Trading Stamp Memories

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tesg
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Post by tesg »

Slightly off the historical topic but an interesting side note...I recently spotted "S&H Green Stamps" themed slot machines in a casino.

I'm sure they didn't spit out green stamps, regardless of how awesome that would have been.
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Post by Steve Landry »

Fun information :)

And...........what of Merchants Green Stamps via Food Fair/Pantry Pride?
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Post by TW-Upstate NY »

In response to this post:

I noticed in the A+P photo it said Plaid Stamps in the store window. Were they still giving them in the time frame of the era? As I recall (mind you I was only 6 or 7 seven at the time), A+P never offered Plaid Stamps in the areas I was familiar with at the time which would be Upstate NY and Northeast Pa. I guess the question would be then when did they stop giving them?
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Post by jimbobga »

Plaid Stamps were given at A&P stores in Florida until the mid-sixties. THere was a stamp redemption store immediately next to the A&P in PineRidge Shopping Center in Cocoa, Florida. It seems like the redemption store closed around 1965. It was at the same time that Publix stopped giving S&H Green Stamps, and Winn-Dixie also ceased giving TopValue stamps. If this happened all over the country at the same time or not, I have no idea.
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buckhead
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Re: Supermarkets in the Movies and TV

Post by buckhead »

jimbobga wrote:

Plaid Stamps were given at A&P stores in Florida until the mid-sixties. THere was a stamp redemption store immediately next to the A&P in PineRidge Shopping Center in Cocoa, Florida. It seems like the redemption store closed around 1965. It was at the same time that Publix stopped giving S&H Green Stamps, and Winn-Dixie also ceased giving TopValue stamps. If this happened all over the country at the same time or not, I have no idea.
Unless the Space Coast did something differently, Publix in Central Florida was still giving S&H Green Stamps into the 90's...I'm pretty sure the Merrit Island store did the same. Maybe they attempted to stop giving them for a while and resumed. North Florida stores (toward Jacksonville) I believe did NOT offer stamps, at least not while Big Star still had their stores in that area. Maybe some of the Space Coast stores were administered as part of that territory. When I lived there (from 1979 to 1990) about the only stores giving stamps were Publix (S&H Green stamps) and Fairway Markets (Quality Stamps) which for a while dropped them and later reintroduced them after the assumption of control by Malone and Hyde and subsequent rebranding to the Piggly Wiggly name. Winn-Dixie, Pantry Pride, Albertson's, A&P (including Family Mart), the Kroger operations (SuperX Food and Drug, Foodtown (?...I forget the exact name), Florida's Choice), Save and Pack (Safeway), Food Lion, Kash 'n Karry, Xtra (Pueblo International), and other operators did not offer stamps while I was there, although Gooding's, and I believe their warehouse unit (Shop and Pak, or something like that) did offer some sort of instore stamps you saved for a brief time. I am pretty sure that Grand Union over toward the Gulf Coast also was not offering stamps at that time.
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Re: Trading Stamp Memories

Post by Groceteria »

The peak years for chains eliminating trading stamps seem to have been roughly 1968-1972, which coincides with the rise of discounting formats. Of course, not everyone elminated stamps at this point, but the last 1960s/early 1970s seems to be the point where most of the majors did.

I remember Greensboro's redemption center closed around 1972-1973. The Brady Bunch, of course, lost theirs a few years earlier.
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Re: Trading Stamp Memories

Post by rich »

The Piggly Wiggly in "Driving Miss Daisy" was the black front store on Euclid (I used to live nearby). Publix gave S&H green stamps until the late 80s or early 90s. They and some small New England chains were S&H's last big customers. Winn-Dixie gave S&H green stamps in parts of Florida and some other areas like the Carolinas. They switched to Top Value Stamps at some point, perhaps when Publix entered their territories. In the end, S&H bought Top Value, which had absorbed what was left of EF MacDonald and Plaid Stamps. Winn-Dixie also was relatively late in dropping stamps, although they discontinued them in some places like Louisville in the late 60s.

The peak year for stamps probably was around the mid-60s. Chains began introducing discount formats in the early 60s (National's Big D, Allied's K-Marts) and some chains began dropping stamps in entire regions around then, particularly the less popular stamp plans. Popular plans like S&H (especially) and Top Value or Gold Bond sometimes got picked up by someone else when a major dropped them, so they stuck around. The last big chains to adopt stamps were First National (around 1961 or 62) and A&P (a little after First national). Most majors had picked them up in the mid-50s.
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