? which may have also been a 'Shawmut'?)
The front door of this second bank faced Lincoln Lanes, a tenpin bowling alley of about 40 lanes in its own building in the southeast corner of the plaza.
When standing in the front door of the bowling alley looking towards Lincoln Street, there was a (two screen?) movie theater on your right and also another building on the left in which there was a/an (At&T?) telephone building.
Not yet mentioned was another long storefront opposite the Papa Ginos/Zayres buildings that contained RH Whites on the Lincoln Street end and a large grocery store at the other end approximately near the LB Wheatons one of the buildings listed previously. For what its worth, there was a bus stop at the RH Whites end of this building, and a stand alone phone booth at the grocery store end of the building.
When walking from RH Whites on the LIncoln Street end of this building toward the grocery store, I faintly remember the stores in this approx order. I may be missing one a couple. This last building I am least remembering of simply because I did not frequent this 'leg' of buildings.
RH Whites
A restaraunt??...never went in, but I faintly remember something of the sort may have been there. There were no windows, simply a solid door set in from the front of the building with a modest marker on it.
Thom McCann shoes
A shoe repair place.
Maybe a jewelry store???
A grocery store of unknown name capped the end of this building.
A 'Rent-A-Center' later moved into the approx. center of this building, but slightly to the side of RH Whites which is now the fitness center.
In the plaza probably around 1968, location specifically not remembered, but I know there was an S&H Greenstamps redemption Center. The Redemption Center was probably in the last mentioned building, but could have also been next to the Woolworths. (I was young, but do remember going with my mother to redeem books of stamps for something).
FYI, I have thought it sort of odd that Lincoln Plaza sort of 'emptied' of tennants over the years without replenishing itself of tennants.
