Food Basket (Division of Lucky Stores)-San Diego Area-1959

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Jason B.
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Food Basket (Division of Lucky Stores)-San Diego Area-1959

Post by Jason B. »

Food Basket was a division of Lucky Stores, Inc. in the late 1950s. An ad for Food Basket ran in the San Diego Union of Thursday, November 12, 1959.

Store locations were at:
(1) College Center – 6061 El Cajon Blvd. at College;
(2) Point Loma - Talbot St. and Catalina Blvd.;
(3) Pacific Beach – 4516 Mission Blvd. at Garnet;
(4) Lemon Grove - 3205 Imperial Ave.;
(5) Chula Vista – Third Ave. at J;
(6) "UNIVERSITY" Avenue at 65th;
(7) El Cajon – 1099 East Main;
(8) La Mesa – East end La Mesa Blvd. at Hwy. 80;
(9) Allied Gardens – 5185 Waring Road

Food Basket heavily promoted ham and lamb in this ad. The two main promotions were "Ham by the piece" for 69 cents per lb. and "leg of lamb" “U.S. GRADED CHOICE” for 59 cents per lb. Mary Morgan, the "Food Basket Economist," wrote a small article within the ad titled “WAYS WITH HAM and LAMB."

Does anyone know what became of Food Basket? Perhaps they were re-branded "Lucky" sometime after 1959?
Dean
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Re: Food Basket (Division of Lucky Stores)-San Diego Area-1959

Post by Dean »

There is another thread on Food Basket:

http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtop ... sket#p9906

(merge this new thread with other?)

Take care!
jamcool
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Re: Food Basket (Division of Lucky Stores)-San Diego Area-1959

Post by jamcool »

Food Basket was Lucky in all but in name. There was an existing Lucky Market in SD before Lucky entered the market. The stores were rebranded to Lucky in the early 90's
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submariner
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Re: Food Basket (Division of Lucky Stores)-San Diego Area-1959

Post by submariner »

6061 El Cajon Blvd: Big 5 Sporting Goods.

Talbot St. and Catalina Blvd: I think the center was rebuilt, but there's a Fresh & Easy there.

4516 Mission Blvd: Subdivided between a Blockbuster and a Smart & Final.

3205 Imperial Ave.: Now a scenic dirt lot.

Third Ave. & J: Albertsons. Likely converted to a Lucky after it was a Food Basket.

University & 65th: the numbers on University stop at 60th, which has a Food 4 Less. Possible match.

1099 East Main: "Foodland" store.

La Mesa Blvd. at Hwy. 80: I'm going to take a stab and call this the Ralphs at 8800 Grossmont, which is right off of La Mesa Blvd and Interstate 8.

5185 Waring Road: Now an Albertsons, again likely a Lucky beforehand.
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Dan Whelan
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Re: Food Basket (Division of Lucky Stores)-San Diego Area-19

Post by Dan Whelan »

As far as I know, Food Basket was started by Gerry Awes in San Diego about 1951. He had about 10 stores and when he merged with Luckyin 1959, (I think), (who at the time had about 60 stores), Gerry became the CEO and brought as many of his people who would move with him to San Leandro and Buena Park to help him manage the business. Don Richey, Gale Paden, Chuck Morse, Lee Nimechek, and many others. The Food Basket name was kept in San Diego for the next thirty years or so, but because of the LosAngeles-ation of SoCal, the Food Basket name was replaced for marketing reasons. Significant contributions from this team of management was Discount Pricing and the Gemco Department Store/Supermarket format.
Jason B.
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Re: Food Basket (Division of Lucky Stores)-San Diego Area-1959

Post by Jason B. »

A Food Basket television commercial from 1984 can be viewed at 22:05 of this YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpWWgPUdDgY

This ad apparently aired on KGTV, channel 10, the ABC affiliate in San Diego, during the 1984 Summer Olympic Games. This commercial touts summer fruit.
klkla
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Re: Food Basket (Division of Lucky Stores)-San Diego Area-1959

Post by klkla »

I had heard back in the day that Lucky chose the Food Basket name because there was already a Lucky grocery store in the county (I think it was in Chula Vista or National City) but as mentioned in this thread and the other older one about Food Basket they actually acquired that chain in the 1950's.

I stumbled on this article about the founder of the Big Bear chain in San Diego that shed some light on the subject:

"When Gerald Awes opened his second Food Basket grocery in San Diego in the early 1950s, John Mabee served as the store manager and S. Donley Ritchey was a rookie bag boy fresh out of La Jolla High School.
The three men were destined to play important roles in Southern California's rapidly expanding grocery industry: Awes and Ritchey stayed with the San Diego-based Food Basket chain after it was acquired by Lucky Stores in 1956. Both men eventually served as chairman of Lucky.
But Mabee, who had operated a small San Diego grocery store before joining Food Basket, decided to strike out on his own. By 1952, he had opened two Big Bear grocery stores in San Diego."

http://articles.latimes.com/1988-09-13/ ... go-grocery
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