Los Angeles retailers that are no more
dook...@webtv.net
ever happened of the regional retailers that I loved to visit,
primarily their toy depts. Here is a list and locations I compiled
with the help of my older sister who's memory goes back a little
farther:***********************************************W.T. GRANT*: A
discount chain from the 60's and 70's that had a location in Santa Fe
Springs at the shopping center on Telegraph Road between Orr and Day
and Jersey Ave. I vaguely remember buying shoes there when I was about
4 or 5. My earliest memories of life were at
Grant's.**************************************************TWO GUYS*:
Another discount retailer from the 60's and 70's that dropped off the
face of the earth.I recall visiting this one location I believe on
Alondra Blvd in Cerritos or Norwalk. I spent almost an entire day
there with my mom during their "store closing sale". I still remember
the cursive writing logo with a brownish backround and some of their
TV commercials. Anyone ever know what happened to
them?**************************************************WHITE FRONT*:
This discount retailer I think had a supermarket in it and I believe
we went to the location in Downey or Norwalk, forgot what street. I
remember the large parking lot and the massive domed white entrance. I
bought lots of toys by the Ideal Toy Co.
there.**************************************************Angels
Hardware*: My Dad and I used to visit this one location in Norwalk at
a shopping center on the corner of Studebaker and Firestone I think. I
used to love hanging out in the garden area, looking at all the plants
and ripping holes in the bags of maneur. I believe the chain was
bought out by Ole's Hardware and strangely, recall Phyllis Diller
doing commercials for them. Ole's eventually went under as well.
Sometimes we used to eat at this ol'school Sizzler across the street
when they still had the pink cow and black bull logo. I remember they
had mini black and white TV's on the tables that you could watch for a
dime!**************************************************Zody's*: This
discount retailer was a favourite of my mom's and always had a
signature smell of popcorn, Icees, and inexpensive rubbery shoes.
Their store inside was painted beige with a couple of red stripes that
went around the store. Always looked like a downscale Target in
disarray.My folks bought me the most toys, candy and my first 45 vinyl
single from there. It was "Your The One That I Want" from "Grease",
(scary). I felt so grown up though. The store we went to was right off
the 605 frwy and Imperial Hwy in Norwalk. After Zody's demise, they
put a mega supermarket there and a Staples right next to it. Back in
the day, my sis and I would take the bus there in the summer and hang
out, (exciting). One time we walked several blocks into acres of
abandoned homes that were waiting to be bulldozed for the proposed
Century Freeway. I believe this apocolyptic location was the site for
the movie, "Suburbia". Not the "Suburbia" with Giovanni Ribisi 5 years
ago, but the 80's version with all the punker kids. Of Course the land
sat idle for like 10 years before they even started
constructon.**************************************************Gemco*:
70's Sam's Club of the day.This store all my neighbors would shop at.
We would visit the one on Florence Ave and Studebaker Rd in Downey
right off I-5. My mom would go marketing there, by clothes, get
eyeglasses made, prescriptions, etc. They offered everything in one
stop which I thought was cool. I recall my mom buying me Juice
Newton's "Love's Been A Little Bit Hard On Me" and the Kansas' album
with "Dust In The Wind" on it. Sure a far cry from my current musical
tastes of Green Day and System of a Down. Once, we saw Richard
Carpenter there who lived nearby. Later on, we moved to Brea and
visited the one off Harbor Blvd and Imperial Hwy. This was during
their major renevation effort and when completed the store looked more
high tech, mainstream and with a cool new logo. About one month later
somwehere in 1986, the whole chain closed down to everyone's suprise.
I believe Lucky supermarket owned them and this location was converted
to a Lucky, (now an Albertson's).**************************************************Other
Los Angeles retailers of the
past*:**************************************************MARKET
BASKET*: Small LA supermarket chain whose parent company was either
Lucky or Safeway with a location in Santa Fe Springs- was spun off to
Boys Markets. What ever became of
Boys?**************************************************SMITH'S KING*:
Had a 1970's location in a shopping center off Norwalk Blvd about one
mile south of St. Pius X Parish. This site is now home to townhouses.
Smith's tried to make a come back in the 1990's but it was
short-lived. I believe Kroeger foods owns them who also now owns
Ralph's and Fred Meyer up in the Northwest. Smith's still exists but
has the majority of it's stores in Salt Lake City and the Southwest
where it's based.**************************************************BEANO'S*:
Another discount clothing store that had a location at Paddison Square
in Norwalk off Norwalk Bl. and Imperial Hwy. They disappeared off the
L.A. landscape in the mid 80's. Wondered what became of this company?
Still remember the gingle, "At Beano's". Oddly, about 4 or 5 years
ago I was driving through Placerville, CA on U.S. hwy 50 and saw a
Beano's in a little strip mall by a hillside. I believe this location
is also now gone.*************************************************Hope
these stores trigger memories for some folks. It brings back mostly
good memories of my childhood. When all I worried about was getting
the latest toys and chowing down on candy, burgers, sodas and watching
the latest "Six Million Dollar Man" episode.
************************************************* Any additional
input would be welcome!
Robert Cruickshank
> As a small child in the late 70's and early 80's I often wondered what
> ever happened of the regional retailers that I loved to visit,
> primarily their toy depts. Here is a list and locations I compiled
> with the help of my older sister who's memory goes back a little
> farther
> Gemco*:
> 70's Sam's Club of the day.This store all my neighbors would shop at.
Oh yeah. Gemco. I have vague but fond memories of that place. We'd go
to the one on 17th and Grand Ave in Santa Ana. I remember going with
my parents to buy an LP of Paul McCartney and Wings' "Venus and Mars"
and then my dad and I listening to it for hours later that day. My
parents worked there as teenagers in the mid-70s and I think my dad's
nametag still exists in one of the family miscellaneous boxes.
