Safeway Stores in NY and PA

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Transit Road
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Post by Transit Road »

Amazing. Just Amazing.

The store still has the Safeway green paint on the sides of the windows after all of this time. I have not seen this store since the early to mid 1980's, but I clearly remember the green paint adjacent to the windows and the Safeway "S" logo that was painted on the building. It looks like it is still there!!

Also, the Ollie's Bargain Outlet in York, PA that I had thought was a former Safeway location has apparently been closed and moved to a new location.

The former Shop Rite locations on Route 211 in Middletown and in Florida, NY would look more like the Penn Fruit stores of yesterday, but the original Shop Rite on Route 32 in Vails Gate, NY looks more like a Marina store minus the wings. Shop Rite has relocated from their older store store in the same plaza to a former Caldor location and the new store has a more generic box supermarket look.
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Groceteria
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Post by Groceteria »

I've split the various Middletown stores posts into a separate topic since they'd sort of ceased to be about Safeway locations:

http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=810
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TheStranger
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Post by TheStranger »

Steering this thread back on topic, here's an interesting set of finds, all from 1959 issues of Chain Store Age.

- From the May 1959 issue, what appears to be a shopping mall Safeway...in Paramus, NJ at the Garden State Plaza (which opened in 1957)! (Northern NJ of course is part of the NYC metro area)

http://dtcwrt.earlracing.com/stores/csa ... amus59.jpg

an interior shot, from the October 1959 issue, page 168: http://dtcwrt.earlracing.com/stores/csa ... mus59b.jpg

LL: http://tinyurl.com/yd7g47

Locations that were under construction that year...

March 1959: 69-62 188th Street, Fresh Meadows, Queens
LL: http://tinyurl.com/y5q6uc
Apparently was a Key Food before becoming Eckerd.
http://tinyurl.com/yycah7

2731 S. Broadway, Yonkers: there doesn't seem to be any South Broadway address beyond 600, but there is a "Safeway Shopping Center" in Yonkers apparently, on 35 E Grassy Sprain Road...here's a shot of that on googlemaps:
http://tinyurl.com/y62ar2

June 1959: North Avenue between Union Street and Clinton Place, New Rochelle
googlemap: http://tinyurl.com/y4ozgh

August 1959: Euclid and Dumont, Brooklyn (only 10K square feet, but with basement)
LL: http://tinyurl.com/y23xse

Jamaica Avenue and Dexter Ct., Woodhaven, Queens
LL: http://tinyurl.com/y69khr

101 Allerton Avenue, The Bronx - however, today, addresses on the street start at 601, so I think this may now be 701 Allerton
LL: http://tinyurl.com/y5delq

September 1959: Broadway between 57th and 58th in Union City, NJ (West New York), now looks to be "Food Bazaar"
LL: http://tinyurl.com/y7kcsc

---

An interesting little brief piece in the July 1960 Chain Store Age issue, in the Checking the Chains section (page 11):
Dilbert's buys 4 Safeway stores

Dilbert's Quality Supermarkets, Inc., last month bought four stores in the Metropolitan New York area from Safeway Stores, Inc. Purchase of the stores was announced in a joint statement by S. Solon Cohen, chairman of the board of Dilbert's, and L.M. Pringle, manager of Safeway's New York division.
Active management of the one store in Queens will be underatken by Dilbert's sometime this month; management of three locations in Brooklyn will be transferred at a later date.
In commenting on the transaction, Mr. Pringle stated that the four stores sold were "either near existing Safeway stores or were not adjusted to our planned pattern of future development."
Mr. Cohen stated that the locations fitted well into Dilbert's pattern of operation and development in its Long Island market area.
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Post by danielh_512 »

The only Safeway stores in Pennsylvania were indeed in Southcentral Pennsylvania. The store in York is at the intersection of Haines Rd. and Mt. Rose Avenue on the south side. Clearly an old Safeway, and the old round S sign from Mt. Rose has Ollie's logo inside there.

