Page 1 of 1
NEW: Syracuse, 1925-2020
Posted: 25 Oct 2022 20:18
by Groceteria
Here it is:
https://www.groceteria.com/place/new-york/syracuse/
I have a feeling some locations (particularly Grand Union from 1970 on and several chains from the 1990s on) may be missing from the listings. The suburban stores were also especially frustrating as they often did not have street numbers listed. And this is one case where the newspapers were almost no help either.
Corrections/suggestions welcome.
Re: NEW: Syracuse, 1925-2020
Posted: 26 Oct 2022 00:18
by Andrew T.
I've only had a chance to briefly glance over the work, but it's great to see another city in the Great Lakes watershed done!
Loblaws faded away with nary a trace, here...they didn't keep the stores going as Bells franchises like they did in Buffalo. Some of the stores morphed into Price Chopper, but none seem to have lasted long.
Re: NEW: Syracuse, 1925-2020
Posted: 27 Oct 2022 20:02
by rich
No chain seems really dominant over much of the history. A&P seems to have had an unusually small footprint compared with other markets, such as Buffalo.
Up until the 70s when chains began to systematically exit markets where they were small players, it was not unusual to see chains keep a relative handful of stores in or around a sizable metro area/region often for many years, which seemed puzzling: Acme in Pittsburgh, Acme and Food Fair in DC (and Acme had been there since the 20s but never at much scale), Loblaw/National Tea in towns around Cleveland on all sides, and Red Owl in Chicago. Toledo attracted many small groupings of stores (as few as one, but no more than 4) from Wrigley, National, First National (as Edwards), Farmer Jack (the Borman version), and Big Bear. In that context, it's odd but not unusual that Grand Union kept a small operation in the Syracuse area. Grand Union also kept a small number of stores in Central CT in the late 70s/early 80s, even though they'd sold most of their other stores in the region to Waldbaum's/Food Mart.
Re: NEW: Syracuse, 1925-2020
Posted: 28 Oct 2022 11:51
by BillyGr
rich wrote: ↑27 Oct 2022 20:02
No chain seems really dominant over much of the history. A&P seems to have had an unusually small footprint compared with other markets, such as Buffalo.
Up until the 70s when chains began to systematically exit markets where they were small players, it was not unusual to see chains keep a relative handful of stores in or around a sizable metro area/region often for many years, which seemed puzzling: Acme in Pittsburgh, Acme and Food Fair in DC (and Acme had been there since the 20s but never at much scale), Loblaw/National Tea in towns around Cleveland on all sides, and Red Owl in Chicago. Toledo attracted many small groupings of stores (as few as one, but no more than 4) from Wrigley, National, First National (as Edwards), Farmer Jack (the Borman version), and Big Bear. In that context, it's odd but not unusual that Grand Union kept a small operation in the Syracuse area. Grand Union also kept a small number of stores in Central CT in the late 70s/early 80s, even though they'd sold most of their other stores in the region to Waldbaum's/Food Mart.
And Grand Union kept doing that, even after the company was gone when C&S was running them and kept the stores in the small towns where there was no competition until Tops decided to take them (and then, of course, took a few back with Tops and Price Chopper working together where there was duplication).
Of course, A&P did the same thing (not necessarily in Syracuse, but in quite a few smaller towns in parts of NY where they had closed most stores in the early 1980's, a store here & there that lasted until 1997 or even around 2000 or after in a couple cases).