Groceteria.com Message Board

Sorry to bump an old thread but I live in Middletown, NY and I saw you guys were talking about it.

My mom says that Broadloom City was indeed a Safeway.

The Shop-Rite on Dolson Avenue is still there, the Waldbaum's is a Redner's Warehouse Market, and Playtogs is a flea market & National Wholesale Liquidators.

There was also a Shop-Rite with the rounded roof on 211. Then it became a Rickel's (hardware & lumber yard). Now the rounded part is a furniture store and the rest is an Aldi supermarket. We have a Stop & Shop where Lloyd's used to be, a Shop-Rite by the fairgrounds, and a Hannaford on the corner of 211 and Tower Drive. Caldor and Bradlees are both gone as well.

The A&P downtown is closed and has been for a pretty long time.


If you guys have any questions about stores that used to be in Middletown, just drop me a line. My dad has lived here since 1958, my mom since 1972, and me since 1986.

I'm going to try to go out today and get some pictures. On my list: ShopRite on 211, A&P downtown, Acme Supermarket downtown, Caldor, Playtogs, & Waldbaums.

For those of you who have been to Middletown, the Pizza Hut on Dolson is all gone. It closed the day after Christmas. It's been torn down and they're building a Popeye's in its place. My boyfriend was working there when it closed and he got transferred to Goshen. The one on 211 is still there as well.

A&P (downtown)


A&P (211)


Former ShopRite on 211


Caldor (they *just* took the lettering down recently; I'm kicking myself for not getting there sooner)


This used to be the movie theatre. It's at the far left end of the Caldor building.

Acme on East Main Street (now Advance Auto Parts & Family Dollar)


Playtogs (very much unchanged inside; all the kiddie rides and games in the foyer are still there)


Waldbaum's (now a Redner's Warehouse Market)


ShopRite on Dolson which has drastically changed since its early days.


Grand Union in Goshen (now a CVS)

I hope you have enjoyed my pictures. I have a few more in mind (Woolworth's downtown [the doors still say Woolworth's] and the ShopRite/Big-V in Florida). If there is anything else anyone wants to see or get more info about, just let me know.

RE: Safeway - my mom doesn't remember the Safeway being open as a Safeway when she moved here in 1972, so it must have closed before then. But the S's were not covered up back then. I'm going to ask my grandparents if they remember when the Safeway closed.

I'd definitely love to see the Woolworth's! (It wouldn't be in the scope of this thread though - I have some photos of a former Woolworth's in Sacramento to get uploaded soon.



Just going by the stuff that's been posted on the board before (and on the main site), Safeway sold its NYC division to Finast in 1961, but may have had some stores proposed in Manhattan as late as 1964. Maybe Middletown was the last store in the division to close?

_________________
Chris Sampang
http://dtcwrt.earlracing.com/stores/ - NorCal Stores

Yes, I liked the pictures!

Is the abandoned Caldor the store on Route 211, between the old Orange Plaza Mall and the old Lloyd's/current Stop & Shop? If so, this was once a White's-Modell's.

Thanks.
(From a M-W HS Graduate)

Yep, that's the one. I do recall my mom telling me it used to be something else. The only things left in the plaza are an auto parts store (soon moving to a new location near Stop & Shop) and Colandrea's.

Do you remember Lloyd's? That place was awesome. I used to get free leaf cookies at the bakery, I don't know why. My mom also used to buy me petit fours there shortly before they closed. I remember they had a sign up saying that those who were school age could not come into the store during school hours without an adult because of all the vandalism they had. There is a hole in MHS's fence right behind that area (where another one of the no school age kids during school hours signs was). I used to go through it to go to Stop & Shop and Pizza Hut when I was in high school. Which led to an in-school suspension for skipping my 8th period study hall to go to Pizza Hut. Which led to me homeschooling because my mom thought that was completely ridiculous.

Yes, I remember Lloyd's, in Middletown and Newburgh, NY. Ed Lloyd tried to be everything to everyone, but other larger chains had better resources and could pull it off better.

Probably the reason that you received a cookie each time is because most grocery stores in the 1960's and 1970's would give out free samples to kids to persuade their parents to visit the high profit delis and bakeries located in larger supermarkets.

Local "Park Edge Supermarkets" in Buffalo, NY used to give out cookies, lunch meat slices, cheese slices, deli items, and even ham salad to kids to entice the parents to buy the items. To this day, my brother still fondly recalls the samples that he received in this store.

This store had a "Pick Your Own Pickle" barrel where you could actually pcik out your own pickle.

Waldbaum's in Vails Gate, NY at NY Rotes 32, 94 & 300, seemed to have some of the same feel as Park Edge, but was more corporate. This may be due to the fact that within a few years of opening, the entire chain was purchased by A&P and store outside Long Island were closed.

Hi, The Safeway on Doleson Avenue was around long enough to become
a Finast in 1962 When we moved to Bergen county in 62 My dad
became its Assistant store manager for a time. Before it was closed my dad was sent To Pearl River. It closed I guess in 63.

Resurrecting this old thread...
Link (Thrall Library) to photos of the Acme market on East Main St. in Middletown:
http://thrall.org/photos/97.htm

Going from memory (I was little in the early 70's) I remember Grant's (where Aldi is now), and White's. White's had a pizza oven, and on the end of that building where the movie theater was, was a supermarket, I think it was a Pathmark. I was in the Freight Warehouse (now closed) building in the back last year and saw a breaker panel that was labelled as such.

There was a Shopwell in the Party City on 211.
I remember going into the 211 A&P, again this was in the early 70's.

Lloyd's had a restaurant and there were other stores in strip mall type arrangement on the side of the building: Dart Stamp & Coin (now on Dolson Ave.), Endicott Shoes (I think), Lloyd's barber shop and a liquor store.
I do remember the Safeway/Finast store location as a grocery but I can't remember what it was.

I'd love to see pics of White's, the Shopwell, or Safeway/Finast.
I have to hit my dad up for info, he's in his 70's.

The Shoprite on Dolson Avenue is undergoing a major expansion. The former Rite-Aid location next to it in the plaza has been torn down and Shoprite will be expanding into that area. I know that a sushi bar is part of the planned expansion, along with a redesigned parking lot (which is so desperately needed). The store is going to be dramatically re-arranged. It's apparently not getting a pharmacy, though. As I hear it, the renovations should be completed by the fall... so I hope they start going into high-gear soon on this project.

I have also heard a rumour (*rumour*, this has *not* been confirmed to me by my Shoprite sources), that McDonald's will be leaving its present location in the Shoprite parking lot and moving to the former Ponderosa site down the road (I'm assuming a new building would be built), across from the now-closed and short-lived Popeye's.

Hi,I remember the Acme,of course Lyods( The Prime Rib Dinner was hard to beat ) the A&P on route 211, andTheShop Well
as wel las a down town location forA@P. My Dad Was the assistant manager in the Finast for a short time in the 60!s.Didn!t
the Redners recently close? anddidn!t some one open a new Associated store in the down town section? Thanks for the great memories. My wife and Iloved living in Orange county in the late 70!s

Redner's has been closed for awhile now. Associated is open on Fulton Street.

Straying off topic, but there was also a Lloyd's in Warwick,NY.