Anyhow, enough personal nostalgia, no one cares. Gemco Stores were a
department store subsidiary of Lucky Stores and were operated through
the '70s and into the '80s. In 1986 Lucky sold their Gemcos to Dayton
Hudson, parent company of Target, and shortly thereafter Lucky became
a part of American Stores, which in 1999 was bought out by Albertsons,
so now not only is there no more Gemco and hasn't been for over 15
years, but now there's no more Lucky's (the place we'd do our grocery
shopping at) and the march of corporate consolidation and mega-mergers
continues.
The Gemco on 17th and Grand was soon converted into a Target, and
though I haven't been by that place in a really long time, I think it
remains a Target. I'll have to ask my family down there in Santa Ana.
I suspect many other Gemcos became Targets or were simply closed.
Peter Harris, President and CEO of the SF 49ers, was once CEO of
Gemco.
One former employee's Gemco reminiscence site:
http://www.royhooper.com/gemco.htm
Lucky's history:
http://www.groceteria.net/lucky/
--
Robert I. Cruickshank
roadgeek, historian, progressive
William Lynch
> On Sun, 28 Apr 2002, Stephanie wrote:
> >
> > while we're on the topic of old stores in California, i remember growing
> > up in souther California in San diego/coronado and going to this fast food
> > restaurant for hamburgers in the 70's. it wasn't Mcdonald's, Burger King,
> > or Wendy's. I remember they used to put a lot of mustard on their
> > hamburgers--too much for a little kid to handle. anyone know the name of
> > this place, and are they still in business? thanks,
>
> never mind. just remembered...it is called "Jack-in-the-Box".
>
> too bad they're mostly on the west coast.
>
> S.
And most of them are open 24/7. I'm basically not allowed there
because of my diet but I still sneak an occasional Strawberry-Banana
shake.
Daniel Faigin
>W.T. GRANT*:
Unknown
>TWO GUYS*:
Unknown.
>WHITE FRONT*:
Died in the late 1960s. There was one on Sepulveda in El Segundo, one
where the Costco is in Canoga Park, and one on La Cienga as well.
>Angels Hardware*:
Died in the mid-1990s.
>Zody's*:
Died in the 80s. Most stores sold to Target.
>Gemco*:
Died in the 80s. Many became Targets.
>MARKET BASKET*: Small LA supermarket chain whose parent company was either
>Lucky or Safeway with a location in Santa Fe Springs- was spun off to
>Boys Markets. What ever became of Boys?
Well, Market Basket was actually owned by Kroger; they pulled out in
the 1970s. Boys was part of Yucaipa foods, which was purchased by
Ralphs.
>**************************************************SMITH'S KING*:
Never could make it in LA. They would keep trying to come back into
town.
Daniel
W/H: fai...@aero.org/fai...@pacificnet.net http://www.pacificnet.net/~faigin/
Mod., Mail.Liberal-Judaism (www.mljewish.org) Advisor, s.c.j.Parenting
Maintainer, S.C.J FAQ/RL (www.scjfaq.org) Daddy to Erin Shoshana
Maintainer, Calif. Highways List (www.cahighways.org)
Webmaven, Temple Beth Torah of Granada Hills (www.bethtorah-sfv.org)
Stanley Cline
<sjwi...@babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
>never mind. just remembered...it is called "Jack-in-the-Box".
Funny you mentioned that -- (as I discovered over the weekend;
roadtrip details to come a bit later) now there are some JitB
locations in Greenville, SC -- just ~140 miles from Atlanta! :)
I wish they'd creep down I-85 and I-24/75 (down from Nashville) just a
bit more...
-SC
Dunwoody (Atlanta), GA
--
Stanley Cline -- sc1 at roamer1 dot org -- http://www.roamer1.org/
...
"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today. There might
be a law against it by that time." -/usr/games/fortune
Richard C. Moeur
> Gemco*:
> 70's Sam's Club of the day.This store all my neighbors would shop at.
I remember Gemco - and miss it almost as much as
Yellow Front. Too bad both of those proud names were
victims of the debt loads from poorly thought-out
leveraged buyouts in the '80s.
I furnished my first trailer with stuff from the Gemco
at Oracle & Limberlost in Tucson. Sadly, I don't believe
that building has been occupied since. :\
Stephanie wrote:
> >
> > while we're on the topic of old stores in California, i remember growing
> > up in souther California in San diego/coronado and going to this fast food
> > restaurant for hamburgers in the 70's. it wasn't Mcdonald's, Burger King,
> > or Wendy's. I remember they used to put a lot of mustard on their
> > hamburgers--too much for a little kid to handle. anyone know the name of
> > this place, and are they still in business? thanks,
>
> never mind. just remembered...it is called "Jack-in-the-Box".
Are you sure it was mustard? At Jack's place up until
1-2 years ago, "secret sauce" was the default condiment
on the burgers - mustard & ketchup were special-order
items.
One of my first jobs was working the drive-thru
at the Jack in the Box on Central Avenue just south
of Osborn (still there 23 years later). It was
before Jack was "blown up" and ousted (later to
famously return), so folks in the drive-thru read
their orders to a large glowing Jack in the Box
clown out back by the menu board. So, if you were
working the drive-thru, you weren't just an employee-
you _were_ Jack. Took a while each night to get into
character, but somehow I managed.
...and if you think that behavior's a bit odd, just
you remember how you were back in high school. :)
--
Richard C. Moeur, P.E., WC7RCM, E.C.I., whatever...
Practicing Traffic Engineer (I'll get it right someday...)
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
"Life is just one W1-5 after another, until the W14-1"
The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of
the Arizona Department of Transportation. Really.
