West Covina area grocery history

[luckysaver]

I am currently using the LA Times archives to do a historical study of selected chain supermarkets in the West Covina/Rowland Heights vicinity. Cities of my study include West Covina, Covina, Diamond Bar, Walnut, Industry and the unincorporated county areas of Valinda, Rowland Heights, Bassett, and Hacienda Heights (once called North Whittier Heights).
The results are lengthy, so it will be in several posts. The focus is on banner history (what stores used to be what). This first list is the most interesting:

ORIGINAL STORE SITES STILL STANDING AS GROCERY STORES TODAY (work in progress)
Vons (1512 E Amar at Azusa, West Covina) - currently Island Pacific (Filipino)
- site built as part of developer Joseph Eichenbaum's Rolling Green (later Woodside Village) Shopping Center in 1969.
Albertsons (20677 Amar at Grand, Walnut) - currently Stater Bros
- Albertsons was newly built in 1994 and sold to Staters as part of the American Stores divestiture in 1999 because of the Lucky (Albertsons) at Nogales and a former Savon Drugs next door.
Alpha Beta (1515 E Amar at Azusa, West Covina) - currently Seafood City (Filipino)
- In Esther Cramer's book, it was a proposed store. This site opened in 1973 and closed around 1995 after Food4Less (previous owner) transferred F4L/AB conventional sites to Ralphs
Stater Bros (19050 La Puente at Nogales, West Covina) - currently Bestway
- Opened 1976 and closed late 2005. Staters is currently thinking about moving into the former Savon Drugs across the street.
Market Basket (18414 Colima at Jellick, Rowland Heights) - currently Shun Fat (Chinese)
- later became Vons until Chinese businesses took over much of Colima Rd. Very few American businesses remain on this stretch between Larkvane and Otterbein.
Alpha Beta (2825 Diamond Bar Blvd west of Pathfinder) - currently H-Mart (Korean)
- Another 1973 era Alpha Beta site. Most recently Ralphs (smaller size). Much of the shopping center has been renovated at least 2 times in its history. The City of Diamond Bar and many residents wanted Trader Joes to move in instead.
Shopping Bag (960 Arrow Hwy at Azusa, Covina-Azusa border) - currently Gigante
- Opened late 1950's as EF MacDonald's Shopping Bag and later became Fazio's Shopping Bag (or simply) Fazio's. In the mid '70's after Albertsons acquired Fazio's, it was converted into Grocery Warehouse (or Max Grocery Warehouse), then changed its name to Max Foods and now Gigante.
Hughes/El Rancho (831 Hacienda, south of Amar, La Puente) - currently Fiesta Foods
- started as either a Hughes or El Rancho and then went vacant for very long time until recently.
Raisin/Alpha Beta (17305 E Valley at Azusa, Industry-La Puente border) - currently R Ranch (latino)
- This was the La Puente location that kept coming up in the searches on Alpha Beta stores at this address. First opened as Raisin Market, it was acquired by Alpha Beta in 1958 and operated as Alpha Beta-Raisin Food Market. The squarish tall sign is still standing as well as the shopping center architecture of the mid 1940's. It became Jax Market for a long time until recently.
Albertsons (21080 Golden Springs at Brea Canyon, Diamond Bar) - currently MarketWorld (KOR)
- early 1980's Albertsons was sold in 1998 as part of the American Stores divestiture. Became a short lived Top Valu and then Hannam's Market World moved in.

There is more coming in a later post as this is still a work in progress.

luckysaver

[Jeff]

You should just make this all of the Eastern San Gabriel Valley, and seperate it by city. Otherwise i like it!

[rnaikens]

Have you seen anything about Smith's 80's pre Lucky's buyout locations in your research? I remember 3 stores in the general area of West Covina. One which was a Marketbasket that Smith's actually first opened, south of the 10. Another which was a fairly new Marketbasket just north of the other store. And down the 10 about 5 miles and north was one of the very few superstores Smiths built in SoCal outside of Palm Springs. Any idea what these stores are now?

