Groceteria.com

I've managed to positively identify and photograph two out of the four Gemco stores in the Phoenix valley.

There's the converted Gemco - Target in Tempe, AZ at 1818 E. Baseline Rd. (NE Baseline & McClintock)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/socalretai ... 039445811/

Then there's this thing I found yesterday...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/socalretai ... 039445811/
I must say I am quite impressed with this property, very suprised at how preserved this site is in all its Gemco glory given its been 20+ years since the chain disappeared. It is for sale. Darnit. You can find that listing on loopnet at http://www.loopnet.com/xNet/MainSite/Li ... dale,%20AZ

More photos of both here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/socalretai ... 039445811/

Anyway, I have a couple of questions:

One, I've seen on Wikipedia that the Frys Marketplace store at the southeast corner of 19th Ave and Glendale is a former Gemco, although I can't tell such from the site itself. Can anyone confirm (either from being there back in the day or from a trustworthy source) that this was in fact a Gemco store?

The other question is that Wikipedia lists a store as "West Thomas Road." Anyone know cross streets or an address on this one? EDIT: I am rather suspicious of "Bargaintown" at 6719 West Thomas Ave. Any confirmation?

Help is appreciated. Thanks

Yes, that is definitely a Gemco building at 6719 Thomas Rd.

Its identical to the San Gabriel store that has been remodeled in recent years but kept the same tile front. Check out the inside, I'm sure if its been an indoor swap meet since, that there may be some Gemco remnants, such as Restrooms in the back center of the store.

Also, look at the Live local shot of the Frys. Is that Tile behind the fake front?!
It looks like its definitely still a building built for Gemco.

Jeff wrote:Also, look at the Live local shot of the Frys. Is that Tile behind the fake front?!

It's tile, yes, but not behind.

The other two Phoenix area stores were located at:
-1815 W. Glendale Avenue, Phoenix
-6719 W. Thomas Road, Phoenix

4320 W. Thunderbird Rd. was retained by Lucky, subsequently used by ASC for back-end accountting and payroll functions.

W. Thomas Road was the newest of the four, opening in late 1982.

I'm suprised that if that store opened in 1982 that it was designed like most 70's era stores, and not like the latter ones.

There were nine more stores opened in the old design before the rollout of the new design in 1984/85.

The 19th @ Glendale Gemco was torn down and replaced by a Smitty's (they used a lot of Spanish tile on their stores) Smitty's became Fred Meyer Mktplace, then Fry's Mktplace

I went into the store at 6719 W Thomas last week. Even though it says "Bargaintown" on the roof, the from says "Phoenix Marketplace". It's a swap meet inside. The individual stores have walls or dividers that go almost to the ceiling, so you couldn't see all the way from front to back unless you walked around. I walked around the floor tiles were grayish white in most of the store, but the back had an area of different shades of the brown. The restrooms were in the center of the back and looked very old inside. These were double restrooms with a door on each end. I never had a chance to go to Gemco while they were still in business, but hopefully some of these details help. I didn't see any signage inside.

The former San Gabriel Store had dark brown tile in the back supermarket area of the store. The restrooms were in the back center as well, they usually led to the back storage / loading dock area. Inside the restrooms they used to be brown as well. When this store became a Target, they had kept the restrooms in the same area, and only painted the old dividers. When Target closed and became the San Gabriel Super Store (asian market), they put the supermarket in roughly the same area as the old gemco market. The restrooms also stayed in the same spot in the center.