eighties & nineties forever

Origins, Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA [1991]

Diet Coke commercial [1987]

Willowbee & Kent Travel Co., Boston, MA [1998]

MTV bumper [1988]

Blockbuster Video commercial [1988]

Universal Studios Islands of Adventure Trading Co., Universal Orlando, Orlando, FL [1999]

Home Shopping Club commercial [1993]

Not exactly clear what Home Shopping Club was in relation to its parent company, the Home Shopping Network. I think it was HSN's membership program, but it looks like people used the HSC name to refer to the entirety of the Home Shopping Network family of channels too, which included HSN, HSN 2, and Home Shopping Spree. It was also the name of the original network until it changed to HSN in the mid-80s, but all the branding on the channels themselves remained as HSC until '94/'95, which is when I think it was dropped altogether. All TV ads up until that point seemed to be for Home Shopping Club too, and most articles & AI seem to miss all of this nuance 🤷.

The concept of home shopping was a pretty huge phenomenon throughout the 80s and 90s that earned big ratings and gobs of revenue, but I guess the advent of home internet kind of decreased its novelty and utility as years went by. It doesn't seem like very many people watch it anymore.

Nordstrom Cafe, Perimeter Mall, Atlanta, GA [1998]

Apparently a prototype, but of what, I'm not sure, because Nordstrom had been putting restaurants in their stores for years before this one opened. Plenty of department stores did.

Crystal Pepsi / Diet Crystal Pepsi commercial [1993]

Java City, Embarcadero Center, San Francisco, CA [1999]

The Money Club promo [1995]

Look at all this 90s typeface action 😎

New World Coffee, Turtle Bay/Midtown East, New York, NY [1990s]

Diet Pepsi / Top Gun VHS commercial [1987]

Look at this price reveal and then go plug that number into an inflation calculator 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫.

Pottery Barn, Chicago, IL [1990s]

The now-closed Michigan Ave. location