I believe there was another Safeway along Arsenal Rd. (Rt. 30) and along Carlisle Pike in Mechanicsburg. I'd be willing to bet the store at the Norland Shopping Center in Chambersburg was a 70's Safeway.
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Post by TheStranger »

danielh_512 wrote:The only Safeway stores in Pennsylvania were indeed in Southcentral Pennsylvania. The store in York is at the intersection of Haines Rd. and Mt. Rose Avenue on the south side. Clearly an old Safeway, and the old round S sign from Mt. Rose has Ollie's logo inside there.
From Live Local:
http://tinyurl.com/yj78y4

Can't seem to get a view pointing eastward (towards store front) though.
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Post by krogerclerk »

I was always under the impression that the Safeway locations in Southcentral Pennsylvania were part of the DC operation which once included Richmond and the Tidewater region of Virginia and possibly a few stores along the northern North Carolina border. I also think a couple of Safeways operated in Delaware until the late 60's. Safeway seemed to have the ambition of becoming a national presence to rival A&P during the 50's and 60's.
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Post by TheStranger »

I think I've finally pinpointed the last-ever NYC Division SWY: the store that opened around June 1961, according to that month's edition of Chain Store Age. (I don't think any locations opened in 1960, judging from the lack of Safeway mentions in the store opening lists for that area in CSA issues from that year.)

The store was located at Bayshore Plaza in Red Bank (Atlantic Highlands), NJ, at the intersection of 1st Avenue and New Jersey state highway 36.

From this Googlemaps overhead, it appears to be a gable:
http://tinyurl.com/yb36ns

EDIT, 2/9/07: Here's a Live Local birdesye view of it:
http://local.live.com/?v=2&sp=Point.qr1 ... d%20States___

Also, from the May 1961 Chain Store Age, is this early photo-oriented circular for the Safeway NYC division:

http://dtcwrt.earlracing.com/stores/csa/swy-nyad.jpg

Then-president of the chain, Robert Magowan, noted in the July 1961 Chain Store Age issue, in the article, "Magowan sees good year for Safeway," that he was interested in "protecting what we already got" in the NY area and not expanding.

The sale took place in October 1961, where in "Chain Talk" of that month's Chain Store Age, editor George Glenn had this to say:
Speaking of First National...grocery men are still coming up with some unanswered questions regarding First National's recent acquisition of Safeway's 164-store New York division. Examples: Why did stores which left something to be desired, profit-wise, prove an attraction to the First National chain, which has had rough sledding in the New York area? Why would First National want to dive head-first from one tight competitive situation in its home territory - New England - to another even tighter competitive atmosphere in New York? At this point, educatied guesses are in order: 1. First National has labored in building an image in New York: 164 additional stores operating under the First National logo could go a long way fast in helping establish this image. 2. The chain's new Port Chester, New York warehouse attests to its desire to grow in the New York area. It's possible that this warehouse might be used to serve some of the newly acquired Safeway stores, thus bringing the new facilities closer to maximum production capacity faster. 3. The move might have been an effort to beat one of the chain's keen New England competitors from establishing a strong foothold in the New York market.


By December's issue, the stores were then being labeled "Safeway-First National," probably a transitional moniker.
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Post by Groceteria »

TheStranger wrote:March 1959: 69-62 188th Street, Fresh Meadows, Queens
LL: http://tinyurl.com/y5q6uc
Apparently was a Key Food before becoming Eckerd.
http://tinyurl.com/yycah7
This store was a pre-1951 Food Fair, per "Shopping Centers" by Baker and Funaro. There's even a picture. That said, the store as it currently stands is bigger than the original. This one was quite literally about three blocks from another Food Fair in the main Fresh Meadows center (currently Filene's Basement), so maybe they gave up the additional location and Safeway either enlarged or rebuilt it.

I'll post pictures from 1951 and now when I get home.

