[jamcool]

Fry's is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year in Arizona (starting with 2 stores in 1960). What was their history in the Bay Area, and how did they end up opening stores in Phoenix?

[Groceteria]

Quick answers to part of the question:

Fry's was born in the San Jose area in the 1950s, as I recall. The chain was eventually came to be owned by Kroger (I read on an old version of the Fry's Electronics website that the original owner sold out to Dillon's in 1972, which would have brought them under the Kroger umbrella in 1983), and the Bay Area stores were sold to Save-Mart in 1989. Save-Mart operated them under the Fry's name for a couple of years but eventually rebranded the as Save-Mart, under which name they still operate. These stores were not converted to the Lucky brand when Save-Mart took over the Bay Area Albertsons stores.

I'm betting the Arizona stores started under Dillon's or Kroger.

Fry's Electronics BTW was founded by the same family.

[romleys]

Frys actually started in El Sobrante

[Dean]

Quick answers to part of the question:

Fry's was born in the San Jose area in the 1950s, as I recall. The chain was eventually came to be owned by Kroger (I read on an old version of the Fry's Electronics website that the original owner sold out to Dillon's in 1972, which would have brought them under the Kroger umbrella in 1983), and the Bay Area stores were sold to Save-Mart in 1989. Save-Mart operated them under the Fry's name for a couple of years but eventually rebranded the as Save-Mart, under which name they still operate. These stores were not converted to the Lucky brand when Save-Mart took over the Bay Area Albertsons stores.

I'm betting the Arizona stores started under Dillon's or Kroger.

Fry's Electronics BTW was founded by the same family.

thanks, as always!

I honestly had wondered about the Electronics connection (pun intended!).

[pinkfloyd95209]

The Bay Area stores were sold to Save-Mart in 1989. Save-Mart operated them under the Fry's name for a couple of years but eventually rebranded the as Save-Mart, under which name they still operate. These stores were not converted to the Lucky brand when Save-Mart took over the Bay Area Albertsons stores.

Actually they were sold to Save Mart of Modesto. "Save-Mart" with the hyphen between the Save and Mart is actually a very small chain based in Stockton and that is the reason why those stores (The Modesto Based Chain) in Stockton were initially called Food Bank Supermarket and later it changed to Smart Foods (and then from a threatened lawsuit by Smart & Final) and finally to the present S-Mart Foods. Back to Frys, Save Mart now operates in one remaining Fry's Building, 3223 West Hammer Ln. The other two locations are now a John's Incredible Pizza (4555 Pershing Ave) and SF Asian Supermarket (8004 West Lane).

[Jason B.]

The March 2020 edition of "The Shelby Report of the West" (p. 24) has a couple of articles about the history of the Fry's Food Stores.

The first article is about the 60th anniversary of Fry's in Arizona. It includes four black and white photos of Fry's Food Stores, probably from the 1970s and '80s. That article says that Don and Chuck Fry began operating stores in northern California in 1957. In 1960, they opened the first Phoenix Fry's store at 7th Street and Missouri Avenue. In 1972, Dillon Cos. acquired Fry's Food Stores (there were 41 stores). In 1983, Dillon Cos. merged with The Kroger Co. In 1999, Kroger and Fred Meyer merged. Fry's converted the Smith's stores in Arizona to Fry's Food and Drug Stores (except for Kingman, Bullhead City, and Lake Havasu City.) In 2020, the company operated 122 stores.

The second article is an obituary for Charles Lindbergh "Chuck" Fry, age 92, co-founder of Fry's Food Stores. It says that Chuck Fry invested with his brother Don Fry in 1955 in Richmond, Calif. (Presumably that was the first Fry's Food Store?) Chuck and his wife Alice raised three sons on a ranch in Martinez, Calif. The Fry boys eventually formed Fry's Electronics in 1985.

[Jason B.]

Here is the "Shelby Report of the West" (March 2020 issue, p. 24) article that included four photographs of Fry's Foods Stores from the 1970s and/or '80s. I do not see photo credits, but presumably someone owns the copyrights to the photos. I am sharing the photos here so that others can comment on the three different Fry's Food Stores building exterior styles depicted, etc.