WWW: http://members.aol.com/rcmoeur/index.html
E-Mail: rcm...@aol.com, NOT rcm...@earthlink.net. Tnx!
Hank Fung
Don't forget Fedco, Gemco's main competitor. Originally open only to
government employees, which later broadened to everyone that could cough
up $10 for a lifetime membership. Now, of course, most are Targets.
>>MARKET BASKET*: Small LA supermarket chain whose parent company was either
>>Lucky or Safeway with a location in Santa Fe Springs- was spun off to
>>Boys Markets. What ever became of Boys?
>
>Well, Market Basket was actually owned by Kroger; they pulled out in
>the 1970s. Boys was part of Yucaipa foods, which was purchased by
>Ralphs.
Ralphs got purchased by Kroger recently, in their most recent
purchasing binge (along with Fred Meyer), so those stores are now part
of the Kroger family once again.
On the department store circuit, the losses are many... I. Magnin, Buffum's,
Bullock's, Broadway (all taken over by Macy), and some other ones like
Roberts', Orbach's (mainly out in the boonies) and one other that I can't
remember.
--
Hank Fung fun...@ocf.berkeley.edu
Go Bears! http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~fungus
Brian Matuschak
either
> >Lucky or Safeway with a location in Santa Fe Springs- was spun off to
> >Boys Markets. What ever became of Boys?
>
> Well, Market Basket was actually owned by Kroger; they pulled out in
> the 1970s. Boys was part of Yucaipa foods, which was purchased by
> Ralphs.
...which AFAIK became part of Fred Meyer before Fred's got bought out by
Kroger!
--
Brian J. Matuschak
Publisher, the "Electronic Atlas Newsletter" (1990-2000)
http://www.electronic-atlas.com, br...@electronic-atlas.com
Seattle, WA
>
Alan Hamilton
(Hank Fung) wrote:
>Don't forget Fedco, Gemco's main competitor. Originally open only to
>government employees, which later broadened to everyone that could cough
>up $10 for a lifetime membership. Now, of course, most are Targets.
They also had a FedMart incarnation, which didn't have a membership
fee. Weren't they started by the same guy that went on to start Price
Club? I can think of only one here in Phoenix that became a Target;
the rest were torn down. Until a couple years ago, their old
warehouse in Tempe, AZ still had the FedMart logo on it.
--
/
/ * / Alan Hamilton
* * al...@arizonaroads.com
Arizona Roads -- http://www.arizonaroads.com
A
Bryan,Texas back in 1977. We got free fries and drinks. The fries were
pretty good with steak sauce as I recall. Kingston used to have a Jack-that
replaced the old post office at Broadway and Grand Streets in Midtown. The
jack died sometime in the 90's, and was replaced by at least one independent
business that failed, and finally with "Planet Wings" a moderately decent
wings chain out of Poughkeepsie.
-----------== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Uncensored Usenet News ==----------
http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
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Alan Hamilton
<br...@electronic-atlas.com> wrote:
>> >MARKET BASKET*: Small LA supermarket chain whose parent company was
>either
>> >Lucky or Safeway with a location in Santa Fe Springs- was spun off to
>> >Boys Markets. What ever became of Boys?
>>
>> Well, Market Basket was actually owned by Kroger; they pulled out in
>> the 1970s. Boys was part of Yucaipa foods, which was purchased by
>> Ralphs.
>
>...which AFAIK became part of Fred Meyer before Fred's got bought out by
>Kroger!
The signmakers had a lot of business in Phoenix rebranding stores.
Smitty's operated grocery and combined grocery/department stores.
Along came Smiths. After some feuding over trademarks, they got
along. But came some rapid-fire mergers. Smiths bought out Smitty's,
keeping the stores branded separately for a while, then they rebranded
the grocery-only Smitty's as Smiths. Then Smiths was bought out by
Fred Meyer. The department stores became Fred Meyers stores, while
the grocery stores remained Smiths. This lasted only a few months
before Fred Meyers was bought out by Kroger. Kroger already owned the
Fry's chain in Phoenix, so they rebranded the Smiths as Fry's, and the
Fred Meyers as Fry's Marketplace.
Whew. Although some stores were closed, not as many as I thought
would be were. There's a long-time Fry's near me that's only a mile
from a former Smiths, but both are still open.
I've also noticed that a lot of the house brands in Fry's are now
Kroger-brand instead of Fry's-brand. I wonder if eventually they
won't convert them all to Krogers.
And yes, it is confusing now that Fry's Electronics is in town too.
mygene...@junglemate.com
> wrote in message news:<aanpbr$bsbht$1...@ID-131683.news.dfncis.de>...
What about Hinshaws? I recall only one at the Quad in Whittier that
got destroyed during the 87' Narrows quake. They never rebuilt. I was
suprised that Ohrbachs went WAY back. I was watching an episode of "I
Love Lucy" recently and mentioned in the credits "fashions by
Ohrbachs". I remember their shoppng bags that had the "Oh!" symbol
too. Only store I remember was in Cerritos mall. Wonder what became of
that discount store Beano's too?A friend asked me what does Fry's,(in
Fry's Electronics) stands for. He told me it was an acronym for
Frequently Returning Your Sh*t". If anyone has ever shopped there,
you'd get the joke. They suck.
William Lynch
>
<snip>
> A friend asked me what does Fry's,(in
> Fry's Electronics) stands for. He told me it was an acronym for
> Frequently Returning Your Sh*t". If anyone has ever shopped there,
> you'd get the joke. They suck.
The Fry brothers got their start running a grocery store
chain in the San Jose area that was always about 9/10s
of a step ahead of the health department. The original
electronics store in Sunnyvale was opened as a lark.
Guess what! Electronics was booming is Silicon Valley!
Guess what else! No health department! They sold the
grocery chain faster than you can say consolidate.
