[melipop]

I've been researching historical imagery of Indian Hill Blvd, as I grew up in the area late 90s/early 00s. I have plenty of memories of shopping at the various grocery stores on Indian Hill with my mother; Food 4 Less and Albertsons I remember in particular.

However, I noticed something that confused me. I used to frequent the former Burger King on Indian Hill, which is now a Popeyes. Google Earth historical imagery shows that a large building existed on the same lot as the former Burger King. I have no recollection of this building, so I started digging further. I asked my mother about it, and she remembers it was a Vons when she moved into the area (circa 1994). Further research on this forum lead me to a comment that mentioned that the building was also a former Gemco.

According to the imagery, the building was bulldozed around 2006, and now condominiums sit on its former lot. I presume the building sat vacant for a while before being bulldozed, but I'm not sure. The building appears to have had two main entrances, and my mother recalls that one side may have housed a furniture store around 1994–1995.

The former address is 1955 N. Indian Hill Blvd (south of I-10).

Does anyone remember this Gemco/Vons, or visiting it? It would be great if someone had some photos of the building as well. Any information or memories of this place would be greatly appreciated!

The attached photo is Google Earth imagery from 2003.

[luckysaver]

It was last used by Safeway/Vons as the second location of "Expo Bargain Center" - the warehouse format that sold mainly overstocks from Safeway, Vons, and Casa Ley. The former KMART (now Vons) in La Verne was the first Expo location used by Vons when they first took over the building. The Indian Hill location (behind Super King <ex Lucky/Albertsons>) was torn down to make way for those condos.

luckysaver

[melipop]

It was last used by Safeway/Vons as the second location of "Expo Bargain Center" - the warehouse format that sold mainly overstocks from Safeway, Vons, and Casa Ley. The former KMART (now Vons) in La Verne was the first Expo location used by Vons when they first took over the building. The Indian Hill location (behind Super King <ex Lucky/Albertsons>) was torn down to make way for those condos.

luckysaver

Thanks for the comment.

Does this mean that this location was run differently from a normal Vons?

[luckysaver]

I believe they were run differently than a traditional Vons since the bargain warehouse store was advertised in the LA Times back then as a Safeway (around the time they bought the Vons division). I never been inside the La Verne or Pomona/Claremont (Indian Hill) stores but the most prominent item in the ad was a 2-liter bottle of Safeway Select Soda along with some Casa Ley products (Safeway had 49% stake in the Mexican grocer and some Casa Ley branded products were found at selected Vons stores). I think these stores carried overstocks and slightly damaged merchandise much like the outlet stores of today, but Safeway/Vons only had these stores for a short time (like a temporary location) while they work on renovation or construction of a new Vons store.

The old Vons Companies Inc (pre-Safeway) operated a warehouse format called Expo and the Pomona/Claremont store (right behind Super King Market <ex-Skaggs Alpha Beta/Lucky/Albertsons> on the Pomona side) and I heard that it was one of the last Expo stores before it briefly became an Extreme Value Center and then demolished for those "Cobblestone" apartments. I think when Gemco closed in the late 1980's, Lucky moved its operation to a new location a few feet away on the Claremont side when they took over the Skaggs Alpha Beta (possibly knowing the unfortunate reputation of southeast Pomona at the time).