Recently, I was visiting with a friend who owns a well-established music store. However, she was excited by a find she’d made earlier in the day. She discovered a piece of music stamped with a music store in that area from the 1920s and 1930s.
This was a store that was open and had since gone out of business, more than twenty years before her parents opened their store.
![old City directories are a great resource for finding businesses and people](https://i0.wp.com/alookthrutime.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/city-directories.jpeg?resize=258%2C196)
Her curiosity was piqued and we discussed ways to discover more about this long lost store.
Using my genealogy skills, I made some suggestions:
- Check city directories for the store. By searching through the years we can discover when the store opened and when it closed.
- Checking the archives of the library for any files or mention or picture of this organization
- Searching for the owners in census records
- Finding the owners obituary {mention might be made of when the store opened or closed}
- Searching the newspaper for information {even if it is to check out their ads} {Newspapers.com and Chronicling America are online}
- Checking deeds to discover where the store is located
- Checking old business license {if they are available}
- Search through old pictures of the area for pictures of the store front
- Speaking with the research department at the library for ideas or information
How have you searched for businesses in the past?
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