Weis in Northern VA

Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.

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BatteryMill
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Re: Weis in Northern VA

Post by BatteryMill »

mjhale wrote: 31 Aug 2021 21:26 @BatteryBill: You are correct on both. The Leesburg Hechinger was where Staples is now. And Burke where Kohls is now.
On the opposite to my last post, I thought that site belonged to Lowe's, as the chain closed their original Leesburg store around the time Hechinger would have come to town.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/ ... 57524228b/ This article notes the Leesburg Hechinger as having opened on February 17, 1992. Also, I do want to note that the Germantown Weis opened in 1984, so it was a bit older than the rest.
eltf177
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Re: Weis in Northern VA

Post by eltf177 »

Thank you for that article, it was very informative. I'd plain forgotten Hechinger was there.

As an FYI the Shoppers Food Warehouse closed and is now a Dick's Sporting Goods.
BatteryMill
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Re: Weis in Northern VA

Post by BatteryMill »

mjhale wrote: 31 Aug 2021 22:30 Here are the stores in the DC/Baltimore area that were sold per the FTC consent agreement:
  • Giant (MD), Eldersburg, MD, 1313 Londontowne Boulevard: Sold to Safeway. Still open as Safeway.
  • Martin's (Giant PA), Frederick, MD, 1305 West 7th Street and Frederick Town Shopping Center. Sold to Frederick County Foods to be operated as County Market. Both were later sold to Giant Eagle. 7th Street is still a Giant Eagle. Frederick Town Shopping Center Giant Eagle moved to the other end of the strip. The original store is now Petco.
  • Martin's (Giant PA), Bel Air, 550 West McPhail Road: Sold to Fleming to be operated as Festival Foods. Weis purchased in 1999 after Fleming's bankruptcy.
  • Martin's (Giant PA), Westminster, 551 Jermor Lane: Sold to Richfood (at the time, since bought by Supervalu and now under Unfi) to be operated as Shoppers Food Warehouse. Still open as Shoppers.
So I see. Interesting Giant Eagle still operates out there. Unless it was another short-lived MD store that closed outright I guess it isn't on that list. Thanks.

Westminster was most likely a Metro (distincive facade) prior to Shoppers. Said store was transferred over to Shoppers in 2000, before the rest a few years later.

Other than that, great Hechinger guide. Hopefully we can see the photos and clippings listed.
mjhale wrote: 31 Aug 2021 23:07 Hechinger had a distinctive exterior design for their 1980s to very early 1990s stores. Unless the developer of the center dictated a specific store design Hechinger would have used the exterior design shown in the Google Street View image.
It seems the Leesburg Hechinger and the site in Chantilly both had a smaller box design surrounded by awnings. This was as their larger "Home Project Center" era was gearing up, so it would have contrasted to their smaller neighborhood stores of the past.
eltf177 wrote: 01 Sep 2021 22:43 Thank you for that article, it was very informative. I'd plain forgotten Hechinger was there.

As an FYI the Shoppers Food Warehouse closed and is now a Dick's Sporting Goods.
You are welcome. That at least confirms the state of Hechinger. I am aware about Shoppers there however - had a pretty nice facade prior to its expansion.
mjhale
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Re: Weis in Northern VA

Post by mjhale »

BatteryMill wrote: 02 Sep 2021 00:30 So I see. Interesting Giant Eagle still operates out there. Unless it was another short-lived MD store that closed outright I guess it isn't on that list. Thanks.

Westminster was most likely a Metro (distincive facade) prior to Shoppers. Said store was transferred over to Shoppers in 2000, before the rest a few years later.
Here is info on the sale of the County Market stores to Giant Eagle:

https://progressivegrocer.com/giant-eag ... ket-stores

I never knew much about County Market. I wondered if they were a pure independent, some sort of co-op or some other setup. The only other County market I knew of other than the ones listed in the above article was one in Martinsburg, WV near the mall. When Walmart expanded to a Supercenter that County Market closed shortly afterwards.

Giant Eagle closed their locations in Hagerstown and LaVale in the 2000s leaving Frederick, MD as their easternmost stores.

As for the Westminster store, it had the standard Giant-PA/Martin's mirror front look of the 1990s. I wonder if Metro did anything to the store as you note after the purchase or when the facade was redone to what is there today.
BatteryMill
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Re: Weis in Northern VA

Post by BatteryMill »

mjhale wrote: 03 Sep 2021 20:36
BatteryMill wrote: 02 Sep 2021 00:30 So I see. Interesting Giant Eagle still operates out there. Unless it was another short-lived MD store that closed outright I guess it isn't on that list. Thanks.

