Anyone remember Hills department store?? Candle company creates Hills snack bar scent, entire Mid-Atlantic freaks out

If you lived in parts of the Mid-Atlantic, South, or Midwest in the ’80s or ’90s, you were probably familiar with the discount department store chain Hills. (If you aren’t from that area, when you read this story, substitute your favorite now-defunct local or regional department or discount store for Hills.) This week, a local YouTube channel and a candle company teamed up to create a scented candle, and created a frenzy.

Hills stores had snack bars in the lobby, which were nothing unique: popcorn, fossilized hot dogs, soda, and Icees were all available. The stores also had housewares, clothes, and a great toy section, which starred in their most memorable commercials for shoppers of a certain age.


More at [link to consumerist.com (secure)]





You can no longer visit a Hills Department Store for the discount clothing, toys and housewares, but you can still smell it — maybe in your mind, but also literally now, in your home.

An Irwin candle-maker and a comedian-actor of local yinzer video fame have had the good scents to partner on the Pittsburgh Dad’s Hills Snack Bar candle. Quickly becoming one of Sugar Creek Candle Co.’s biggest sellers as word of it spread on social media in the past week, it re-creates a late 20th-century aroma experienced in one of that era’s most ubiquitous local retailers. It’s a perfume mix of the popcorn, pretzels and Icee slushes conveniently sold inside any Hills entrance.

“It’s one of those warm, fuzzy memories that we love, and apparently there are many other Pittsburghers and people from places all over who loved Hills,” said Curt Wootton, aka “Pittsburgh Dad,” who has dropped numerous references to the defunct department store into his popular videos that affectionately mock local culture and dialect.

More at [link to www.post-gazette.com]