Search found 311 matches

by Dave
27 Dec 2005 15:51
Forum: History: Department Store Chains
Topic: Best Products
Replies: 42
Views: 32475

There is a Best store (closed, of course) in Northridge, CA...Wal-Mart wants to tear it down... I remeber seeing the Northridge store featured on a lot of the TV news reports after the earthquake. It had a good deal of damage. If Wal-Mart thinks enough of the location, it would be an anomaly as far...
by Dave
27 Dec 2005 09:59
Forum: History: USA Southeast
Topic: Visiting Charleston and Savannah
Replies: 8
Views: 7322

There are some 1950s-60s vintage retail areas in North Charleston along US 52 you may find interesting. There's also some vintage retail along US 17 (Savannah Highway) across the Ashley River in St. Andrew's. Check out the colonial-style former Esso/Exxon station across East Bay Street and down from...
by Dave
22 Dec 2005 23:09
Forum: History: Restaurant Chains
Topic: Colonel Sanders other chicken restaurant chain????
Replies: 8
Views: 7330

Harlan Sander's wife, Claudia, had a restaurant called "Claudia Sander's Dinner House" in Kentucky, but I don't believe it was a chain. One of Sander's buddies, Lee Cummings, sold chicken cookers along with Col. Sanders during the 1950's. When the Colonel sold out in the 1960's, he started...
by Dave
22 Dec 2005 14:50
Forum: History: USA Southeast
Topic: "Don't Make A&P Mad"
Replies: 1
Views: 4236

"Don't Make A&P Mad"

I was at the local library yesterday and found the above referenced book. Written aby J.E. Davis and self-published in 1990, it's a history of Winn-Dixie by one of the brothers who founded them. I haven't begun reading it yet. Frankly, it looks like it won't be all that interesting. Anyone heard of ...
by Dave
17 Dec 2005 19:35
Forum: History: Department Store Chains
Topic: KMart Cafeteria and Other Restaurants
Replies: 72
Views: 95027

This whole thread is getting me sort of nostalgic for a trip to a Kmart from, say, 1975, where we can all have cheeseburgers at the cafeteria, stick our hands through the plexiglass to look at 8-tracks, and then stand in line for half an hour while the cashiers tear off every price tag and put it i...
by Dave
12 Dec 2005 18:55
Forum: History: Miscellaneous and Not Region-Specific
Topic: Grocers in "real" malls - not strip malls
Replies: 79
Views: 71254

I did a little memory refreshing through some old newspapers I happen to have. The Azalea Mall grocery was originally Food Fair, then Pantry Pride. I don't know what it "died" as, perhaps as Pantry Pride. The neighborhood A&P that was later SuperFresh was about a block away in the Broo...
by Dave
12 Dec 2005 08:55
Forum: History: Miscellaneous and Not Region-Specific
Topic: Grocers in "real" malls - not strip malls
Replies: 79
Views: 71254

Richmond, VA

Technically, before they renovated it, Willow Lawn wasn't a mall, but a large shopping center in a strip configuration. Originally, Giant Food was an anchor at one end, with JC Penney at the other. There was also a Safeway added later in a strange location at the rear of the center. The Giant is now...
by Dave
07 Dec 2005 15:40
Forum: History: Drugstore Chains
Topic: JCPenney and Drugstores
Replies: 9
Views: 10092

Matt, per the JCPenney website, they got into the drugstore business in 1969 with Thrift Drug. They don't meantion Treasury Drug, just that The Treasury stores were discount stores they acquired in 1962 with the acquisition of General Merchandise Company (catchy name). They acquired Eckerd in 1996 a...
by Dave
04 Dec 2005 20:48
Forum: History: Miscellaneous and Not Region-Specific
Topic: The Very First 'Freezer Sections'??
Replies: 2
Views: 3990

I suppose that the answer lies partly in how you define "as we know them today". Birdseye began retail sales in 18 groceries in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1930 (I haven't been able to find out which ones so far). On their website, HillPhoenix shows a picture of a freezer case in a style...
by Dave
01 Dec 2005 20:53
Forum: History: Department Store Chains
Topic: Best Products
Replies: 42
Views: 32475

Yep. I understand the Milwaukee store was retrofitted into a Wal-Mart.
by Dave
01 Dec 2005 14:28
Forum: History: Department Store Chains
Topic: Best Products
Replies: 42
Views: 32475

My wife worked for Best at their headquarters for some time, so I could probably tell you more than you want to know! Best teamed with an architectural firm called SITE to produce a few distinctive stores, the foist of which was the "peeling facade" store on Midlothian Turnpike in Richmond...