Buffalo in the ’80s: Elmwood Avenue’s Twin Fair

By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo

In July of 1981, this Elmwood Avenue Twin Fair store — located next to the Channel 4 studios where Tops now stands — was one of 16 Twin Fair locations up for sale around Western New York as West Seneca-based Twin Fair Inc. looked to pay off debts. Eight Hens & Kelly locations, owned by the Twin Fair parent company, also were put up for sale.

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Hens & Kelly locations closed the following year, while Twin Fair was bought by Federated Department Stores. Many of the Twin Fair locations then became Gold Circle stores, before they were sold off in 1988.

In 1991, this particular Twin Fair/Gold Circle building gave way for what was billed as a “Tops Super Center,” replacing a smaller Tops Market on Kenmore Avenue at Grove. That location became a Vix Pharmacy, and is now a Price Rite market.

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Steve Cichon

Steve Cichon writes about Buffalo’s pop culture history. His stories of Buffalo's past have appeared more than 1600 times in The Buffalo News. He's a proud Buffalonian helping the world experience the city he loves. Since the earliest days of the internet, Cichon's been creating content celebrating the people, places, and ideas that make Buffalo unique and special. The 25-year veteran of Buffalo radio and television has written five books and curates The Buffalo Stories Archives-- hundreds of thousands of books, images, and audio/visual media which tell the stories of who we are in Western New York.