Vintage interior in Washington Mutual ad

Uh...California.

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runchadrun
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Post by runchadrun »

rich wrote:Washington Mutual has offices of various sorts all over the country. They are the former "Home Savings" of L.A. Given that there are a lot of S&Ls called "Home Savings", they went with a different name.
It's a little more complicated than that. (This is way beyond the scope of Name That Store so what the heck...)

In the mid 90s WaMu bought American Savings as one of their first forays outside the Pacific Northwest. They slowly started branding themselves as "American Savings, a Washington Mutual company." They did some market research that consumers had no problem with the name Washington Mutual so they decided to use the WaMu name. Meanwhile they also bought Great Western, again using "...a Washinton Mutual company". Gradually they started to convert the American Savings branches to the WaMu name and then integrate the Great Western branches.

While all this was happening Home Savings of America bought Coast Federal. But that was short-lived as on the exact same day that the former Coast Fed branches reopened as Home Savings, it was announced that WaMu was buying Home Savings. Of course they were all rebranded as Washington Mutual.

In Studio City, where I lived at the time, there was one of each of the 4 banks within a block at the corner of Ventura and Laurel Canyon. Today the former Home Savings contains the combined bank while GW became a realtor, Coast became a Banana Republic, and American Savings became a Union Bank of California.
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Post by klkla »

I am 100% possitive that this is a Mayfair Market interior. They used this interior package in most of their store remodels during the late 80's and 90's. If I remember right they only had 20 or so stores left when they went to this package but I cannot identify which location it is. A lot of the independents that took over Mayfair locations kept the sign packagae (although the floor has been changed by this owner).
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Post by klkla »

Actually now that I look at the side window it looks a lot like the old El Segundo store, but still not 100% sure. A lot of Mayfair Markets had windows on the side of the store including the one I was hired at in 1980 in Ocean Beach (San Diego), CA.
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Stater Bros.

Post by J-Man »

It looks almost like a stater brothers interior. But there are none east of the 605 Freeway.
Did you mean WEST of the 605? Because nearly all Stater Bros. are east of the 605. The only one I can think of that's west is in Long Beach.
StaterBahr

Post by StaterBahr »

The only thing that hearkens to a Stater Bros. are the aisle number and product signs. The setup of the store seems to be very similar to the Super A market in Paramount on Downey ave/Gardendale ave.
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Post by steps »

i like this topic...its like this store is a "mystery" store....i cant wait to see what store it officially turns out to be.....has anyone thought of emailing washington mutual....?
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Post by klkla »

steps wrote:i like this topic...its like this store is a "mystery" store....i cant wait to see what store it officially turns out to be.....has anyone thought of emailing washington mutual....?
There is no mystery. I am 100% certain it's a Mayfair (unless you're referring to exactly which former-Mayfair it is).
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Post by steps »

klkla wrote:
steps wrote:i like this topic...its like this store is a "mystery" store....i cant wait to see what store it officially turns out to be.....has anyone thought of emailing washington mutual....?
There is no mystery. I am 100% certain it's a Mayfair (unless you're referring to exactly which former-Mayfair it is).
eh...I'm a lil if-y about it being a mayfair...they only have one store left and that one is in hollywood and this looks NOTHING like it....it could be an old store they just went into and cleaned up....but if mayfair closed in the 80s/90s? I'm not too sure these interiors would have survived. Correct me if i am wrong but when they sold their stores, I'm sure the new owners didn't keep the signage...
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Post by Groceteria »

steps wrote:eh...I'm a lil if-y about it being a mayfair...they only have one store left and that one is in hollywood and this looks NOTHING like it....it could be an old store they just went into and cleaned up....but if mayfair closed in the 80s/90s? I'm not too sure these interiors would have survived. Correct me if i am wrong but when they sold their stores, I'm sure the new owners didn't keep the signage...
The fact that it's not currently a Mayfair Market doesn't mean that it necessarily burned to the ground or that its interior ceased to exist when they took down the Mayfair sign.

The one currently-extant Mayfair you mention would definitely have been remodeled subsequent to this interior package, as it's a rather "upscale" branch which is really a Gelson's in everything but its name. But the old interior package could have survived in any number of other units that are no longer Mayfairs, and one of these former units, now owned by someone else, could very likely have been the filming location.

I think klkla was referring to departmental signage rather than Mayfair logo or exterior signage. It's quite common for independents (and sometimes even other chains) to leave old interior signage in place when they acquire a store. In fact, a large chunk of the interior photos on this site exist primarily because of this fact.
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Post by greebs »

I agree. The Mayfair Market i went to is now a Super A Foods but the interior is still a Mayfair. It still has the Mayfair decor and is very close to the decor in the ad. It is located in Eagle Rock on 2245 Yosemite Dr.
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Post by Barcelos »

I guess everyone gave up on locating this store.
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Post by J-Mac »

Barcelos wrote:I guess everyone gave up on locating this store.
Actually, I've never looked at this thread until you brought it back up to the top. (Shame on me!) Perhaps I can shed some light on this one:

There are TWO Super A Foods locations here in my neck of the woods, and the one that I've been into has this decor package, along with half of the front with the " /\/\/\/\ " windows. (Architecture via ASCII, I love it!) The address for this store is 13120 Downey Ave, Paramount, CA. Its kinda "off the beaten path" for a grocery location (Its at the intersection of Downey Ave and Gardendale St., one block between either Imperial or Rosecrans, which are major streets, and just east of Lakewood.)

This store is a very good match for this commercial, the interior layout is the same (aisles run front to back in half the store without the angled windows, crosswise in the side that does.) The departments are in the same place too. (They do film around here.)

Another possibility is 6380 E. Florence Ave, Bell Gardens, CA; it is of similiar architecture, but I'd say that's possibility #2. (I haven't been inside that one.)

So I take it that Super A (12 locations) bought some of these from Mayfair???

PS: If for some reason anyone visits this area, don't miss the "Rancho Basket" or "Rancho Market" a block away at the intersection of Gardendale and Paramount Blvd.
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Post by runchadrun »

Based on the local.live.com image I think you're right that it's the store in Paramount.

http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2& ... ne=1014787

Both the Paramount and Bell Gardens Super A stores are former Food Fair locations. Super A got its start as a chain when Food Fair pulled out of Socal in 1973 and they bought 4 former Food Fair stores, but I don't know which ones. (They previously had one store, a former Alexander's Market at 1601 N Vermont.) If those two stores were part of those 4, then the other 2 would probably be the stores at 6101 S Rosemead, Pico Rivera, and 706 W Las Tunas, San Gabriel (which is no longer a Super A).
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Post by Barcelos »

Awesome. Looks like the mystery may finally be solved. All we need is confirmation from some sneaky member with a hidden camera.
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Post by Steve Landry »

Hey Chad.............appreciate your research skills. Wish I could hire you to discover more Food Fair / Fox Markets history in California and Nevada, hee hee!

Did the two stores really start as "new" builds for Food Fair or were they Fox Markets first?

I know there is so much more about Food Fair and Fox. After all, 50 stores in L.A. and 25 in Las Vegas have to have an historical "trail".

Thanks again! :)

Would be nice if we could see what the stores looked like from a street view. Like, Fox........Fox to Food Fair and new Food Fair.

I wonder how well they competed with the big names of the time like Mayfair, etc.
The Food Fair Empire
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