First supercenter

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Randal

First supercenter

Post by Randal »

I am trying to find out who opened the first supercenter, that is, a large store selling both groceries and department-store items such as clothing, hardware, small appliances, etc.

Here are some candidates:

Meijer Thrifty Acres -- first opened 1962

Schwegmann's Giant Super Markets -- first opened 1946; by 1957 one store had 155,000 square feet

Fred Meyer's One-Stop Shopping Centers -- first opened 1931 with food and general merchandise, later added clothing. By the 1950s, stores averaged 65,000 to 80,000 square feet selling housewares, small appliances, etc.

Perhaps there are some others but these are the only ones I know that, by 1980, looked like something like one of today's Wal-Mart Supercenters. If you have any other candidates, or can give me more precise dates on any of the above -- including information on who influenced who -- I would much appreciate it.

Thanks.
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Post by jamcool »

Add to this-

FedMart in the Western states, founded by Sol Price (who later started Price Club) in the 1950s. Grocery/discount store combination whose primary market was gov't employees/military. Was bought by a German company in the 70s, went out of business in the mid 1980s (Target picked up a bunch of the old FedMart stores)

Smitty's Big Town- Phoenix grocery/dept. store combos - started in the early 60s by Clyde Smith, who bought a couple of former CMA stores and by the 1980s had 19 stores in Phx. Basically similar to Fred Meyer - Smith and Fred Meyer supposedly corresponded with each other on store ideas. Smitty's went through a bunch of owners-Steinberg of Montreal in the 80s;Yucaipa in the early 90s;Smith's in the late 90s;Then Kroger, who changed the stores briefly to Fred Meyer Marketplace(about 2 years) then finally to Fry's Marketplace.
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Others......

Post by wnetmacman »

Gibson's Discount Centers operated many stores that were full line. While not supercenter in size (some less than 70,000 sq.ft.), they did carry both food and general merchandise, as well as fresh meats and produce, plus pharmacies. Most, but not all of these stores were sold or closed in the early 1980s to Howard's, who had been a Gibson franchisee, but did not embrace the full line idea. Howard's was gone within 4 years of this purchase.

Schwegmann was not necessarily a supercenter, partly because even though the stores were insanely huge, they did not carry a full line of general merchandise. That entire 155,000 sq. ft. of space was devoted to food! None of the Schwegmann stores survive today.

It has been well mentioned through this board about Kmart Foods, but since a wall divided most of those stores, we really can't count them other than the fact that you wouldn't have had to move your car to shop at one.

Another thing to remember is that until the last 25 years, many stores did not have in-store deli and bakery departments as today's supercenters do. Pharmacies in any type of store other than a drug store were not extremely popular until the 70's. To compare some of the pioneers of supercenter-type retailing to today's Wal-Mart Supercenters and Super Target stores would be a little unjust. What was strange to me is that Kmart and Wal-Mart were somewhat involved in supercenter retailing as early as 1986, but Target didn't get on the bandwagon until the very late 1990s, and reluctantly then.
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Post by Steve Landry »

Fredrick's....south Florida....1940's ?....very large stores, fair assortment of general merchandise, hardware, firearms and all stores had pharmacies. They also had full bakeries, seafood, delis, shoe repair, eateries (stools or chairs), gift and plant boutiques.

Shell City....south Florida....1950's....gigantic stores, full service food, general merchandise, garden, hardware, firearms, and MORE. These stores were HUGE and were 2 story structures.

In the 1960's Grand Union had Grand Way and Food Fair had J.M. Fields. Many of these stores were under one roof and had one massive entrance. There were also variations from common half wall, full wall with and entry point, etc.

Most early Food Fairs had delis, seafood, and fewer had bakeries and pharmacies. Through the years, from even the beginnings, Food Fair was in and out of, service butcher counters (deli/seafood setup).
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Post by Groceteria »

Not among the very earliest, I guess, but also:
  • -- Clark's Discount Department Stores, based in the midwest I believe, but also found in the south, had full-line grocery departments in the 1960s. Their stores were later sold to Cook's.

    -- Lucky-owned Gemco chain operated in California throughout the 1960s.

    -- Raley's (Northern California) operated at least one Mammoth Mart near Sacramento before giving up on the idea. Raley's also had a drugstore chain, as did Safeway and several others, but those were smaller-scale and don't really count here, I guess.

    -- Vegas Village (ummm, Las Vegas) also had full-line food and general merchandise, I believe, through most of the 1960s.
Last edited by Groceteria on 11 Dec 2005 18:42, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Jeff »

Southern California's GEMCO chain was a full service market and Target like store.

Also FEDCO's were too. Gemco Closed in 86. Fedco lasted until about 2000. Fedco stores even had Electronics and Furniture.

Shopping list:
Rump Roast - check
Macaroni - check
20" Color Television - check
New TV stand for it - check
Underwear - check.
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Post by tesg »

Sam Walton gave credit to Fred Meyer for being a pioneer of the format known as the Supercenter today in his book. Of course, the early Wal-Mart prototypes were called "Hypermarts".

