Cub Foods in Washington State

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marshd1000
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Cub Foods in Washington State

Post by marshd1000 »

I know that in the Northwest that the owners of WinCo Foods had a franchise for Cub Foods at least in the Portland area. However, I do remember in the early 1990's seeing a sign for a Cub Foods to be built in Federal Way, Washington. That store never opened as a Cub Foods. That site eventually became a Top Foods location. I know at that time, Haggen, the parent of Top Foods was supplied by Supervalu. Haggen has gone back and forth between Supervalu and Associated (now Unified). So did Haggen have a franchise agreement for Cub that they never used? Or did Supervalu sell the site to Haggen since there were a major customer at the time? Also did Supervalu sell other site to other wholesale customers? QFC comes to mind as they have also been a Supervalu customer at various times!
Super S
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Re: Cub Foods in Washington State

Post by Super S »

For what it's worth, I remember a sign posted in Kelso "Cub Foods Coming Soon" around 1988-89 where Haggen ended up building a TOP Foods store which opened in 1990, adjacent to the Three Rivers Mall. Haggen eventually closed this location and sold it to Safeway, which still operates there today. Even though Safeway has remodeled, the building is recognizable as a former TOP store inside and out. Although Haggen has locations in Portland, I believe this was the southernmost location for the TOP stores. If Haggen had a franchise agreement, I could see a lot of overlap between Cub and the TOP format and it would make sense for Haggen to abandon it if they already had something similar. However, because of the location, which was relatively close to stores in Vancouver and Portland, it is possible that Waremart, the parent company of the Cub stores which became WinCo, was going to locate here and then backed out. WinCo did build a store in Longview several years ago.

Also, something that pertains to the Kelso location, the nearby Target store was originally going to be a Kmart. I am not sure what changed this plan, but at the time the Three Rivers Mall was only a few years old and outparcels were just starting to be developed. This could have also played a role in what grocery store located here.
VibeGuy
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Re: Cub Foods in Washington State

Post by VibeGuy »

I wouldn't swear to it in a court of law, but ca. 1984, I'm pretty sure that what is currently the TOP Foods in Everett near Everett Mall opened as a Cub Foods.
Super S
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Re: Cub Foods in Washington State

Post by Super S »

In the late 80s-early 90s, Waremart (now WinCo) was starting to open stores under the Cub name. However, there were some new locations built during that time that were Cub stores in everything but the name. Same building, interior and everything. One such store was built in Boise, Idaho on Fairview Ave. As Waremart was headquartered in Boise (as WinCo is today) I do not believe the Cub name was used there.

I am not sure if Waremart (pre-Cub format) operated stores in Washington along I-5 north of Vancouver. But I wonder if they had expansion plans that were put on hold until they disposed of the Cub name, and if Haggen had anything to do with that. It seems that the design of the stores built from the late 80s strongly hinted at possibly converting all to the Cub name at one point, but they adapted wthe WinCo name instead. Although the exterior of many of these buildings has changed a bit, the interiors still look mostly the same. Also, the TOP stores built at the same time had some features that were similar to those newer Cub stores, however, the layout was not quite the same, and it's almost like Haggen tweaked the formula to suit their needs and used the TOP name instead. However, I am curious if Haggen did in fact operate a Cub-branded store, and if they were similar to those operated by Waremart.
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