Halloween lawn display pays homage to iconic stores that are gone, but not forgotten

SMITHFIELD, R.I. — A Rhode Island man’s Halloween display features tombstones in his front yard, but with a twist -- they pay tribute not to people, but to the dearly departed businesses in the New England area.

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Joshua Patenaude, of Smithfield, has a collection of tombstones at 71 Dean Ave. that local residents will view with nostalgia.

According to WFXT-TV, they include birth and death dates for nationally known businesses like Radio Shack (1921-2017), Toys R Us (1948-2018) and Sears (1893-2018).

Local and regional favorites also dot the graveyard: Ann & Hope (1953-2002), Christmas Tree Shops (1970-2023), Almacs (1942-1995), Benny’s (1924-2017) and Rocky Point (1847-1995), according to the television station.

“It definitely brings back a lot of memories for everyone,” Patenaude told WPRI-TV. “These places mean something to everyone, mean something different to everyone.”

Patenaude said he used a hot knife to carve out the store logo designs on the Styrofoam tombstones, according to the television station.

“I tried to stay as close to the accurate logo, because it’s what everyone remembers,” Patenaude told WPRI.

The first tombstone was for Benny’s and was featured in Patenaude’s yard in 2021, Rhode Island Monthly reported.

The most recent design is particularly bittersweet, he said. It is for the PawSox minor league baseball team, which left Pawtucket and moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, after the 2020 season, according to the magazine.

Patenaude also stays current with “dead” businesses. His marker for Toys R Us has a pair of hands coming out of the ground in front of the tombstone because it is “coming back from the dead.”

There are now nine tombstones in his yard, and Patenaude said he plans to continue the tradition.

“I thought it was a cool way to pay respects in a creative way that hopefully everyone else could enjoy,” he told Rhode Island Monthly.