[Alpha8472]

Fry's technically began in Contra Costa County California. One of the largest and most busy ones was the Fry's on Contra Costa Boulevard in Pleasant Hill, California. It was built in the 1970s and was the Crown Jewel of them all.

There was an Albertsons Payless Combo store across the street. It could not compete with Fry's and closed. Payless survived.

The Pleasant Hill Fry's was rebranded to Save Mart in 1990. That store was traded to Safeway around 1996 in exchange for some Safeway stores in the Fresno area.

There was a Fry's in Concord on Fry Way. That store became a PetSmart and remains so to this day. Later Fry's Electronics built a store nearby on Fry Way. That store eventually closed with the entire Fry's Electronics chain.

Fry's has always been well known in Contra Costa County. There were two in Antioch. Those two stores were converted to Save Mart in 1990 and later converted to Lucky in recent years.

[storewanderer]

Fry's technically began in Contra Costa County California. One of the largest and most busy ones was the Fry's on Contra Costa Boulevard in Pleasant Hill, California. It was built in the 1970s and was the Crown Jewel of them all.

There was an Albertsons Payless Combo store across the street. It could not compete with Fry's and closed. Payless survived.

The Pleasant Hill Fry's was rebranded to Save Mart in 1990. That store was traded to Safeway around 1996 in exchange for some Safeway stores in the Fresno area.

There was a Fry's in Concord on Fry Way. That store became a PetSmart and remains so to this day. Later Fry's Electronics built a store nearby on Fry Way. That store eventually closed with the entire Fry's Electronics chain.

Fry's has always been well known in Contra Costa County. There were two in Antioch. Those two stores were converted to Save Mart in 1990 and later converted to Lucky in recent years.

In Antioch the Contra Loma Store still had the Frys 1980's interior until somewhat recently.

The 18th Street Store is not operated by Save Mart anymore but is an independent "Antioch Food Center" and they did not remove any of the wall signage which was up, but did do some painting, and added some additional wall graphics which remind me of the 70's Safeway "big food pictures" wall signage. The department signs, I am not sure if those were Frys wall signage, or stuff Save Mart may have hung in their conversion effort in the early 90's. I am somewhat intrigued by this store because it was a really boring old looking store under Save Mart, but this new operator who threw up those big food wall graphics alongside the old outdated generic looking department signs... did something interesting here. I really think they were trying to replicate the old Safeway big wall graphics interior of the 70's.


It becomes increasingly challenging to find old interior grocery stores, but they're out there.

[Alpha8472]

Fry's technically began in Contra Costa County California. One of the largest and most busy ones was the Fry's on Contra Costa Boulevard in Pleasant Hill, California. It was built in the 1970s and was the Crown Jewel of them all.

There was an Albertsons Payless Combo store across the street. It could not compete with Fry's and closed. Payless survived.

The Pleasant Hill Fry's was rebranded to Save Mart in 1990. That store was traded to Safeway around 1996 in exchange for some Safeway stores in the Fresno area.

There was a Fry's in Concord on Fry Way. That store became a PetSmart and remains so to this day. Later Fry's Electronics built a store nearby on Fry Way. That store eventually closed with the entire Fry's Electronics chain.

Fry's has always been well known in Contra Costa County. There were two in Antioch. Those two stores were converted to Save Mart in 1990 and later converted to Lucky in recent years.

In Antioch the Contra Loma Store still had the Frys 1980's interior until somewhat recently.

The 18th Street Store is not operated by Save Mart anymore but is an independent "Antioch Food Center" and they did not remove any of the wall signage which was up, but did do some painting, and added some additional wall graphics which remind me of the 70's Safeway "big food pictures" wall signage. The department signs, I am not sure if those were Frys wall signage, or stuff Save Mart may have hung in their conversion effort in the early 90's. I am somewhat intrigued by this store because it was a really boring old looking store under Save Mart, but this new operator who threw up those big food wall graphics alongside the old outdated generic looking department signs... did something interesting here. I really think they were trying to replicate the old Safeway big wall graphics interior of the 70's.


It becomes increasingly challenging to find old interior grocery stores, but they're out there.

I remember as a child the Safeway in Concord, California on Monument Boulevard had the big wall graphics. The Monument Boulevard store has an identical twin store in Moraga. That store recently was remodeled with Modern Decor. The buildings look identical from the outside.