What to look for in Portland?

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kr.abs.swy
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What to look for in Portland?

Post by kr.abs.swy »

Hello,

I just relocated to the Portland area and I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions on can't-miss old stores for me to check out.

My favorite so far is the Lake Oswego Safeway. It is a Marina store that has a lifestyle remodel. It is easily the classiest Marina store I have ever seen. The new front has a glass facade, an understated "Safeway" name, and a very pleasant color scheme. At the same time, it is totally true to its marina "heritage."

I was also intrigued by the Standard / Chevron station in Milwaukie, near the Albertsons.

I'm particularly interested in old Albertsons and Safeway locations, as well as any interesting old department stores, drug stores, or restaurants.

Thanks!
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Re: What to look for in Portland?

Post by wnetmacman »

kr.abs.swy wrote:I was also intrigued by the Standard / Chevron station in Milwaukie, near the Albertsons.
Chevron does this in at least one location in any state where they still have the marketing rights to Standard. IIRC, that's California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida, and there may be others. It's used to protect the brand name. Of the other Standards (Exxon Mobil, BP, Conoco, Marathon and others), Chevron is the only one still actively protecting the brand.
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Re: What to look for in Portland?

Post by Super S »

The "Standard" station appears to have moved, it used to be along McLoughlin Blvd. Unless there are now two Standard branded stations in Milwaukie.

I agree on the Lake Oswego Safeway, if I remember right it was one of the first to receive the Lifestyle remodel, and this took place before the logo changed.

Now if you want to see a Marina Lifestyle remodel on the cheap, head west on highway 30 to Clatskanie. The remodel basically consisted of new signs and repainting the interior walls. The store still lacks a bakery, deli, or pharmacy and still has the conventional fluorescent lighting.

There is also a Marina Safeway on 82nd in Portland that has received some updates but is still mostly intact. I think it has the late 80s or early 90s signage still.
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Brian Lutz
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Re: What to look for in Portland?

Post by Brian Lutz »

Some more info on the Standard-branded Chevrons:

http://thesledgehammer.wordpress.com/20 ... n-station/

I believe there's another board post here that has more info as well.

Edit: Here you go:

http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtop ... =30&t=2627
The Sledgehammer - Version 2.0 - Seattle Area Malls, Retail History, and other random things.
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Re: What to look for in Portland?

Post by storewanderer »

I would guess the SW Barber Marina remains untouched... pending a demolish and rebuild?
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kr.abs.swy
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Re: What to look for in Portland?

Post by kr.abs.swy »

Pictures of the 82nd Street Safeway. This was a great find.

The deli was in the front-left section of the store, under a low ceiling, and in a kiosk-type of area that was on the floor, not set against one of the walls. Dairy products were in the back-left area of the store, also under a low ceiling. Something about this layout seemed very familiar to me. I'm wondering if this is how some of the Safeway stores were laid out when I was growing up, even though they weren't marina stores.

Thanks for the tip.

Hope to post pictures of the Barbur Safeway soon. That looks like another forgotten-by-time store.

I've been surprised at how hard it is to find an Albertsons here. There are at least three Safeways, two Fred Meyers, and two Walmart Supercenters that are closer than the nearest Albertsons, which still has the blue-grey interior.
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Re: What to look for in Portland?

Post by storewanderer »

That Safeway will be redeveloped, or at least that is the plan. I find it funny that and the Burlingame Fred Meyer sat so long with no investment and Fred Meyer finally gets off the ground with a project (albeit much smaller than originally proposed) and Safeway decides to save face they need to destroy their historical store too.
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Re: What to look for in Portland?

Post by Super S »

Safeway had many stores with that "kiosk" deli setup in the late 80s-early 90s. I saw this at several non-marina stores in Oregon and SW Washington during that time period. Most have been remodeled and have moved the deli to a more traditional location.
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Re: What to look for in Portland?

Post by kr.abs.swy »

And here are pictures of the 8145 SW Barbur Blvd Safeway in Portland.

This is just down the street from a Fred Meyer that is closed temporarily pending a major face-lift. I am not familiar with exactly what is happening with this Fred Meyer (the Burlingame Freddy's) but it looked like the building had been completely gutted and was getting an addition. The store was completely closed; the pharmacy and Chase bank were open somewhere nearby. It looked like they were retaining one of the old-school Fred Meyer road signs (complete with the word Burlingame in an old font) and one of the old-school Fred Meyer signs on the building.

And as I continue to digress, I saw another Fred Meyer today where they had added a gas station, but it was a couple blocks down the street, instead of in the parking lot of the Fred Meyer. I hadn't ever seen that before. That was an older Fred Meyer that had recently been renovated and the parking lot was definitely too small for petrol sales.

Back to the Safeway ... here are the pictures. This was a great find -- thanks for the tip.

In the photo of the exterior, the addition that you see on the right front side of the store is the pharmacy.
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Re: What to look for in Portland?

Post by Super S »

That Fred Meyer with the gas station down the street you speak of might be the Oak Grove Fred Meyer. I posted about the gas station arrangement a while back, either on here or on the Retail Watchers site.

The Burlingame Fred Meyer is undergoing a major remodel and expansion, I believe this is currently the oldest Fred Meyer in existence. I was in there about a year ago, and in the parking lot was a somewhat unique Burger King which sat on top of a portion of the parking garage. I don't know what the remodel plans are, but at the time this was a "Marketplace" store which did not have an apparel department.

As for the Barbur Blvd. Safeway, I have never been inside that building, and have never seen that interior package. The lettering almost looks as if it came from a package I saw in the mid-1980s and was repainted. Interesting placement of the pharmacy also, does this store have a bakery and/or deli also? I have seen Safeway stores which had a pharmacy, but no bakery or deli.
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Re: What to look for in Portland?

Post by kr.abs.swy »

Super S -- I'm pretty sure there was a deli, but I can't remember for sure. I'll update once I make it back down there. I didn't have a chance to explore very much, but it was a really interesting store.
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Re: What to look for in Portland?

Post by StoreLiker2006 »

The Safeway at 101 SE 82nd Ave., which opened October 27, 1967 (it replaced the 8120 SE Stark St. location that dated from 1940), will be the lone remaining Marina Safeway left after the Burlingame location gets remixed.

When Safeway finally goes ahead with redeveloping the 82nd & Burnside store I mentioned, there will be no Marina Safeways left in P-town!

~Ben
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Re: What to look for in Portland?

Post by Super S »

What about the "hidden Marina" store at 5920 NE Martin Luther King Blvd. Is that one still open? I was in that store about 1 1/2 years ago, and it looks modern on the outside, but the Marina ceiling is in full view inside.
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Re: What to look for in Portland?

Post by StoreLiker2006 »

Super S wrote:What about the "hidden Marina" store at 5920 NE Martin Luther King Blvd. Is that one still open? I was in that store about 1 1/2 years ago, and it looks modern on the outside, but the Marina ceiling is in full view inside.
Yes, as far as I know that location still exists. This location was originally revamped in 1989 to a Safeway Marketplace store.

~Ben
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