Groceteria.com

I recently learned that there was a department store in Berkeley, CA called Hink's. I get the impression that it was somewhat famous among the locals, at least back when it was in operation. I cannot find very much information on it, aside from the fact that the downtown Berkely location was converted into Shattuck theaters around 1988.

Was Hink's a chain, or just a Berkeley instituion? I have never heard of them, and that's after spending 8+ years in the Bay Area soaking up as much info as I could on past and present retail in the area.. Seems like there were so many homegrown chains around here 50-60 years ago. Washington D.C. may lament having lost it's 5 or 6 local chains, but it seems like Nor. Cal. had twice as many once upon a time...

Hink's (to the best of my knowledge) only had the one location on Shattuck in Berkeley. I only recall going in there a few times. It was fairly small, I think-- maybe just three floors, like an old downtown-type JCPenney. They had a series of memorable radio ads in the 70s touting their "old-fashioned department store bells" and appealing to nostalgic customers (I guess.)