Do Safeway's 1960s "abstract food" graphics still exist...anywhere?

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Andrew T.
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Do Safeway's 1960s "abstract food" graphics still exist...anywhere?

Post by Andrew T. »

While perusing the archives of the Winnipeg Tribune for store opening dates and such, I happened upon a photo of a Safeway store interior taken in 1976. Of course, my eye was immediately drawn to the graphic on the wall behind:
swy_interior.jpg
Do these wonderful 1960s "abstract food" wall graphics still exist...anywhere? Even off the wall, dismantled and in storage?

A Safeway in Maryland had the graphics until it closed in 2006. A pylon-turned-Centromart in Stockton, California kept them until 2011. But now it's 2021. It seriously crushes and depresses me to think that every single one of these 1960s-mod graphics, once proudly displayed in hundreds of stores across the U.S. and Canada alike, have been destroyed.
"The pale pastels which have been featured in most food stores during the past 20 years are no longer in tune with the mood of the 1970s."
Andrew Turnbull
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Andrew T.
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Re: Do Safeway's 1960s "abstract food" graphics still exist...anywhere?

Post by Andrew T. »

I really ought to read my own damn posts. In the Kansas City thread a couple years ago, I discovered...
Andrew T. wrote: 09 Jul 2019 22:09There is a crown jewel in Kansas City from this era: 4019 E. 31st St. This store boasts original brickwork, an intact pylon, and some glorious MSM zig-zagging over the windows on the west side (that was probably added to the building in a 1960s refresh). As nice as the outside is, the inside is even better: The building still houses an independent supermarket called Happy Foods, and still has 1960s Safeway "abstract food" graphics on the walls. Those graphics might just be the holy grail of our hobby.
This store is still open in 2021, and it still bears the 1960s food graphics...or at least it did in 2018, when the last interior photos on Google were taken. I honestly don't know why this store didn't excite anyone the last time I brought it up...I would have expected a third of the forum commentariat to beat a path to its door!

Still, any other examples? These wall graphics belong in a museum somewhere.
"The pale pastels which have been featured in most food stores during the past 20 years are no longer in tune with the mood of the 1970s."
Andrew Turnbull
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