[Daniel]

Does anyone have a list of locations Tops operated in the Cleveland area? I know of 4 that Giant Eagle didn't take over, 3 are abandoned and one is an independent grocer. Some of their locations just make me scratch my head. One in North Olmsted is not visible from any major street and only has a Guitar Center nearby for other retail activity. I stumbled across it by accident, and didn't have a hard time figuring out why it closed. This store, on Superior was another one that made me wonder since chains typically don't open inner city locations anymore. The security cameras all over the parking lot made me wonder if they didn't have a problem with theft here.

[rich]

Chains still build in inner city areas. There's anew Giant near me in DC, with another being planned a couple miles away.

The store in the picture opened in the 80s and was one of several stores that Finast built in inner city locations at about the same time. This one more or less replaced a Pick-n-Pay (Finast's predecessor banner) on St. Clair near Lakeview which ahd closed a few years before. Another one opened on Buckey near 116th that also replaced a long running Pick-n-Pay.

[Daniel]

I never would have guessed the store was that old. It looked to be a 90's build. If it's like the other Tops that closed, it's still got everything inside it waiting for someone to come along and re-stock it...

[Toby Radloff]

As far as I know, Giant Eagle took over almost half of the Ohio Tops stores, including Lorain/W. 110, Lakewood, Streetsboro, Parma (Snow Road), East 116/Buckeye (by Gillombardo's), Fairview Park, Akron (W. Market Street and Howe Avenue), Medina, Norwalk, Elyria, Mayfield Heights, and Beachwood. Giant Eagle plans to close nearby locations once some of these Tops stores are remodeled....recently read (12/6/07) where GE will close the former Tops stores it took over in Elyria and Norwalk; they weren't profitable. They also scrapped plans to reopen a Tops store in Bedford. The Tops on Day Drive in Parma was demolished to make way for a new Giant Eagle store.

Dave's (a Giant Eagle-supplied independent) took over Tops stores in Garfield Heights, Lee/Harvard, Euclid, and Cleveland Heights (Severance). Dave's will also take over the West 110/Lorain former Tops from Giant Eagle when they open their new store on West 117th later in 2008.

Apple's (Lorain-based indie) took over the Sheffield Tops.

Heinen's (a local upscale chain) took over the Strongsville Tops.

Buehler's (a Wooster-based chain) took over the Brunswick Tops.

Zagara's Marketplace (a Cleveland Heights indie) took over the Hilltop Plaza (Highland Heights) Tops.

Acme (the Akron-based chain) took over the Tallmadge (Rt. 91) Tops...they are also took over a Tops at Pleasant Valley Shopping Center in Parma.

Steve Rogers, who once owned IGA stores in inner city Cleveland, took over the East 118/Superior Tops location-that store hasn't reopened yet.

Rego Brothers (from the same family as Rego's Stop-N-Shop) took over the Kamms Plaza (Lorain/Rocky River) and Westlake (Columbia Road) Tops locations-they also took over a Tops store in North Royalton (Sprague & York Roads.)

Save-A-Lot took over the Clark Avenue Tops, a store that closed in 2005.

Family Dollar took over part of the East 72/St. Clair Tops location, which closed in 2005.

Marc's (a deep discounter) took over the Berea (Bagley Road) Tops store.

Stein Mart took over the Solon Tops store, which closed in 2004.

Old Navy took over the Sandusky Tops store, which closed in 2004.

The former Boardman (Rt. 224) Tops store (which opened in 1997 and closed in 1999) is now a Target...the building was expanded, and the former Tops entrance is now a storage area for shopping carts.

I am guessing that the still-vacant locations were sold back to their landlords. As of 7/31/08, the following Ohio Tops stores are still vacant:

Bedford (Meadowbrook Market Square)
Ashtabula (Rt.20)
Madison (Rt. 20)-closed in 2005; now Peebles department store
Mentor (both the Rt. 615 and Mentor Avenue locations)
Eastlake (Vine Street)-now Valu King supermarket
Brooklyn (Ridge Park Square)
Cleveland, 6711 Broadway (closed 2005...now Aldi)
Macedonia (Macedonia Commons)
Parma (Pleasant Valley Shopping Center...now Acme)
Parma (Day Drive...demolished; Giant Eagle building new store on the site)
North Royalton (York/Sprague...now Rego's Market)
Brook Park (Brookgate Plaza)
North Olmsted (Brookpark Ext...now Sears Outlet Store and Ollie's Discount Outlet)
Ravenna (Rt. 59)-closed 2004
Kent (Rt. 43)-closed 2004
Akron (Vernon Odom Boulevard)-closed 2004
Akron (Waterloo Road)
Avon Lake (Walker Road)
Cuyahoga Falls (Graham Road)
University Heights (University Plaza; garage housing adjacent Tops store to be demolished for future development)
Warren (Elm Road)
Niles (Rt. 422)


The former Tops on Neff Road is now a Save-A-Lot.


These still-vacant Tops stores will most likely end up reopening as non-grocery or non-retail businesses, if they find new tenants. At this point, it is doubtful if these locations will reopen as supermarkets.

