Kennewick, WA Former Pylon Safeway

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justin karimzad
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Kennewick, WA Former Pylon Safeway

Post by justin karimzad »

There's a former Safeway building at 115 South Auburn Street in Kennewick that opened as a Safeway on April 12, 1951. From a 3-D satellite view, it looks to be a very unmodified example of an early 1950s Safeway prototype, with unpainted brick, a street-facing entrance, and a pylon painted lime green with a cream-colored trim. I don't know what occupies the building now, but there are cars in the parking lot.
tkaye
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Re: Kennewick, WA Former Pylon Safeway

Post by tkaye »

It turns out the address is actually 114 S. Auburn St. The building was constructed in 1951 and is now occupied by the Builders Supply and Hardware Co.

There is a virtually identical Safeway building at 215 S. 84th St. in Tacoma that was built in 1955. Safeway operated there through the early '80s and then a big photo lab took over. It is now used for public auctions. The bird's eye view and a couple pictures on the Taylor Auction site (here and here) show the unaltered facade. The Google Street View, which was taken a couple months ago, shows some modifications and a coat of paint trying to hide the old Safeway look.
marshd1000
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Re: Kennewick, WA Former Pylon Safeway

Post by marshd1000 »

That is the first Safeway I remember going into as a child. My grandmother always shopped there as it was only 2 blocks from her house. Thanks for bringing back some good memories.
tkaye
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Re: Kennewick, WA Former Pylon Safeway

Post by tkaye »

marshd1000 wrote:That is the first Safeway I remember going into as a child. My grandmother always shopped there as it was only 2 blocks from her house. Thanks for bringing back some good memories.
Which one? The one in Kennewick or Tacoma?
marshd1000
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Re: Kennewick, WA Former Pylon Safeway

Post by marshd1000 »

tkaye wrote:
marshd1000 wrote:That is the first Safeway I remember going into as a child. My grandmother always shopped there as it was only 2 blocks from her house. Thanks for bringing back some good memories.
Which one? The one in Kennewick or Tacoma?
OOPS! hehehe

I meant Tacoma. Grandma used to live at 84th and Fawcett Ave. We used to walk to that store and get supplies for baking!
kennewickman

Re: Kennewick, WA Former Pylon Safeway

Post by kennewickman »

The Kennewick store closed in Aug or Sept 1974. that's when I left the area and I remember it was a construction strike that delayed it's move from Auburn street to 4th Ave and Olympia St. I remember the Auburn St store well, folks did all their shopping there and like a lot of stores of the era, it closed around 9 at night and earlier on weekends. I lived 4 blocks away on E. First Ave. It had the bin up front of cheap plastic balls for sale and the 10 cent pony ride machine. Sigman's IGA was across the street and gave them a lot of competition. Perhaps the move was good for them but not for downtown which was devastated by the mall, which also had a Safeway (Kennewick had 3 up until the late 80's?) That second store closed sometime in the mid 80's after Safeway went through a major downsizing. Part of that second location is now a Shuck's Auto.
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