Coconuts, Evansville, IN

Two years ago this week, our annual family vacation took me and my parents to Evansville, Indiana. It may not be the most well-known vacation destination (or a vacation destination at all, honestly), but sometimes, labels like that are just overrated -- this was the most fun family trip we've had in a very long time, and I'd love to go back again someday.

By this point in time, we'd exhausted many of the destinations in the south within a reasonable driving distance, as well as a handful heading a bit more north as well. We wanted to go somewhere different but didn't have a particular place in mind. I hate to say this was the main reason behind the visit, as Evansville turned out to have plenty more to offer... but the retail enthusiast in me suggested the town in no small part due to its two broken chains sharing the same parking lot, G.D. Ritzy's (which was featured numerous times on the Broken Chains Blog) and Coconuts (which I was familiar with myself as an "indie brand" of FYE, documented in this post back in 2019). I didn't feel the need to obtain additional coverage of Ritzy's beyond that which had already graced the blogosphere, but given that Coconuts had none, I definitely wanted to take the time to photograph it for a future post.

I'm glad I did, because in a move that surely surprises no one, Coconuts Evansville closed down in January 2025 following a brief liquidation sale. As a matter of fact, nearly all of the sub-brands absorbed by FYE's former parent company, Trans World Entertainment, have gone extinct in the years since I wrote that aforementioned 2019 entry. Spin Street had already closed before I wrote the post, and Record & Tape Traders was undergoing a liquidation sale at the time of publication. The Second Spin website shut down in 2020, and Manifest and Spec's both closed their final stores in 2021. Suncoast and Sam Goody, the two largest of the sub-brands, have continued to shed locations as well, dwindling down to just one each today -- Jacksonville, NC, for Suncoast, and Medford, OR, for Sam Goody. (That said, there is an FYE in Beavercreek, OH, that is co-branded with Suncoast; and, when the second-to-last Sam Goody announced its closure last year sparking worries that both stores would be going out at the same time, the Oregon store manager countered, "It's not true. We're going to do the last Blockbuster kind of thing because we're cool like that out here. We're not going anywhere." The last Blockbuster, of course, is located in Bend, OR, about a three-hour drive, as I also covered in that 2019 post.) 

Courtesy WEHT/WTVW

Courtesy WFIE

Honestly, it's a bit surprising Coconuts lasted as long as it did, especially given FYE's penchant both to eliminate these sub-brands and to shed larger-format stores, both before and after its ownership transferred from Trans World Entertainment to Sunrise Records in January 2020. I'd be a bit worried about those last Suncoast and Sam Goody locations as well, although I do continue to have hopes, ill-placed or not, for the future success of the company. It just hurts to picture a day when physical media stores no longer exist.

Anyway, not a lot of exposition for this one... I feel like I've already covered the larger stories of FYE and Trans World Entertainment, including all of these brands, many times before between my blog and my flickr page. Plus, in all honesty, I'm probably not the guy to go too much deeper, given my association with these chains was never during their heyday -- only trying to get the chance to experience them before their downfall. I had a great time exploring Coconuts, and definitely feel sometimes like I would've much better enjoyed the days when music stores were more prevalent and popular. Without further ado, let's jump into the photos.

The store was located in the middle of a strip center at 711 N Green River Road, and you can get an idea of its size just from the storefront alone. The building goes back fairly deep, too.

I haven't really had any luck researching when the store opened (not that I dug too deep, either), but I'd bet this rug with the chain's full logo on it has been here since day one. The storefront got an abridged, wordmark-only horizontal logo, but the full logo was a circle featuring an illustrated coconut tree. More on this later.

The store interior is exactly what you'd expect a large-format, FYE-adjacent operation to be: tables and racks with more current-leaning pop culture merchandise, but unlike the mall stores, the bulk of the space still dedicated to aisles upon aisles of physical media. I love it.

The natural light coming in from all the storefront windows was great, too. The carpet was a little worn, but that just adds to the atmosphere as well, in my mind.

New releases and sale merch were placed directly inside the entrance, with the vinyl selection just past that. Funny how vinyl came back around by the end of this store's life.

More examples of the typical pop culture merch, including FYE exclusives, on both the right and left sides of the store, respectively. You'll also see wall space for Socksmith on the right-hand side: love that brand!