Since then, some of the old habits stayed a while. The
Fry's Electronics chain was found guilty twice of selling
products returned defective without any repairs, but in
all fairness it has been about ten years since the last
conviction.
And, as a Mac user, I have no reason to even go there.
Chris Aseltine
> Since then, some of the old habits stayed a while. The
> Fry's Electronics chain was found guilty twice of selling
> products returned defective without any repairs, but in
> all fairness it has been about ten years since the last
> conviction.
Check this link out. It's a gag "Fry's Employment Application".
http://braith.best.vwh.net/frys.htm
Fire Truck
> wrote in message news:<aanpbr$bsbht$1...@ID-131683.news.dfncis.de>...
* MORE 70's and early 80's:* How about =The Akron=? Was like a Cost
Plus in the 70's. Miles and miles of wicker, ewh. =Phil and Jim's=
Electronic retailer. =RB Furniture= =Luv's restaurant= BBQ place.
"When your in luv's the whole world's delicious".=Chicken Delight=
=National Lumber= =Licorice Pizza= Records, tapes
Daniel Faigin
>I was
>suprised that Ohrbachs went WAY back. I was watching an episode of "I
>Love Lucy" recently and mentioned in the credits "fashions by
>Ohrbachs". I remember their shoppng bags that had the "Oh!" symbol
>too. Only store I remember was in Cerritos mall.
There was a large one in the Miracle Mile district; it is now the
Peterson Auto Museam (a great place to go for a roadgeek). There was
also one in the Valley in Panorama City that is now an indoor swap
meet.
>A friend asked me what does Fry's,(in
>Fry's Electronics) stands for. He told me it was an acronym for
>Frequently Returning Your Sh*t".
Fry's is interesting. The electronics store was started by the childen
of the founder of the supermarket; the original ones had a combination
of food and electronics (get your chip and your chips at the same
place). They are known for selling returned goods :-), so you have to
be careful. Each store has a different theme. Out here in Southern
California, the themes are:
El Segundo: Enchanted Tiki Room/South Seas
Burbank: 1950s aliens landing
Woodland Hills: Alice in Wonderland
Irvine: Don't know
San Gabriel Valley: Don't Know
Can others add to the list (see, I can go off topic with the best of
them)
Daniel Faigin
> MORE 70's and early 80's:* How about =The Akron=? Was like a Cost
>Plus in the 70's. Miles and miles of wicker, ewh.
There was one on National, right near the 405/10 interchange. It is
now a circuit city. There was also one in the valley on Ventura Blvd
near the SB 101 on-ramp near Tampa. It is now a Ross.
> =Phil and Jim's= >Electronic retailer.
And of course, there was Adrays (not affiliated with the Adrays in
Orange County) :-)
>=National Lumber=
With the little bird on the ads.
=Licorice Pizza= Records, tapes
One in West LA, near Music Odyssey, where I spent many hours of my
youth playing pinball upstairs. Music Odyssey, if I recall, had a
mural on the side depicting I-10 falling off into the ocean.
William Lynch
ROFL! This has been forwarded to the gang. Thanks!
Robert Cruickshank
I didn't know there was an Irvine store. There is a Fountain Valley
store, with a Roman theme (the camcorder display is set up so the
cameras all ring a mock-up of the Circus Maximus where a Ben-Hur like
chariot race is being run by tiny little figurines).
Anaheim is all space-age with rocket ships and such. I believe one of
the Silicon Valley stores has an Aztec theme.
William Lynch
The aztec theme is north San Jose, Sunnyvale is the inside of
computer, Campbell is Egyptian and Palo Alto is the old west.
I forget what the theme in Fremont is, but can ask a friend when
I get back from LA.
Sandy Smith
>
> On Sun, 28 Apr 2002 21:24:38 -0400, Stephanie
> <sjwi...@babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
>
> >never mind. just remembered...it is called "Jack-in-the-Box".
>
> Funny you mentioned that -- (as I discovered over the weekend;
> roadtrip details to come a bit later) now there are some JitB
> locations in Greenville, SC -- just ~140 miles from Atlanta! :)
Paging the Kansas Citians on this ng: Are there still JitB's in the area? ISTR
on my last visit there way back in '88, JitB had purchased Kansas City's own
homegrown fast-food burger chain, Smaks.
Which should not be confused with Winstead's, Kansas City's own homegrown
non-fast-food burger joint, which, as Calvin Trillin fans will recall, serves
the best hamburgers in the world.
And I *loved* mustard on my burgers. The East Coast practice of serving them
with ketchup and *mayo*, which I first encountered when I had my first Whopper
(not on the East Coast, however), still amazes me. I've gotten used to
requesting mustard when I order burgers in local restaurants, though.
--Sandy, who begs to differ with Mr. Trillin on the relative merits of Bryant's
BBQ compared to, say, Boyd's, or Bryant's sauce to Gates' for that matter
--
Sandy Smith, Exile on Market Street, Philadelphia smi...@pobox.upenn.edu
Pennsylvania Current, yadda yadda http://pobox.upenn.edu/~smiths/
This is the condensed version of my .sig. I'm too tired to put a quote in.
Sandy Smith
Hank Fung wrote:
>
> On the department store circuit, the losses are many... I. Magnin, Buffum's,
> Bullock's, Broadway (all taken over by Macy), and some other ones like
> Roberts', Orbach's (mainly out in the boonies) and one other that I can't
> remember.
I remember hearing announcers on afternoon soap operas in the '60s saying
"Fashions by Orbach's" regularly as the credits rolled. *That* Orbach's was
located in midtown Manhattan, not far from the Empire State Building. Didn't
know they had a West Coast outpost.
As for Bullock's, whose name also turned up in these announcements on occasion:
So they're now all Macy's, along with The Broadway? Is Bullocks Wilshire still
open, and if so, what is it called now?