Fred Meyer's modern "Supercenter" format is an evolution of the way they've done business over the years. The current model has been around since the early 1990's.

Up through the seventies, Fred Meyer stores were run more like several stores within a store under one roof. Grocery had its own dedicated checkouts. General merchandise had its own dedicated checkouts. Clothing had its own dedicated checkouts. Home & Garden was often in seperate buildings.

Even in the 80's as everything moved under one roof, the grocery section was effectively walled off from the rest of the store (save for an entry from the commons area in front of general merchandise). Even in this format, there were still retail stalls much like a mall you had to pass to get to the main part of the store. Shoes, drugs, Fred Meyer Jewelers, etc, filled these spots.

In today's stores, you can use the same checker for pretty much everything in the store except Music Market/Electronics and Fred Meyer Jewelers.
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Post by Jeffrey55 »

I don't know if they were all like this, but in the 60s the NY-area chain Times Square Stores opened a multi-level location on Linden Blvd. in Brooklyn that I recall having a supermarket on one level and discount store on another. This sticks out in my mind because they had a unique escalator to get from one level to the other: instead of moving steps, it was like a giant conveyor belt, so you could take your shopping cart. I've never seen this again anywhere, and though it's pure speculation on my part, I can just imagine somebody letting go of their loaded cart and having it roll down the ramp into the person ahead...!

Regarding the Grand Way reference above: Before they shut around '73, I used to shop in a Grand Way in Danbury, CT. To the best of my knowledge, it was strictly a department store, and being owned by Grand Union was the only connection to a supermarket.

And note that I don't think the Mammoth Mart mentioned above has any connection to the Mammoth Mart chain of discount (not food) stores that existed in New England in the 60s and 70s.
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Post by Groceteria »

Jeffrey55 wrote:And note that I don't think the Mammoth Mart mentioned above has any connection to the Mammoth Mart chain of discount (not food) stores that existed in New England in the 60s and 70s.
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).
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Post by Jeffrey55 »

Groceteria wrote:I'm 100% certain there was no connection at all, and I wasn't trying to suggest that there was.
Nor was I suggesting that you were suggesting that there was. Just wanted to clarify that there wasn't. I worked for Mammoth Mart in '77-'78, when they were taken over by King's. (Further adding to the confusion, because I believe there was or is a supermarket chain called King's...? But this was King's Department Stores, which also went belly-up around '84.)
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Post by Groceteria »

Jeffrey55 wrote:(Further adding to the confusion, because I believe there was or is a supermarket chain called King's...? But this was King's Department Stores, which also went belly-up around '84.)
There were probably several supermarket chains called King's scattered around; it's one of those common names like Food Town and Giant and Big Bear that was used by lots of regional operators...

There's mention of a King's department store in NC which became a Kroger and later a Food Lion here BTW:

http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtop ... 7&start=22
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Post by Steve Landry »

Yes, there were numerous Grand Ways that were free standing and/or no Grand Union nearby.

:)
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Post by danielh_512 »

Hypermart USA was a Wal-Mart experiment in the 1980's that was done in Kansas and Texas, and it failed. It was the precursor to the modern Supercenter.

Big Bear Plus would be another example of an early supercenter concept, as the store sold both food and general merchandise (although not nearly in the same capacity as Wal-Mart, Kmart, Target).

Northeastern discounter Two Guys experimented with food in the 1960's and 1970's (when they went under). I've heard that there were stores w/Two Guys food departments, and that other stores had A&P connections.

Jewel Grand Bazaar existed in the Chicago area, and sold both food and general merchandise, and was a different chain from TurnStyle.

Giant Food in the 1960's opened some stores in the Washington area that also had adjacent catalog showrooms with their supermarkets. The catalog showrooms were closed in the 1970's.
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Hypermart USA

Post by wnetmacman »

I wouldn't consider that Hypermart USA was a failure. All 4 of the original stores are still open.

The mistake with it was that at 250,000 sq. ft., it was just too big to manage. In addition, since Wal-Mart wasn't managing the food side of the operation, they had relatively little control on what happened there. In addition, Cullum, which also owned Tom Thumb in Dallas, was not interested in running themselves out of business.

It's interesting to note that the stores are essentially Wal-Mart Supercenters now. I went in one about 8 years ago, right after their conversion. The only thing at that time was that WMT didn't really repaint or replace floors, so you could get lost easily. Otherwise, it was laid out like the other supercenters.
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Post by danielh_512 »

Are they still called Hypermart USA's or are they Wal-Mart Supercenters now in name?

Some Wal-Mart Supercenters are around 250,000 sq. ft. already, the earlier ones were larger than the current ones. Wal-Mart isn't building any above 210K sq. ft. now, but their earlier stores were close to the 250,000 sq. ft. level.
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