Stores in Newton and Des Moines, IA

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Andrew T.
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Stores in Newton and Des Moines, IA

Post by Andrew T. »

I was in Iowa a couple weeks ago, and photographed a few supermarket buildings while I was there.

1302 1st Ave W, Newton. Apparently this used to be a Hy-Vee store. From the aerial footprint, it looks like it was expanded to twice its original size:
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1810 1st Ave E, Newton. The identity of this one is a complete question mark. I saw a similar (and abandoned) building somewhere else in eastern Iowa, but didn't take a picture...then when I retraced my steps later in the week, I couldn't find the store. Oh well, maybe someday...
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3018 SW 9th St, Des Moines. This is listed in directories as being an old Safeway location, and was built in 1946:
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5707 Hickman Ave, Des Moines. This is also listed as an old Safeway location, and was apparently built in 1952 or 1955 and renovated in 1965. It's an unusual store (not quite a marina), and there's a whole thread about it burning on Flickr.
Image

Does anyone have any information to add, or can further identify/verify any of these?
"The pale pastels which have been featured in most food stores during the past 20 years are no longer in tune with the mood of the 1970s."
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rich
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Re: Stores in Newton and Des Moines, IA

Post by rich »

Store #2 might have been a Kroger. I don't know if they had an Iowa footprint, but they were fond of the stone accents. The space for the name is a little small for them, but they did different things with their signage during the 60s, including small letters. This doesn't look like the classic buff brick National food store, but National once had a sizable footprint in Iowa, including the Eastern p[art of the state.
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Andrew T.
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Re: Stores in Newton and Des Moines, IA

Post by Andrew T. »

Thanks for the suggestions. When I was in Des Moines I browsed through city directories back to the 1950s, and I didn't find any trace of Kroger ever being in the area at all. As for National, it's a chain I don't know enough about to make accurate inferences at all. So, #2 is still all a mystery!
"The pale pastels which have been featured in most food stores during the past 20 years are no longer in tune with the mood of the 1970s."
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47of74
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Re: Stores in Newton and Des Moines, IA

Post by 47of74 »

I wonder if any of these originally hosted an Eagle's Supermarket? I'm not sure how far west the stores were, but they were pretty extensive in the eastern Iowa before going into chapter 11.
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Re: Stores in Newton and Des Moines, IA

Post by drewcoo »

The second photo is also a HyVee. In the 1970s, when I was a kid, the HyVees in the first two photos were operational on either end of Newton. The one shown in #2 eventually (late 80s/early 90s?) migrated to the Newton Mall to occupy the spot where Easter's, another grocery store had been. After that I wasn't there, but I guess the mall declined, eventually HyVee bought the whole mall, demolished it, and built a new, larger, HyVee which is there today as far as I know.
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Re: Stores in Newton and Des Moines, IA

Post by Andrew T. »

drewcoo wrote: 26 Jul 2020 10:41 The second photo is also a HyVee. In the 1970s, when I was a kid, the HyVees in the first two photos were operational on either end of Newton. The one shown in #2 eventually (late 80s/early 90s?) migrated to the Newton Mall to occupy the spot where Easter's, another grocery store had been. After that I wasn't there, but I guess the mall declined, eventually HyVee bought the whole mall, demolished it, and built a new, larger, HyVee which is there today as far as I know.
Wow, a new reply! Thanks for solving this eight-year-old mystery!
"The pale pastels which have been featured in most food stores during the past 20 years are no longer in tune with the mood of the 1970s."
Andrew Turnbull
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