Of course, Macy's was itself acquired by Federated (Bloomingdale's, Lazarus,
A&S, Stern's...)
Sandy Smith
Alan Hamilton wrote:
>
> I've also noticed that a lot of the house brands in Fry's are now
> Kroger-brand instead of Fry's-brand. I wonder if eventually they
> won't convert them all to Krogers.
We note (after surfing that grocerteria.com site that was mentioned earlier in
this thread -- pretty cool, and nicely done, even if San-Fran-centric, sort of,
at least for now) that the various chains owned by the Great Atlantic and
Pacific Tea Company do not have their own store brands any more; the company got
rid of them and replaced them all with a single brand called "America's Choice"
in the late 1980s.
Wonder if Albertson's might someday do that? Given that American Stores never
did, maybe not.
Jim Ellwanger
<al...@arizonaroads.com> wrote:
> I've also noticed that a lot of the house brands in Fry's are now
> Kroger-brand instead of Fry's-brand. I wonder if eventually they
> won't convert them all to Krogers.
The same thing has happened at Ralphs to a certain extent, although
there are very few items available with the Kroger name on them;
rather, they're Private Selection and FMV (both originally Fred Meyer
brands, I think), or Perfect Choice. It's a lot easier to tell that
Vons is owned by Safeway than it is to tell that Ralphs is owned by
Kroger.
However, it looks like they're somewhat committed to the continued use
of the Ralphs name, because they just redesigned the packaging for all
the Ralphs brand yogurt flavors (the Ralphs store brand product I buy
most often).
--
Jim Ellwanger <trai...@mindspring.com>
<http://trainman1.home.mindspring.com/>, for those who think big.
"All babies hate to see a great journalist mortally wounded
by a wrecking ball."
Sandy Smith
Jim Ellwanger wrote:
>
> The same thing has happened at Ralphs to a certain extent, although
> there are very few items available with the Kroger name on them;
> rather, they're Private Selection and FMV (both originally Fred Meyer
> brands, I think), or Perfect Choice. It's a lot easier to tell that
> Vons is owned by Safeway than it is to tell that Ralphs is owned by
> Kroger.
Does the Vons store brand survive in any form?
The Genuardi's store brand still appears on the shelves of that
Philadelphia-area chain; the only in-store clue to its new corporate owners is
the presence of the "Safeway Select" premium brand. (Print and radio ads offer
another clue for those familiar with Safeway; the ads use the corporate slogan
"Giving our best" [the formerly family-owned chain had used "Family pride makes
the difference"] and the radio ads have the same bouncy jingle used wherever
else Safeway does business).
Question: Why did Safeway exit Kansas City, one of their longtime markets? I
know the city has a reputation as being tough on chain supermarkets -- even the
hometown Milgram chain bit the dust -- but I had thought Safeway did well
there. (Although when I was last there in 1988, my brother reamed me out for
going to Safeway to buy some groceries, because their prices were too high.)
Hank Fung
William Lynch <bozo....@big.top> wrote:
>The aztec theme is north San Jose, Sunnyvale is the inside of
>computer, Campbell is Egyptian and Palo Alto is the old west.
>I forget what the theme in Fremont is, but can ask a friend when
>I get back from LA.
>
The list of themes is at
http://www.frys.com/hisframe.html
Pat O'Connell
>
> Jim Ellwanger wrote:
> >
> > The same thing has happened at Ralphs to a certain extent, although
> > there are very few items available with the Kroger name on them;
> > rather, they're Private Selection and FMV (both originally Fred Meyer
> > brands, I think), or Perfect Choice. It's a lot easier to tell that
> > Vons is owned by Safeway than it is to tell that Ralphs is owned by
> > Kroger.
>
> Does the Vons store brand survive in any form?
There are Vons grocery stores in Las Vegas NV. They're obviously owned
by Safeway, because of the house brands.
--
Pat O'Connell
Take nothing but pictures, Leave nothing but footprints,
Kill nothing but vandals...
Jim Ellwanger
<smi...@pobox.upenn.edu> wrote:
> Does the Vons store brand survive in any form?
Yes, although the "upscale" store brand products are Safeway Select, as
you would expect.
Actually, they did recently change all of Vons' dairy products from the
Vons dairy brand, Jerseymaid, to the Safeway dairy brand, Lucerne.
--
Jim Ellwanger <trai...@mindspring.com>
<http://trainman1.home.mindspring.com/> will never give up.
"Everything looks beautiful when you're young and pretty."
Mark Roberts
|
|
| Question: Why did Safeway exit Kansas City, one of their longtime markets? I
| know the city has a reputation as being tough on chain
| supermarkets -- even the
| hometown Milgram chain bit the dust -- but I had thought Safeway did well
| there. (Although when I was last there in 1988, my brother reamed me out for
| going to Safeway to buy some groceries, because their prices were too high.)
Safeway had started a discount chain called "Super Food Barn". It
was later spun off in a leveraged buyout to its management. That
was, if I recall correctly, at a time when Safeway was exiting
quite a few markets because it needed to pay down debt on its *own*
LBO. Safeway left Houston shortly after I did (about 15 years ago),
for example.
Anyway, in Kansas City, Food Barn later tried to recast itself as less of a
discount chain. Ultimately, though, its financial problem was that it was
the only Kansas City chain remaining with a heavily unionized work
force. A few individual Kansas City stores (such as the two
remaining Milgram's*) were unionized, but most were not. There was a
strike by the United Food and Commercial Workers in 1994, at
which point Food Barn shut down and declared bankruptcy.
* - so, for Jeremy: is the store at Brookside and Meyer still
"Milgram's IGA"? That was the last Milgram's left after the one at
50th and Main changed to a Piggly Wiggly in 1996.
