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In the old incarnation of the Groceteria Message Board, I had written something about Pay 'n Save. But I thought for those who had not seen that, it might be enjoyable to read some of its' history.

I don't know exactly when Pay 'n Save Drugs was started. It was in the 1940's at some time. At first it was just drug stores. But eventually it had a family of different concept stores.

At it's height, Pay 'n Save and its' different stores were in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Alaska, Hawaii, California, Nevada, and Canada (I believe British Columbia and maybe Alberta).

In addition to the namesake drug stores, Pay 'n Save included the following:

Ernst Home Center (now closed)
Malmo Nursery (now closed)
Von Tobels Home Centers in Las Vegas (I believe now closed)
Sportswest/Sportsland sporting goods - most sold to Big 5. Alaska locations kept for a period of time.
Lamont's Apparel - many turned to Gottschalk's Department stores -many of these acquired from Lamont's now closed
Yard Birds - 3 store chain of variety, and clothing stores in SW Washington. Now only a building in Centralia, WA that is a flea market.
Price Savers - Pay 'n Save's answer to Costco, now Sam's Club
Schuck's Auto Supply - still in business!
Bi-Mart - membership drug and variety business still in Oregon and Washington!

Pay 'n Save was started by M. Lamont Bean. I believe that he also had something to do with the founding of the now defunct Tradwell grocery chain.

Pay 'n Save was the dominate drug store chain in Washington until the 1990's when it was asorbed by PayLess Drug NW.

Pay 'n Save even had a family of stores charge card that eventually was co branded as a Visa.

With the exception of Price Savers, most other banners or businesses were acquired. The Lamont's banner was created when Pay 'n Save bought out the Seattle Rhode's Department Stores and the sole outlet of a store called Bell's of Burien. The Tacoma Rhodes stores eventually became Liberty House and then Frederick and Nelson.

In the 1980's, after Pay 'n Save bought out Schuck's Auto, the company was then sold to investors and broken up. The different units initially were still owned by the same investors but managed sperately, then sold off. Pay 'n Save I believe was the corporate cousin of Pick 'n Save (now Big Lots) for awhile and went on a disasterous merchandising strategy where the store was cheapened. Eventually Pay 'n Save was bought by Thrifty but kept the Pay 'n Save name in the NW. Eventually it became PayLess then Rite Aid.

Ernst, Malmo and Lamont's ended going into bankruptucy. The first two closed. Lamont's went into bankruptucy twice and was eventually bought out by Gottschalks. Gottschalks has had mixed rssults with the former Lamon't stores. They have almost pulled out of Seattle. They seem to do well in more rural areas and Alaska.

Price Savers was sold to Kroger. Kroger sold them to KMart and they became Pace. KMart sold them to Wal*Mart and they become Sam's.

Bi-Mart became part of Thrifty, then PayLess, then Rite Aid. Rite Aid has since made them independent.

Sportswest/Sportsland, with the exception to the Alaska stores, were sold to Big 5. I don't know what happened to the Alaska stores.

I don't really know what happened to Von Tobel's Home Centers in Las Vegas.

Yard Birds was spun off to the employees. But I think that they suffered when Wal*Mart came into the Centralia, WA area. It is now a flea market.

Schucks has survived and is now part of Kragen and Checker auto.

So really, only the Schucks, and Bi-Mart names have survived with their business intact.

Also, I should mention, that there were some Lamont's stores that Sportswest stores inside them. One was at Northgate Mall in Seattle and University Village in Seattle. Also some of the Pay 'n Save Drugs in Alaska were like a combination of Pay 'n Save and Ernst Home Centers but under the Pay 'n Save name. I don't know what happened to these stores when Thrifty or PayLess bought them. But I do know that Rite Aid got rid of all of their Alaska stores.

I also don't know when Pay 'n Save moved out of Canada. But I believe it was before it was broken up. I also believe that only Pay 'n Save Drugs existed up there. If anyone has more info on this, please post this!