[Daniel]

Thanks for that info! That's exactly what I was looking for. I drove past the store at East 72nd and St. Clair and thought it was an old grocery store. Was it built in the 70's?

When I go to Giant Eagle it's usually the Lakewood store they took over from Tops. Very little was done to the interior, the remodeling consisted of removing signs with Tops logos and replacing then with Giant Eagle signs...

[Sdorulla]

The Giant Eagle in Lakewood opened 6 days after Tops closed. Giant Eagle was in a smaller store across the street that I believe started out life as a Kroger, then became Stop-n-Shop after Kroger left Cleveland. I understand that the Lakewood Tops was the Cadillac of the west side Tops stores. The Kamms Plaza Tops taken over by Rego's also has a had a minimum of changes.
Dave's made more extensive changes at the Turneytown store in Garfield Heights.

Stan D.

[Toby Radloff]

Thanks for that info! That's exactly what I was looking for. I drove past the store at East 72nd and St. Clair and thought it was an old grocery store. Was it built in the 70's?

The East 72/St. Clair Ave. store opened as a Pick-N-Pay in the mid-1960's, and is also similar to the Neff Road store (also mid-1960's), as well as a former Pick-N-Pay at Lorain Ave. and Fulton Road (now Unique Thrift). Pick-N-Pay opened many lookalike stores in the 1960's; the St. Clair Ave. and Neff Road locations survived into the Tops era. As for the Neff Road store, developers want to build a Rite Aid drugstore, and possibly an Aldi, on the site, which includes many former home sites bought by Ahold when they originally proposed (and later scrapped) plans for a new store at that site.

[Daniel]

This is in one of the pillars near the front entrance of the Kamm's Plaza Tops store that was taken over by Rego's. At this location the carts still say "Tops Friendly Markets" on them, there was an attempt to paint over this on the handles but the paint has worn off.

[Daniel]

E. 72/St. Clair store. There isn't anything that looks grocery-ish left in the interior of Family Dollar. There is a Tops labelscar faintly visible over the tractor trailer...

[Toby Radloff]

This is in one of the pillars near the front entrance of the Kamm's Plaza Tops store that was taken over by Rego's. At this location the carts still say "Tops Friendly Markets" on them, there was an attempt to paint over this on the handles but the paint has worn off.

If I recall correctly, a Tops store in Boardman, OH, which opened in 1997 and closed in 1999 (and, I think, is still vacant) had a similar cornerstone with a time capsule, bearing the Tops logo and the day the store was built. Also, before the Cleveland and Akron Finast stores went to the Tops banner, Ahold operated the Warren, Niles, and Boardman stores under the Tops name. The three stores were built from the ground up as Tops, and were never recycled from other stores. Don't know offhand if other former OH Tops stores had similar time capsule cornerstones.

[Daniel]

I haven't come across other time capsules, but I've only been to a handful of ex-Tops locations. I wonder what was in these time capsules.

[Toby Radloff]

As for the Boardman Tops store, it is now a Target. The building was added on, and the former Tops entrance (which still has a clock above it) is now a storage/shelter area for shopping carts. I drove by there today. The cornerstone from the former Tops store is no longer there.

[Toby Radloff]

Another Tops store update...I saw a "For Lease" sign on the former Tops at Rockside and Northfield Roads in Bedford, in the Meadowbrook shopping center...a location that Giant Eagle was interested in. Apparently Giant Eagle decided to stay at Southgate rather than to open in Bedford, especially with a new Wal-Mart Supercenter under construction across the street. Still, a GetGo is under construction on the site of the former Ambassador bowling alley across the street. Still, that new Wal-Mart could be a threat to that Giant Eagle, since it is less than a mile from Southgate (although that store, as both Dave's and Giant Eagle, outlived a Super K mart that is now a Ford dealership.) I did hear a rumor that the Target in Bedford might close after Wal-Mart opens, but then again, that is a rumor. There are several other Cleveland area locations where Target and Wal-Mart are across the street or adjacent to each other, since Target attracts the upscale shopper and Wal-Mart attracts the value shopper.

[Sdorulla]

I heard that Giant Eagle could not come to terms with the landlord at Meadowbrook...no doubt Southgate gave them a good deal to stay there. I had a feeling that this was going to happen since there was no activity at the Meadowbrook store and the "Giant Eagle coming soon" sign was removed awhile back. As for Target closing the Bedford store, I had not heard this. Target and Wal-Mart already co-exist at the new Steelyard Commons and will also co-exist in Garfield Heights, with Wal-Mart (not a supercenter) at City View and Target officially announcing that they will be locating in the new Bridgeview Crossing on the north side of I-480. Seems they are both oversaturating the Cleveland market which is oversaturated already. Once this is all done, I will have 3 Wal-Marts and 3 Targets within 6 miles of my home in Garfield Hts.

Stan D.

[Groceteria]

We seem to be edging a little off-topic here. If we could sort of keep this focused on the HISTORY aspect, and on Tops rather than on current operations of other retailers, that would be great.

Thanks,
David