--
Mark Roberts | "Allergan sells each vile of Botox to doctors for
Oakland, Cal.| about $400." -- Oakland Tribune, 4-23-2002
NO HTML MAIL |
Sandy Smith
>
> Safeway had started a discount chain called "Super Food Barn". It
>
> Anyway, in Kansas City, Food Barn later tried to recast itself as less of a
> discount chain. Ultimately, though, its financial problem was that it was
> the only Kansas City chain remaining with a heavily unionized work
> force.
Hmmmm.
As you may or may not know, Philadelphia has a (well-deserved) rep as a union
town. The lead editorial in today's _Inquirer_ (Sunday 5/5) was about how union
costs and practices have kept developers from building new housing in the city
even though there is some demand for it (and might be even more), and that the
current mayor, who owes his job to the unions that got their members out to vote
for him, has compounded the problem by putting union leaders on key boards (for
instance, the head of the sheet-metal workers union sits on the Zoning Board of
Adjustment, which approves construction permits; as a result, people proposing
to build affordable housing for the poor have been required to install central
air conditioning as a condition of the permit).
But I digress. We were talking about union supermarkets (itself a digression).
There's a reason why you can find Genuardi's all over the metropolitan area --
but not within Philadelphia itself. The Genuardi family was famously cool
towards unions, and didn't want to invite an organizing drive by opening stores
in the city.
I guess that helped make the chain attractive to Safeway.
Steve Carras
>
>As a small child in the late 70's and early 80's I often wondered what
>ever happened of the regional retailers that I loved to visit,
>primarily their toy depts. Here is a list and locations I compiled
>with the help of my older sister who's memory goes back a little
>farther:***********************************************W.T. GRANT*: A
>discount chain from the 60's and 70's that had a location in Santa Fe
>Springs at the shopping center on Telegraph Road between Orr and Day
>and Jersey Ave. I vaguely remember buying shoes there when I was about
>4 or 5. My earliest memories of life were at
>Grant's.**************************************************TWO GUYS*:
>Another discount retailer from the 60's and 70's that dropped off the
>face of the earth.I recall visiting this one location I believe on
>Alondra Blvd in Cerritos or Norwalk. I spent almost an entire day
>there with my mom during their "store closing sale". I still remember
>the cursive writing logo with a brownish backround and some of their
>TV commercials. Anyone ever know what happened to
>them?
No, but I recall them.
**************************************************WHITE FRONT*:
>This discount retailer I think had a supermarket in it and I believe
>we went to the location in Downey or Norwalk, forgot what street. I
>remember the large parking lot and the massive domed white entrance. I
>bought lots of toys by the Ideal Toy Co.
My favorite in terms of archetecture..arcvhed, and domed entrance.. most ended
by mid-late 1960s but in the San Francisco area some remained but for a few
short years.
>there.**************************************************Angels
>Hardware*: My Dad and I used to visit this one location in Norwalk at
>a shopping center on the corner of Studebaker and Firestone I think. I
>used to love hanging out in the garden area, looking at all the plants
>and ripping holes in the bags of maneur. I believe the chain was
>bought out by Ole's Hardware and strangely, recall Phyllis Diller
>doing commercials for them. Ole's eventually went under as well.
>Sometimes we used to eat at this ol'school Sizzler across the street
>when they still had the pink cow and black bull logo. I remember they
>had mini black and white TV's on the tables that you could watch for a
>dime
Yup.
**************************************************Zody's*:
Remember that tradio ad, and possibly TV ad, "Take a look"(repeated some five
times) at Zody's?" :)
>constructon.**************************************************Gemco*:
>70's Sam's Club of the day.
I recall this.
>I believe Lucky supermarket owned them and this location was converted.
That is so true.
>to a Lucky, (now an
>Albertson's).**************************************************Other
>Los Angeles retailers of the
>past*:**************************************************MARKET
>BASKET*: Small LA supermarket chain whose parent company was either
>Lucky or Safeway with a location in Santa Fe Springs- was spun off to
>Boys Markets. What ever became of
>Boys?
Boy, and no pun intended there, I forgot about Boys! Remember Market Basket
though, we had one here in Whittier for years until 1976, when it was torn down
(northwestern corner, Whittier and Painter right next to a Weinschnitzel that
is still stnading and in good business. There was a very steep (northside)
ramp, and it was by where a church still is standing, westside of Painter
Avenue, the once sloping down area levelled off. From 1976 to sometime in the
1980s, a Ralph's there (Ralph's now occupies the other side of the insection,
the Qhittier QUad--the site of some damage in the 1987 earthquake, and the
beloved 1960 May Co.store damaged by said damage). In 1992, a Pic n Save opened
on the Market Baster lot.
**************************************************SMITH'S KING*:
>Had a 1970's location in a shopping center off Norwalk Blvd about one
>mile south of St. Pius X Parish. This site is now home to townhouses.
>Smith's tried to make a come back in the 1990's but it was
>short-lived. I believe Kroeger foods owns them who also now owns
>Ralph's and Fred Meyer up in the Northwest. Smith's still exists but
>has the majority of it's stores in Salt Lake City and the Southwest
>where it's based.
We had one until the 1970s in Pico Rivera on Beverly Blvd. and Rosemead
Blvd.,(southereast corner) in southern California.Also known as Smith's Food
King. Again, Pic 'n' Save occupies said spot now.
Speaking of royal grocery stores--anyone recall King Cole's? Went outta biz in
1970s.
===========================================================
"There's the space up there, the space down there, and there's the space
between your ears"-Skipper, Gilligan's Island, SMILE! YOu"RE ON MARS CAMERA
(1965)
Steve Carras
>From: Sandy Smith smi...@pobox.upenn.edu
>Date: 5/3/02 5:35 PM Pacific Daylight Time
>Message-id: <3CD32CD0...@pobox.upenn.edu>
>
>Stanley Cline wrote:
>>
>> On Sun, 28 Apr 2002 21:24:38 -0400, Stephanie
>> <sjwi...@babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
>>
>> >never mind. just remembered...it is called "Jack-in-the-Box".
