According to the Forum site cited a few days ago, the company’s records were “lost or destroyed” during the move to the Mall. A neat bit of symbolism, that; the store’s name eventually perished at the mall. It’s now a chain. Does it matter which? The loss of the records is inexcusable, and makes you wonder if someone just made his life easier by tossing out boxes of musty old useless paper no one could possibly want.

But the name survives to this day, right here: embedded in the sidewalk in metal letters, polished smooth by a million soles. This will probably outlive everyone who remembers the store itself.

I’d write a long sappy recollection of my childhood visits, but googling around for the deLendrecie’s name turned up this story in the American Enterprise magazine; it contains memories of the store that are remarkably similar to my own.