I suppose it probably doesn't help reflect well on the store's business that not only was the place devoid of customers, but the cashier was nowhere to be found either, allowing me to get several good pics of the front of the store including the register area. He turned up eventually, though, and for what it's worth, we were here at mid-afternoon on a Tuesday.

Some shelf dividers on an empty media rack were still labeled as property of Trans World Entertainment, by this time no longer FYE's (or Coconuts') owners for several years.

Here are a few shots of the DVD aisles (including an artsy one showing the genre category markers, which I had also seen back at Spin Street in Memphis). FYE's media prices could be notoriously high, but at least on the used merchandise -- which constituted a majority of the greatly expanded selection at this off-mall store -- they seemed quite fair.

The DVDs weren't really my thing, and while I did spend some timing looking at the wall of Funkos...

...my main stop was, of course, the CD aisles. So much great stuff here! And super easy to browse, too -- not only in terms of layout and the fixtures themselves, but also with the countless letter dividers and artist identifiers.

Speaking of which, here's an example of each of those. Even in places that do still happen to sell CDs and other physical media, I feel like labeling them in such an easily accessible way is a basically dead practice. I was excited to see a marker for All Time Low specifically -- by this time I had really started getting into the band. I picked up two of their albums here, and later that same year, two more at Half Price Books in Texas. My collection has since been completed with the purchase of some more used albums from 2nd & Charles and others I've bought online. The next year, I would end up driving all the way to Ohio to see them perform at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

I took this shot of the sticker rack because of an inside joke with some coworkers, but in the broader sense, it acts as another example of the various types of non-media merch available for sale inside the store. I really did find it to be a cool place, as I did with Manifest and Spin Street, for example.

Before we head out, here's one more look (upside-down this time) at the rug inside the entrance, followed by a close-up of the bright yellow Coconuts letters on the facade. I do like how the fonts chosen complement each other.

Some more storefront shots. It does look like the place could've used a bit of a power washing, although most likely that was true of the whole shopping center, which shares the same standardized architectural style. It appears the space may soon become home to a sushi restaurant. (That would make one large sushi place!)

It's worth noting that the name of the plaza is Shoe Carnival Towne Center, after its anchor tenant Shoe Carnival just a few doors down, whose corporation also happens to be headquartered here in Evansville. Between the headquarters and the shopping center name, I can't see this one rebranding, but back in the Mid-South, Shoe Carnival has been doing exactly that, ditching its name at many stores for that of a company it acquired in 2021, Shoe Station. The stores that have converted have boasted improved sales, and Shoe Carnival now plans to convert nearly 200 of its 400+ stores to the new banner, as discussed at that link.

Other tenants of the shopping center include a liquor store immediately next door to Coconuts, which we also visited, and this store called Super Mega Replay, part of a 30+ location chain. We stopped in here as well, and while its main focus is video games (something not sold at Coconuts), it does otherwise carry similar used merchandise including music, movies, and pop culture merch -- so I'm glad to see it surviving in Evansville!

Last up from this store, here's a pic of my receipt, proudly bearing the Coconuts logo at the top. In getting this post prepared today, I wondered why I hadn't taken a picture of the full receipt, until finally I located where I had placed it and realized that was because it goes on for quite a while (I spent $130 here!). In addition to the two All Time Low CDs I mentioned earlier, I also got one from American Hi-Fi, one from Good Charlotte, one from Rob Thomas, and one from The Fully Down... as well as a magnet, a pin, and several pairs of socks (I told you I liked Socksmith!).

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While you may think Coconuts' story ends here, I have an interesting aside that proves it does not. For a few years in the early 2020s (and who knows, this may still be ongoing today), FYE opened up temporary seasonal pop-up shops in malls for the holiday season, similar to Go! Calendars and Games, except FYE's versions were focused primarily on toys. In 2020, FYE filed a trademark for the name and logo of its new venture... Coconuts Toys!

Lest you need any proof that the two concepts were related, one glance at the logo reveals it is 100% the original Coconuts logo we saw earlier in the post, just with the addition of a few classic children's toys at the base of the tree. Now, I'm not sure particularly what spurred them to use the Coconuts name and logo for these stores, but I'm not complaining! I believe there were multiple locations, including one at the Crossgates Mall in Albany, NY, formerly the headquarters of -- yes, you guessed it -- Trans World Entertainment (although I'm not sure to what degree that is simply a coincidence, as all this took place only after TWE had already been sold off to Sunrise Records). A few pictures of this store are shown below, and you can see more in this Facebook post. 