>>
>> Funny you mentioned that -- (as I discovered over the weekend;
>> roadtrip details to come a bit later) now there are some JitB
>> locations in Greenville, SC -- just ~140 miles from Atlanta! :)
>
>Paging the Kansas Citians on this ng: Are there still JitB's in the area?
>ISTR
>on my last visit there way back in '88, JitB had purchased Kansas City's own
>homegrown fast-food burger chain, Smaks.
On our way back from Disneyland tonight, mny brother drove through a Jack in
the crack.(:)) Trust me, they're still here in California, and in Nevada,too.
Steve Carras
>From: mygene...@junglemate.com
>Date: 5/1/02 8:42 PM Pacific Daylight Time
>Message-id: <c3c45ad1.02050...@posting.google.com>
: They never rebuilt.
They became GOLD'S GYM then STAPLES and Burlington's. The Quad had WT Grant,
Holland House replaced by a Clifton's, and a May Co.Also a great Chinese
resturant rests in the southwest corner, Laurel and Whittier, knwon as GRAND
BUFFET. The only other was in Arcadia.Open from 1952 to 1993, Hinshaw's in
Whittier, did continue until the lattter date only without half the store
(which meant no more deli area or resturant TROLLEY STOP)
I was
>suprised that Ohrbachs went WAY back. I was watching an episode of "I
>Love Lucy" recently and mentioned in the credits "fashions by
>Ohrbachs". I remember their shoppng bags that had the "Oh!" symbol
>too. Only store I remember was in Cerritos mall.
They were all over the place. La Mirada had one too. And yes I rememeber seeing
that TV credit.."The Donna Reed Show: had it too!
Alan Hamilton
<trai...@mindspring.com> wrote:
>However, it looks like they're somewhat committed to the continued use
>of the Ralphs name, because they just redesigned the packaging for all
>the Ralphs brand yogurt flavors (the Ralphs store brand product I buy
>most often).
On the other hand, I just bought Kroger yogurt at Fry's.
dook...@webtv.net
======= *I remember the Quad very well. There was a Vons,Hinshaw's,
Mayco with a bargain basement, and a small indoor portion that was
like a mini mall. It remember seeing the half standing Mayco looking
like it was sinking into the ground after the 87' quake. That whole
area has changed so much. The short lived Santa Fe Springs Mall never
quite caught on. Five or six years after it opened most of the tenants
were moving out. They eventually gutted it, except for Target and now
it's a more contemporary outdoor shopping plaza with plenty of parking
which is a good thing. I now live in Sacramento and one of the main
malls here, Arden Fair Mall, is the most congested, poorly designed
shopping area I have ever seen. They crammed too many businesses,
restaurants, theatres into a relatively narrow area. There are parking
structures around back but not a lot of folks use it because they feel
gridlocking the front parking area is more convenient. During the
Holiday's , forget it! You'd be nuts to go within 2 miles of that
area. It should be gutted and redesigned as an outdoor shopping
complex.
TEXAS Not From Texas
"Mark Roberts" <mark...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:udb8429...@corp.supernews.com...
> * - so, for Jeremy: is the store at Brookside and Meyer still
> "Milgram's IGA"? That was the last Milgram's left after the one at
> 50th and Main changed to a Piggly Wiggly in 1996.
Next time I'm down that way I'll try to remember to check it out.
Sandy Smith
Steve Carras wrote:
>
> >Subject: Re: (OT) JitB, was Re: Los Angeles retailers that are no more
> >From: Sandy Smith smi...@pobox.upenn.edu
> >Date: 5/3/02 5:35 PM Pacific Daylight Time
> >Message-id: <3CD32CD0...@pobox.upenn.edu>
> >
> >Paging the Kansas Citians on this ng: Are there still JitB's in the area?
> >ISTR
> >on my last visit there way back in '88, JitB had purchased Kansas City's own
> >homegrown fast-food burger chain, Smaks.
>
> On our way back from Disneyland tonight, mny brother drove through a Jack in
> the crack.(:)) Trust me, they're still here in California, and in Nevada,too.
Thanks for the info, Steve. I saw my first Jack-in-the-Box when I was seven, on
a visit to my great-aunts who live in LA.
At that time, there were *no* JitB's in the *Kansas City* metropolitan area, but
plenty of Smaks. I'm still waiting for a Kansas Citian or someone familiar with
the area today to answer my question about the chain in the KC area.
Mark Roberts
| was seven, on
| a visit to my great-aunts who live in LA.
|
| At that time, there were *no* JitB's in the *Kansas City*
| metropolitan area, but
| plenty of Smaks. I'm still waiting for a Kansas Citian or someone
| familiar with
| the area today to answer my question about the chain in the KC area.
I knew it was there it one time, but I don't recall seeing any when
I lived there in the early and mid 1990s. However, it's a chain I
never patronize, so they might have been there and I just ignored
them.
Steve Carras
Stores. (Themselves no longer around.)
One was in uptown Whittier (Greenleaf/some other Street, but anyway, going up
north between Philadelphia on the south side and Hadley on the north side, the
store was on the northwest corner) and another in the Whittwood center (1955-
).
TEXAS Not From Texas
"Sandy Smith" <smi...@pobox.upenn.edu> wrote in message
news:3CD9F350...@pobox.upenn.edu...
> At that time, there were *no* JitB's in the *Kansas City* metropolitan
area, but
> plenty of Smaks. I'm still waiting for a Kansas Citian or someone
familiar with
> the area today to answer my question about the chain in the KC area.
