First supercenter

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wnetmacman
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Hypermart, again

Post by wnetmacman »

The last time I passed the Hypermart in Garland, it was still called Wal-Mart's Hypermart USA. I don't know if that has changed or not.

Most of the larger supercenters are expansions of the early 90s Division 1 prototype 120-140,000 sq.ft. stores. They didn't build many original supercenters past 220,000 except the four Hypermarts.

It's interesting also to note that the size of the supercenter is now actually shirinking because WMT can't build the 200,000 sq ft box in the larger metro areas. They now have one called the 99 prototype, mainly used in smaller towns, but also now in larger cities as well.
Scott Greer
rich
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Superstores & service departments

Post by rich »

There were early experiments with delis, bakeries (often leased departments) and coffee shop-type restaurants going back to the 50s. Typically these were in the Northeast & Midwest. The Fisher Foods chain in Cleveland had delis in almost all of the stores it opened from the mid-50s onward. Delis & bakeries came to much of the Southeast quite awhile after they had established themselves elsewhere, although you could find these departments in South Florida & New Orleans. In Cleveland, bakeries & delis were very common from the early 60s onward. Unusual for them, Kroger included a leased bakery department in its 1966 Richmond Mall store (6 years before bakeries were introduced as standard parts of its superstore format) and A&Ps late period colonials in Cleveland included a small prepared foods area. There are examples of instore pharmacies going back to the 50s---Tthe usual pioneer example is National Tea's Denver stores which had several of these, that were were leased departments. Alpha-Beta bought the Hy-Lo drug chain in the late 50s and Jewel got Osco through acquisition, but most supermarket chains developed their own separate pharmacy banners: Kroger's SuperX, National's Kare, etc. Giant had a separate drug store banner for awhile and converted some older stores to freestanding drug stores (the one in downtown Bethesda that closed not long ago was probably the last of these). In the beginning these pharmacy operations often were separate, although some chains were flexible---National had some Kare drug stores apart from their supermarkets and some that were basically modestly expanded health & beauty aids departments with a pharmacy, esp. in smaller, urban stores.


Other early combo/superstore formats:

Big Bear Plus was basically an update of the Big Bear/Harts Family Store format. Harts was a small scale discount department store.

White Brothers Markets in Knoxville had Whiteway "variety stores" adjacent to many of their stores from the late 60s onward.

Food Giant in Atlanta developed general merchandise departments in the late 60s.

Giant operated "Super Giant" grocery/department stores from the late 50s onward, although these began to disappear during the 60s and only two were in business by 1970. Some of the older, large Giants like the one at Blair Park in Silver Spring began as Super Giants.

National Tea included apparel in some of its National/Kare Drug combos in the late 60s/early 70s.

The "superstore" format sometimes went in the other direction---Wieboldt's department stores in Chicago ran supermarkets in some stores until about 1970. Tiedtke's department store in Toledo was famous for its food selections. Value City's early "cloverleaf" store, S of Cleveland had a supermarket in it (a leased operation).
Jeff
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Post by Jeff »

Ralphs experimented with their GIANT stores back in the late 80's. They opened around 87' in former Zody's department stores for the most part. They lasted only a few years and then were gutted to create Food 4 Less, and most stores were subdivided.
danielh_512
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Post by danielh_512 »

Giant (of the DC variety) also experimented w/catalog showrooms, and owned "The Pants Corral". I believe a few of the drug store only operations exist (not many though). The Giant in Rockville along the Pike was a former Giant Catalog Showroom (the one in front of the new Target).
rrr

Post by rrr »

Hey Rich, what was/is a Value City cloverleaf store?
todd
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Post by todd »

It seems like I remember something called American Fare (or Fair ...along those lines) in the early 80's. It was a large super store which was rumored to be a K-mart experiment. I think I remember one on Stone Mountain Expressway outside Atlanta. Any ideas??
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Groceteria
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Post by Groceteria »

todd wrote:It seems like I remember something called American Fare (or Fair ...along those lines) in the early 80's. It was a large super store which was rumored to be a K-mart experiment. I think I remember one on Stone Mountain Expressway outside Atlanta. Any ideas??
Kmart's first few "hypermarkets', opened as a partnership with Bruno's Supermarkets were called "American Fare". The first was in Atlanta in 1989. One of the first was in Charlotte, the same year. This was covered in an earlier thread either here or at the old message board, but I don't think there were ever more than 5-10 of these stores and they were eventually rebranded as Super Kmart..
todd
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Post by todd »