[luckysaver]

I'm currently expanding the list and planning improvements to this thread.

As for the previous question,

Smiths Food King was acquired by Lucky in 1983-84 at around the same time Kroger sold its Market Basket division. From my research, the following were pre-merger SFK's existed in the area:

18730 E Amar Rd, Walnut - opened as SFK in 1981, then became Lucky in 1984, and Albertsons-Savon in 1999. The most recent remodel is 2005.
13925 Amar Rd, La Puente - opened in the early 1970's as SFK, then became Lucky in '84, and after the Albertsons merger sold it to Big Saver Foods
1420 Azusa, West Covina - opened as SFK around 1975. It became Lucky in 1984, then closed in 1997 and reopened as a short lived Louis Foods (Pasadena was their other location) and in 1999, Marukai took over.

The SFK you thought was north of the 10 Freeway opened around 1994 as Smiths Food and Drug Center (same company reincarnated without the Food King name, the other location at the La Puente/West Covina border, remember their slogan - "21 Stores Under One Roof!"). Smiths was bought out by Fred Meyer/Kroger in 1997 and ceased California operations and this store site (1000 N Azusa, Covina) became Albertsons-Savon (opened as Albertsons Food and Drug).

luckysaver

[romleys]

Quick question... how do you access the LA Times archives?

[Groceteria]

Quick question... how do you access the LA Times archives?

You would need access through an academic (or perhaps a public) library to access them at no cost.

If you have a library card, you might check the "electronic resources" page of your library's website to see if it offers access to that database for its patrons' use, either online or in a branch. Licensing restrictions prohibit libraries from offering access to the general public online, but non-cardholders might be able to access it in the actual library.

[rnaikens]

I was thinking Azusa \ Aroma, Asuza \ Rowland and North of the 10 on Grand in the Asuza Hills somewhere. Maybe not though...

[luckysaver]

rnaikens,

North of the 10, the other original Smith Food King was at the Arrow Citrus Center (now Superior), at 1375 N Citrus in Covina. It was expanded as Lucky Savon in the '80's.

Azusa/Rowland (375 N Azusa) has always been that nice large Stater Bros. That address does not show up in the Times archives. The other stores along that stretch of North Azusa in WC/Covina are:

Food4Less (615 N Azusa), former Zody's, later Ralphs Giant. The Big Lots next door was a 1960's-era Ralphs.
Alin Party Supply (979 San Bernardino at Azusa, facing Azusa) - was Market Basket/Lucky
Albertsons-Savon (1000 N Azusa) - started as Smiths Food and Drug of the 1990's.

1420 S Azusa is at the corner of Aroma Dr by Galster Park. To correct/expand the earlier post, it opened around 1972 as Brutoco Shopping Center, a controversial 57-acre shopping/apartment complex for that South Hills area. It was named for the developer David Brutoco. Sometime during the Lucky era it took the name South Hills Plaza. When I was a kid, I used to think all the produce for Lucky was grown in the hills behind the store (which turns out to be Galster Park).

The space next door to Marukai (the brand new 24 hour Fitness) started out as some sort of hardware/woodworking store and during the Lucky era it was Watterson College (a private vocational school), then Calvary Chapel, and most recently vacant. I used to think it was a drugstore.

luckysaver

[melrose1960]

The Hughes location you refer to....the Hacienda Blvd / south of Amar Road shopping
center in La Puente.....actually opened as a brand new Market Basket. The three major
tenants were Market Basket, Sav-On Drug Store, and Pic-N-Save. That is my favorite
intersection....one of the remaining original In-N-Out locations, the Donut Hole and of
course Snap-E-Taco...yumm...my mouth is watering....I will drive from Huntington Beach
(where I work) to La Puente just to get my Snap-E fix....sorry I got off topic, but that
Hacienda / Amar intersection also includes my all time favorite...that famous former
Shopping Bag supermarket with the still intact "sign wall".