Storefront at Crossgates Mall, featuring the recycled logo and very yellow interior. Courtesy Facebook

While other photos show various toys, plushes, and board games, it's worth noting the store did have one typical FYE feature -- the Funko wall! Courtesy Facebook

By 2022, it appears that the Coconuts Toys brand had been foregone in favor of a new moniker, Alex Baby & Toys -- and based on the April publication date of that post, perhaps it was meant to be (or had morphed into) a year-round concept after all. In any case, the FYE store locator doesn't show any locations of either brand still active today, but it certainly is an interesting aside. I also find it very interesting how FYE chose to make use of the existing IP of one of its sub-brands for such a different purpose! (Even if it was so short-lived, and moreover occurred prior to the Evansville store closing, meaning both brands were active at the same time...).

Alex Baby & Toys, Montgomery Mall, Bethesda, MD. Courtesy Rockville Nights

The interior reminds me quite a bit of Toys "R" Us Outlet. Courtesy Rockville Nights

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While we're here, I figured I might as well share some of the other retail pictures I took while up in Evansville. Up first is the G.D. Ritzy's, which as I said, shares a parking lot with the now-former Coconuts store (as an outparcel to the Shoe Carnival Towne Center). I decided to try a regional delicacy I'd always wanted but never seen locally -- the 5-way chili (or was it 7-way?). Ritzy's full menu can be seen here, and you might recognize several options from the Broken Chains Blog, but the idea of midwestern chili on top of spaghetti has always intrigued me. It was served in a cup instead of a plate (as pictured on the menu), so I remember it being a little difficult to eat, but it was enjoyable!

Up next is a Howard Johnson hotel, taking up shop in a former Signature Inn. Howard Johnson is a common subject matter of flickr member Charles Hathaway, and fellow flickrer Ryan busman_49 has an entire blog dedicated to the Signature Inn brand, so I thought this was neat to see.

I had already gotten to experience Menards for the first time on a trip to Omaha, NE, in 2022, but my parents hadn't, so we checked out an Evansville store as well. If you've never been, Menards is a lot like a Lowe's or Home Depot, but it also has a decent-sized pantry/grocery selection, and is just plain huge: like, over 1,000 aisles huge! It also has some neon in places, which is neat.

Last up is Meijer, another chain I've always wanted to visit. Meijer is most similar to a Walmart Supercenter, but alas it is only regional, not national. I could've had the chance to visit one many years ago in Louisville, KY, but for whatever reason passed on it in favor of something else (perhaps Ollie's, which was also my first time experiencing that chain?). 

This store sports (ha, get it?) what I believe to be the chain's current decor package, and may have been remodeled somewhat recently before my visit (not sure).

Groceries occupy the left side of the store. I of course had to get a picture of Aisle 12 -- which, by the way, was professionally credited for its work providing Produce Assistance in the recent reboot of The Naked Gun (hilarious movie!). I also thought the side-by-side "cool" water brands made a neat shot.

The bakery was in an interesting island setup, with grocery aisles along the back side, produce along the front, and then the bakery service counter itself on the left, facing out into the grand aisle (complete with a smiling taco-shaped cake!).

Other components of the grand aisle include meat and seafood along the perimeter wall in the front left corner of the store (interesting to see the service counters so close to the front of the store like this) and deli on the very front wall (again, a bit unusual, but that's something about Meijer I've always been intrigued by -- their layout). Last up, some historical photos (for both the chain as a whole, and this Evansville store specifically) could be found along the front end, as shown below.

That'll wrap things up for this post -- funny enough, I had originally anticipated writing it shortly after returning from our vacation back in 2023, and had even drafted a quick introduction (referring to it as "my quickest turnaround ever on brand new content" and noting specifically that "It's not that I enjoy posting years-old stuff all the time [trust me, that gets old in multiple senses of the word!] as much as it is the idea that I feel an obligation to go more or less in chronological order through my vast backlog of content"). Not much I can say now to that but "oops!"

Anyway, I hope y'all enjoyed this tour of the last Coconuts store in existence as much as I enjoyed visiting it -- and honestly, as much as I enjoyed our vacation to Evansville overall, between our walks along the levee of the Ohio River, exploring downtown, and seeing local sights such as the University of Evansville. Like I said, I'd love to go back again someday! Until next time, then, and as always, thanks for reading, and have fun exploring the retail world wherever you are :)

Retail Retell