Westminster was most likely a Metro (distincive facade) prior to Shoppers. Said store was transferred over to Shoppers in 2000, before the rest a few years later.
Here is info on the sale of the County Market stores to Giant Eagle:

https://progressivegrocer.com/giant-eag ... ket-stores

I never knew much about County Market. I wondered if they were a pure independent, some sort of co-op or some other setup. The only other County market I knew of other than the ones listed in the above article was one in Martinsburg, WV near the mall. When Walmart expanded to a Supercenter that County Market closed shortly afterwards.

Giant Eagle closed their locations in Hagerstown and LaVale in the 2000s leaving Frederick, MD as their easternmost stores.

As for the Westminster store, it had the standard Giant-PA/Martin's mirror front look of the 1990s. I wonder if Metro did anything to the store as you note after the purchase or when the facade was redone to what is there today.
The facade of the Westminster location was ostensibly remodeled, one of the last designs prior to the sunset of the Metro brand.
BatteryMill
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Re: Weis in Northern VA

Post by BatteryMill »

The Harris Teeter/former Kroger on 3452 Hillsborough Rd in Durham was a Hechinger.
TW-Upstate NY
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Re: Weis in Northern VA

Post by TW-Upstate NY »

mjhale wrote: 30 Aug 2021 21:44 now closed Stroudsburg, PA store had the same exterior (thanks to Google Street View for having older pictures to show us this store!).
Was this store in the same plaza with the K-Mart? If so, it actually began life as a Victory Market back in the 70's.
mjhale
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Re: Weis in Northern VA

Post by mjhale »

TW-Upstate NY wrote: 02 Oct 2021 18:51
mjhale wrote: 30 Aug 2021 21:44 now closed Stroudsburg, PA store had the same exterior (thanks to Google Street View for having older pictures to show us this store!).
Was this store in the same plaza with the K-Mart? If so, it actually began life as a Victory Market back in the 70's.
Yep, other end of the strip was a Kmart that closed in 2017. Was Victory Market separate from Weis or was it another Mr Zs kind of thing where Weis bought them but kept the old name for a while.
BillyGr
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Re: Weis in Northern VA

Post by BillyGr »

mjhale wrote: 07 Oct 2021 20:27
TW-Upstate NY wrote: 02 Oct 2021 18:51
mjhale wrote: 30 Aug 2021 21:44 now closed Stroudsburg, PA store had the same exterior (thanks to Google Street View for having older pictures to show us this store!).
Was this store in the same plaza with the K-Mart? If so, it actually began life as a Victory Market back in the 70's.
Yep, other end of the strip was a Kmart that closed in 2017. Was Victory Market separate from Weis or was it another Mr Zs kind of thing where Weis bought them but kept the old name for a while.
Being this is PA (but not too far from NY) - was this Victory connected or part of the chain that was often known as Great American (about which there is a post elsewhere on this board)? I know that posting mentions stores including Port Jervis (which is just about the PA border) so it seems it could be.

That "chain" disintegrated years ago and only a couple stores still use the Great American name - so if this was part of that group, it may just be a single location that Weis purchased?
TW-Upstate NY
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Re: Weis in Northern VA

Post by TW-Upstate NY »

mjhale wrote: 07 Oct 2021 20:27 Yep, other end of the strip was a Kmart that closed in 2017. Was Victory Market separate from Weis or was it another Mr Zs kind of thing where Weis bought them but kept the old name for a while.
If anything, this was a one off and honestly my history of the area ended in June 1980 when we moved back where I live now so anything after that I have no idea. Also of note in this plaza is that K-Mart began as a Grant's and K-Mart set up shop there shortly after Grant's went out of business.
BillyGr
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Re: Weis in Northern VA

Post by BillyGr »

TW-Upstate NY wrote: 08 Oct 2021 18:15
mjhale wrote: 07 Oct 2021 20:27 Yep, other end of the strip was a Kmart that closed in 2017. Was Victory Market separate from Weis or was it another Mr Zs kind of thing where Weis bought them but kept the old name for a while.
If anything, this was a one off and honestly my history of the area ended in June 1980 when we moved back where I live now so anything after that I have no idea. Also of note in this plaza is that K-Mart began as a Grant's and K-Mart set up shop there shortly after Grant's went out of business.
Seems that they took over quite a few Grants locations when the chain went out. Not the one most local to me (that was a flea market for many years and Kmart had or soon after built their own store nearby, one of the just Kmart and grocery buildings, no other stores attached).
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