Don't know if there is a relation........I love the store near me.

http://paynsave.com/

Are the Yard Birds stores of Washington in any relation to the Yard Birds home centers in California. The company was founded by John Heedley in Santa Rosa, CA. The stores were usually in former supermarkets and very large in size. I think there are 10 stores to this date. In 2005 Home Depot was noted in many newspapers as to be buying the chain. However, every Yard Birds is located where Home Depot would least likely put a store. This would be a great breakthrough if someone out there might have any sort of help on the history of either Yard Birds chain and/or if there is a relation between the two chains

The Yardbirds that are in the Bay Area (which were just bought up by Home Depot) arent in any relationship to the Yardbirds in The Pacific Northwest. The Yardbirds in Bay Area seem to be in old grocery stores yet do not know which groceries they were, they have a few stores that they built. As far as I know the Yardbirds in NW are now defunct.
Also who could forget the vivid colors of Pay N Save the bright green and blue. Also they had there own line of competing brands (such as Pay N Save Head and Shoulders) I am not sure if they were ever in California but the ones in NW seemed to be in competion to Pay Less House of Values not to be confused with California Pay Less.

First of all, the Pay 'n Save stores I am talking about are no relation to the current non-drug store ones in Arizona.

Yard Birds locations were in Centralia/Chealis, Shelton and Olympia, WA. The Centralia outlet was about the size of a Wal*Mart or Fred Meyer. In fact, before Pay 'n Save bought them, Fred Meyer operated the grocery department in the Centralia store. They also had pharmacy, clothing and general merchandise departments. The other two stores were smaller.

From what I have heard, Pay 'n Save did operate in the Bay Area of California until they were acquired by Thrifty. I believe that Pay 'n Save acquired Safeway's Super S drug stores. But I believe that when Thrifty acquired them, they became Thriftys. Conversely, the few Thriftys in Washington State became Pay 'n Save stores.

Also I do know that there was a PayLess California that was seperate from PayLess House of Values (aka PayLess NW). I believe that in the late 1970's or 80's the two merged.

I happened to visit the flea market at the old Centralia-Chehalis Yard Birds a few months back. I want to add that the grocery section is still in operation under the Shop 'N Kart name, and the theater appeared to still be in operation. Most of the original Yard Birds signs are still up as well. However, the whole facility is rather dated looking.

I also wanted to ask, did Malmo nursery ever operate independent stores? The ones I remember were always part of an Ernst store.

I think that Malmo was started independently from Ernst. But in it's later years, it was part of Ernst. However at Lake Forest Park Towne Centre, there was a Malmo only store adjacent to the Pay 'n Save at that same mall.

Pay N Saves were pretty prevelant in the pacific NW. Who could forget the bright green and blue they used in thier uniforms and logos, and then to walk into one with all the flourecent lighting made the colors even brighter. They had thier own brands of Head and Shoulders and other drug store goods. I never emember them as being real big like Pay Less House of Values butsmaller more the size of a typical Rite Aid or Walgreens, carryting same stuff.

Pay N' Save in Arizona is a concept discount store owned by Checker Auto(CSK)....they are super tool stores (like Harbor Freight) but also have pet supplies, sporting goods, and a lot of "closeout" items. They seem to be a reincarnation of the Yellow Front chain (the Pay N Save logo is yellow!) that started Checker Auto.

jamcool wrote:Pay N' Save in Arizona is a concept discount store owned by Checker Auto(CSK)....they are super tool stores (like Harbor Freight) but also have pet supplies, sporting goods, and a lot of "closeout" items. They seem to be a reincarnation of the Yellow Front chain (the Pay N Save logo is yellow!) that started Checker Auto.

Isn't Checker one of the ones that was sucked into the giant Grand-Kragen-Schuck's-Checker vortex? Grand Auto was, if I recall correctly, owned by Lucky Strores at some point.

Lucky bought the parent company of Yellow Front and Checker Auto in the 80s...then when Lucky went through its fiancial problems, Checker was sold off to become CSK and Yellow Front was liquidated.

That is interesting to hear about Pay n' Save in Arizona. In a round about way, it looks like they were related to Pay n' Save Drugs since both at different times were related to Shuck's Auto Supply. Just a side note, at one time, Yellow Front was here in Washington State. I don't know much about Yellow Front except that the ones that existed here were acquired from Bonanza 88 stores. I don't believe that there are any of Yellow Front or Bonanza 88 stores here in Washington.

Yellow Front started as a handful of Army surplus stores in the PHX area in the 50s...all having a "yellow" front. In the 60s, they added hunting/fishing/camping supplies, outdoor/work clothing such as Levi's, auto parts, and closeout/discount items. By the 70s, they had stores in every small AZ town, and expanded into the rest of the SW and Far West. They started a chain of discount auto parts called Checker Auto in Phoenix...which also expanded to adjoining states, and some Yellow Front stores in smaller towns had Checker Auto sections.

Apparently the Pay N Save name came through the Checker/Schuck's/Kragen combination.(and the yellow logo from Yellow Front!)