Groceteria wrote:
todd wrote:It seems like I remember something called American Fare (or Fair ...along those lines) in the early 80's. It was a large super store which was rumored to be a K-mart experiment. I think I remember one on Stone Mountain Expressway outside Atlanta. Any ideas??
Kmart's first few "hypermarkets', opened as a partnership with Bruno's Supermarkets were called "American Fare". The first was in Atlanta in 1989. One of the first was in Charlotte, the same year. This was covered in an earlier thread either here or at the old message board, but I don't think there were ever more than 5-10 of these stores and they were eventually rebranded as Super Kmart..
THANKS!
rrr

Post by rrr »

Not that it's particularly significant, but American Fare lives on as KMart's private label food brand. Somebody must have liked the name.
bigbubby
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Post by bigbubby »

I'm 100% certain there was no connection at all, and I wasn't trying to suggest that there was. The California incarnation of Mammonth Mart was entirely a Raley's phenomemon, and was probably limited to one specific store on Folsom Boulevard in Sacramento (which remains a Raley's to this day).[/quote]

The Raley's phenomenon was actually called Miracle Mart, and there were two, the Folsom Boulevard store and another location which I can't remember.
danielh_512
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Post by danielh_512 »

I would assume this CA Miracle Mart has no connection to the Akron, OH based chain of the same name, that once operated throughout the Midwest (As well as in Western MD).

As for American Fare at Kmart, it was their store brand, after the Fleming bankruptcy, then they went to Red & White, then to OurFamily, and now it appears they're back to AmericanFare. It's always fun being the only one noticing a Super Kmart sells food. The prices are now worse than conventional supermarkets.
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storewanderer
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Post by storewanderer »

The five remaining Super K's out west sell Springfield food items (with a few American Fare items thrown in which usually cost more than the Springfield brand next to them) and also some Springfield/Special Valu non food items like bleach, paper towels, detergent, etc. They used to have Bonnie Hubbard, then Best Yet, then a lot of American Fare to go with a small assortment of Best Yet, then all Best Yet and no American Fare anything.

Keeps the private label stream interesting if nothing else.
wayne winterland jr.
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best yet brand sold in K-marts

Post by wayne winterland jr. »

the Best Yet brand of items sold in K-Marts was the old Best Yet name brand that was used by the old Scrivner Grocery Wholesaler which used to be headquartered in Oklahoma City until the Fleming Company bought it out several years ago and the Fleming Company kept the brand and sold products to retailers that it serviced.
terryinokc
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Post by terryinokc »

The Super K-Mart in the Denver area (can't remember which suburb) is supplied by Nash Finch for their groceries, and carries mostly Our Family brand, with a little American Fare thrown in. The milk, bread, and some paper and cleaning items carried the American Fare label.
BillyGr
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Post by BillyGr »

This is from the Price Chopper website - if you check the paragraph with the >>>> it sounds like an early Super Center (and more like the antique shop) - It appears to have been only in that one store, as far as I can see from the site and it doesn't say how long it existed.

Our History
Planting The Seed of a Supermarket
Shortly before his death in 1930, Lewis Golub merged his company with one owned by Joseph Grosberg so his sons Bernard (Ben) and William (Bill) would be part of a larger, stronger firm.

Two years later, Ben and Bill opened the area's first "one stop shopping" outlet in Green Island, New York. It was called the Public Service Market and introduced to this region the forerunner of the supermarket.

>>>>An old warehouse without windows, the Public Service Market wasn't a grocery store in the traditional sense. It offered everything: groceries, meat, fresh produce, dry goods, clothing, home appliances, a barber shop, shoe repair store, antique dealer, book shop, jeweler and cafeteria all under one roof.<<<<

Merchandise was piled on top and underneath crude wooden tables. Customers walked from department to department carrying wicker baskets which they filled with bargain priced merchandise. After selecting groceries, the shopper took them to one of the grocery checkers in a big square in the center of the store.

The bill was added on an adding machine and the tape then brought to a cashier. The shopper paid the cashier, had the tape stamped and took it back to the checker counter to claim the groceries. A $5 order was too big for one person to carry out alone!
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