I've never ever seen a Crack in the Box anywhere near KC, the closest ones
I've seen are in St Louis. What is "Smaks"? I don't recall seeing anything
like that either.
I know all the White Castles in KC went out of business about the time I
moved up here (early 2001).
Fire Truck
> Here in Whittier, we used to have Myers (1905-1960s). They become Boston
Hey, I remember Boston Stores. They had talking coat hangers in
their commercials! Wonder what became of them?
Sandy Smith
TEXAS Not From Texas wrote:
>
> I've never ever seen a Crack in the Box anywhere near KC, the closest ones
> I've seen are in St Louis. What is "Smaks"? I don't recall seeing anything
> like that either.
>
> I know all the White Castles in KC went out of business about the time I
> moved up here (early 2001).
Given when you moved to KC, you never have seen a Smaks, and you never will.
Smaks was Kansas City's homegrown fast-food burger chain. Their headquarters was
in a windowless building on Van Brunt Blvd (Extension), around 45th Street.
There were outlets all over the metropolitan area. Their burgers were a bit
juicier (greasier?) than Mickey D's were.
There was also a chain -- on the Kansas side -- called Sandy's. (The Sandy in
question, judging from the signs, was female, natch.)
Sandy's, IIRC, was acquired by Hardee's. Smaks was still in business when I
left KC in 1976, but within the next two years, it wasn't, and the Smaks outlets
had all become JitB's.
And it appears White Castle's second incarnation in the Kansas City area was
short-lived. I do not recall seeing any White Castles in the area when I was
growing up there, nor do I recall seeing any the last time I set foot in the
area, in 1987.
FWIW, White Castle's foray into my current hometown was also similarly
short-lived. The first ones opened around 1990. By the start of last year, all
of them had closed. The one nearest me, on South Broad at Christian, reopened
as a Popeye's (Cajun-seasoned fried chicken) about a month ago, replete with bad
pun on the signage ("We Do Good Ba-You!").
TEXAS
> Given when you moved to KC, you never have seen a Smaks, and you never
will.
> Smaks was Kansas City's homegrown fast-food burger chain. Their
headquarters was
> in a windowless building on Van Brunt Blvd (Extension), around 45th
Street.
> There were outlets all over the metropolitan area. Their burgers were a
bit
> juicier (greasier?) than Mickey D's were.
Well at least Winstead's is still around.
> Sandy's, IIRC, was acquired by Hardee's. Smaks was still in business when
I
> left KC in 1976, but within the next two years, it wasn't, and the Smaks
outlets
> had all become JitB's.
Where were the JITB's? There's a slight possibility there might be one
still around, but I severely doubt it.
> And it appears White Castle's second incarnation in the Kansas City area
was
> short-lived. I do not recall seeing any White Castles in the area when I
was
> growing up there, nor do I recall seeing any the last time I set foot in
the
> area, in 1987.
There's an old WC on Armour Road just west of I-29/35 near the MO 210
terminus. I'll try to snap a picture next time I'm that way.
Sandy Smith
TEXAS wrote:
>
> "Sandy Smith" <smi...@pobox.upenn.edu> wrote in message
> news:3CDEC2B7...@pobox.upenn.edu...
> Well at least Winstead's is still around.
And still locally owned, I hope. (When I left, the company was a unit of
bowling-alley operator King Louie International, which, I assume, has also gone
the way of Smaks.)
Calvin Trillin was right about the burgers. As for the barbecue, well, let's
say he came close. As Greg Johnson and Vince Staten put it in the section
devoted to Kansas City in their book "Real Barbecue" (Harper Perennial, 1988):
"Where else but in Kansas City could you have the most famous barbecue joint in
the world--and it's not even the best in town?"
> Where were the JITB's? There's a slight possibility there might be one
> still around, but I severely doubt it.
One was on 31st Street just east of Indiana, where a Smaks used to be. ISTR
another on Metcalf somewhere between 75th and 79th.
> There's an old WC on Armour Road just west of I-29/35 near the MO 210
> terminus. I'll try to snap a picture next time I'm that way.
Thanks. Even though the chain got its start in Wichita, Kansas, I associated it
more with St. Louis.
Mark Roberts
|And it appears White Castle's second incarnation in the Kansas City area was
|short-lived. I do not recall seeing any White Castles in the area when I was
|growing up there, nor do I recall seeing any the last time I set foot in the
|area, in 1987.
There was one at Gillham Plaza and Linwood Blvd. I don't think it
was there when my six-year reign began in Kansas City, but, IIRC,
it started up about halfway through that period (1990-96). I drove
by it every day on my way to work.
It had a certain popularity with certain folks who had not managed
to pick up, ahem, "bargains" at the 3 am sidewalk sale at 19th & Main
on Sunday mornings. (A scary thought. I, of course, know little of
this. :)
Mark Bozanich
years. Fred Meyer stores are now selling some Kroeger brand items. Keep
in mind that most Fred Meyer stores sell general merchandise as well as
groceries. Seattle based QFC, a more upscale supermarket, had been
purchased by Fred Meyer a short time before Kroeger purchased Fred
Meyer. QFC recently introduced its answer to the Safeway "Club Card" to
the dismay of several long time QFC customers. Before introducing its
new card, QFC had closed or sold off many of its South Puget Sound area
stores, retreating to its core marketing area around Seattle. Fred Meyer
and Albertsons have not so far introduced such cards in the Pacific
Northwest. I noticed on a recent trip to Phoenix that Fry's had a club
card. Now that Kroeger owns Fred Meyer I wonder if it is just a matter
of time before Fred Meyer follows Fry's and QFC.
Mark Bozanich
Highways of Washington State
http://www.angelfire.com/wa2/hwysofwastate/