Giant Foods

shane · Post by **shane** » 05 Dec 2006 14:29

I was at the thrift store the other day and noticed a shopping cart with a blue handle that said Giant Foods on it. Does anybody have any information on this chain. Another Website I went to mentioned a store called Giant by Ralphs and I Wondered are they related in some way.

runchadrun · Post by **runchadrun** » 05 Dec 2006 16:40

The Ralphs version of Giant was not related to the east coast Giant Foods or any other Giant for that matter. Ralphs bought several former Zody's department stores and turned them into giant supermarkets, hence the name. It lasted from 1986 to 1988 when they became regular Ralphs stores and many (or all) of them are Food4Less stores today.

Jeff · Post by **Jeff** » 05 Dec 2006 22:58

The only exception that I can think of is the former Giant in Pomona, CA, which was closed for about 10 years before becoming a school.

greebs · Post by **greebs** » 06 Dec 2006 00:31

The Ralphs Giant was a failed concept from the beginning. Ralphs took over 14 Zodys Dept. stores and leased some of the space to Thrifty's (Thrifty Jr) while never really knowing how to utilize all that space (some stores had 100,000 sq feet). Also trying to create an identity for the Giant from Ralphs didn't work and the stores were converted to Ralphs by 1988. Of all the stores that were converted to Food 4 Less, only the Redondo Beach store retained the Ralphs name. The Lynwood store was closed in early 1990 and was then demolished when the High School was built. And the Canoga Park store became a Vons. What's amazing is the lack of pictures for both Zodys or the Giant. It's as if they only existed in print.

runchadrun · Post by **runchadrun** » 06 Dec 2006 12:50

Here's a picture of the Zodys at Crenshaw and Century in Inglewood from 1969. This design was common among Zodys stores with the tall glass entrance.

This is it today:
http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2& ... ene=894005

And this is the Hollywood store, which had a similar design:
http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2& ... ne=6892469

Jeff · Post by **Jeff** » 06 Dec 2006 19:25

Just as a reminder, there is an old Zody's discussion I started here:
http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=139

TheQuestioner · Post by **TheQuestioner** » 13 Dec 2006 15:11

runchadrun wrote:Here's a picture of the Zodys at Crenshaw and Century in Inglewood from 1969. This design was common among Zodys stores with the tall glass entrance.

Ah! Thanks for the pic! That would explain the rather grandiose-looking entranceways I have seen on SoCal Food4Less stores. The first time I saw one, i wondered if it had been converted from a 60's/70's movie theater, which sometimes had entryways like that. Are these stores still Food4Less, or were they rebranded FoodMaxx? All the NorCal Food4Less stores are FM now. I know the use of the Food4Less name is shared between several entities in a confusing way, so these may be totally unrelated.

Anyway, Zody's looked so much cooler originally than the way the buildings look now. When was the last time you saw hanging Mod lights in a discount store?

greebs · Post by **greebs** » 14 Dec 2006 00:42

The Zodys stores that were converted to Food 4 Less after Ralphs are still Food 4 Less. The Hollywood store at 5420 Sunset Blvd. is my favorite. The decore is beautiful on the outside with a big entrance. It has not been kept up and i can only imagine how it looked when Zodys opened it in 1971. Also the old Zodys store in Bakersfield may be the only former store that looks the way it did when it opened.