While I'm at it, I'll also post a picture of a store I'm 95% certain was a Safeway at the junction of East Tremont and the Cross Bronx Expressway in Throg's Neck. It's some kind of clothing store now. Anyone know about it?
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Re: Safeway Stores in NY and PA

Post by maynesG »

Hi, I can answer your questions on The Safeway on doleson anenue in Middletown Ny. My dad was its assistant manager in 1961 for a short time when it had become a Finast.When it was a Safeway ( my dad worked for Safeway from 1949) it was part of the new york division and was used as a threat as was Pearl River and Pougepshie by the brass to the help in stores in places like Jersey City to be transfered there as If it where Siberia.
It was a hard and expensive place to run. Positions to be filled had to come from union help in Pearl river or NJ. adveretising costs in the times herald record had to be carried by one unit. Transportation came from the Kearny N.J. warehouse.
Thanks

PS. Yes their was a Finast on Tremont ave location that you have spoken about. I had the pleasure of atending a grand reopening of this store as a Super Finast as a kid.Loved that overtime!
Also The reason Safeway did not open any stores in 1960 in ny was because of the six month strike that took place in their new jersey stores that resulted in the top wage contract for the time in the region. Safeway the sold several sites to A&P and to Grand Union and only opened Atlantic Highlands because they had to.



gerry
Last edited by maynesG on 30 Jul 2008 11:20, edited 5 times in total.
Steve Landry
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Re: Safeway Stores in NY and PA

Post by Steve Landry »

Hi David!

Big smile on your discovery that the much discussed store was actually a Food Fair :)

I lived in that area of the Bronx (Swinton Av., between Miles and Samson). Attended P.S. 72 (grade school), which was very close to that Safeway turned Finast. The A&P was very close too. I was just a kid, but I remember my Mom complaining about BOTH stores being really dirty. She settled on shopping mostly at A&P (not happily).

I DO remember the store being small and cluttered. I also very much remember the name change and recall that soon after the change, the store fell into it's previous unkempt condition.

That area has suffered grocery store shortages for a while (as discussed in the local papers).

Steve
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Re: Safeway Stores in NY and PA

Post by maynesG »

Hi, I saw that the safeway in west New York nj on park Avenue across from Memorial High School was mentioned. The history behind this store is interesting.The building itself was the twin of the Safeway unit that opened on doleson Avenue in middletown ny. it was a replacement store for one of the first service stores safeway had in New Jersey located at 66 Street and Park Avenue. ( My dad worked in the old store and was the first dairy Manager in the new store) Itdid become a Finast and closed in the early seventies and became an A&P
was expanded and had a new face put on it. A few years back A&P moved to a new building in town and it became a Food Bizzare.

The Safeway mentioned the garden State Plazza only lasted a few years after becoming a Finast. The store never did a lot of business b ut had three basements and a neet elevator that took you down to the delivery tunnel that runs under the mall.
Finast had a competitor in the same mall a grand Union that did even less then the Finast. i believe the Finast building became a Sam Goodies what itis now I am not sure.
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Re: Safeway Stores in NY and PA

Post by Steve Landry »

BTW......I think the Safeway turned Finast eventually became a Bohack?
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Re: Safeway Stores in NY and PA

Post by Groceteria »

Steve Landry wrote:BTW......I think the Safeway turned Finast eventually became a Bohack?
Hmmm. Pictures soon. I took several in that neighborhood, including the A&P Steve mentioned...
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Post by webcookie »

Transit Road wrote:The former Shop Rite locations on Route 211 in Middletown and in Florida, NY
All gone. Florida's Shoprite has been completely torn down and replaced by a QuickChek convenience store and gas station. The Big-V headquarters building is still there and is for sale. I'm out there several times a week now and I should really get some pictures. There's a Shoprite labelscar on the Big-V building.
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Re: Safeway Stores in NY and PA

Post by maynesG »

Hi, The Safeway turned Finast I don!t believe became a Bohack. I believe ,If my memory serves , Bohack went Broke and had liqiutdated while this unit was still opened if it is the unit on tremont ave. I hope it helps
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