KMart grocery stores before SuperKMart

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Groceteria
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Post by Groceteria »

Interesting thing I discovered while researching my upcoming section on Charlotte NC. For a few months in 1976, most of the Kmart Foods locations in Charlotte were rebranded as Wrigley stores, with new signs and everything. This was done by Allied Supermarkets, apparently to distingush the ownership of these stores from the adjacent Kmarts. I think Allied also owned the Wrigley stores in the Detroit area and just happened to have this name handy (and maybe even some reusable signs).

The stores closed for good in late 1976, and were eventually taken over by Bi-Lo as part of its entrance into the Charlotte market.

Did this Wrigley shift happen anywhere else?

Image

Photo from Charlotte Observer, 8 May 1976.
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Post by rich »

Wrigley was their main brand. This was a little after they consolidated their banners in Detroit (where they also operated Packer stores), although they kept operating as K-Mart foods until the end of the decade. In Detroit, they merged with Great Scott! a year later and went to format that included S&H green stamps (they'd dropped their own Gold Bell stamps a few years before).
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Post by Groceteria »

Discussion moved from different forum:
Groceteria wrote:
TheStranger wrote:Wasn't KMart's first grocery project a joint venture with Allied?
Early Kmart stores had attached grocery departments called Kmart Foods, some (but not all) of which were operated by Allied. It was apparently more of a "leased department" arrangemet than a joint venture per se.
rich wrote:My recollection is that it was more of a licensing/joint development thing. To use the "K-Mart Foods" name, the operators couldn't give trading stamps or use other promotions common to conventional supermarkets. Essentially, they had to complement the "discount" format of K-Mart.

From the early/mid- 70s onward, K-Mart seemed to simply build new stores that sometimes had a supermarket next door (often there was just a K-Mart). For example, they co-developed sites with A&P in various parts of Ohio (the ones in Cleveland had trading stamps for awhile, which would not have been permitted under "K-Mart Foods" rules).

At some point the "K-Mart Foods" licensees switched to the owner's dominant names: the National Tea stores in Indiana became Del Farm (which National used as a "discount" banner in some places). I think all of Allied's Michigan bannners (Wrigley, Packer, K-Mart) were consolidated under the Great Scott name when they acquired Great Scott, which I think was in the late 70s. They closed or sold the K-Mart stores that were outside of the main Detroit-based market area around 1980: Foodtown took over some in Toledo under its "Kash & Karry" warehouse banner and the ones in Cleveland wound up with a variety of other uses.
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Post by Groceteria »

rich wrote:At some point the "K-Mart Foods" licensees switched to the owner's dominant names: the National Tea stores in Indiana became Del Farm (which National used as a "discount" banner in some places). I think all of Allied's Michigan bannners (Wrigley, Packer, K-Mart) were consolidated under the Great Scott name when they acquired Great Scott, which I think was in the late 70s. They closed or sold the K-Mart stores that were outside of the main Detroit-based market area around 1980: Foodtown took over some in Toledo under its "Kash & Karry" warehouse banner and the ones in Cleveland wound up with a variety of other uses.
As I mentioned upthread, the Charlotte NC stores were rebranded as Wrigley for a few months in 1975 before being sold to a different operator.

Food Lion (then known as Food Town) wound up with a lot of other Kmart Food loctions elsewhere in the state. I read something that suggested they may have been the Kmart Food operator in some stores, but I don't have any corroboration on this and don't trust it completely.

I think one or two Sacramento units went to Farmers.
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Post by TheStranger »

Groceteria wrote: I think one or two Sacramento units went to Farmers.
Where were these? Somehow I don't expect the existing Stockton Boulevard Kmart to have had a KMart Foods...
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Post by Swifty »

Speaking of K-Mart pairings, I have been told that a Kmart here in Charleston, SC had an Office Depot attached to it. I also remember reading/hearing that Office Depot fell under the Kmart corporate umbrella at one time. Can anyone confirm that?

I'm going to double-check on this Kmart/Office Depot pairing here in Charleston. It may very well have been a grocer located there. The store now sits vacant, with it's last incarnation being a Discount Furniture Warehouse. The Kmart is still open and...well....existing.

(FWIW, I'd feel better about Kmart if they'd invest in updating their stores a bit more.)
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Post by storewanderer »

Office Max was owned by Kmart. Office Depot was not.

I suspect the Kmarts with food in Sacramento were Stockton Blvd. and the now-closed unit on Auburn Blvd in Foothill Farms.
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Post by Groceteria »

TheStranger wrote:Where were these? Somehow I don't expect the existing Stockton Boulevard Kmart to have had a KMart Foods...
Actually, that is one of the specific ones that I know was a Kmart Foods and later a Farmers. It would have been on the left side. I can't remember what's in that space now.
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Post by TheStranger »

Groceteria wrote:
TheStranger wrote:Where were these? Somehow I don't expect the existing Stockton Boulevard Kmart to have had a KMart Foods...
Actually, that is one of the specific ones that I know was a Kmart Foods and later a Farmers. It would have been on the left side. I can't remember what's in that space now.
Aaron's, the rent-to-own chain now most known for its sponsorship in NASCAR (with several races under its name, and a car sponsorship for Michael Waltrip).

Hey, that solved the mystery of "what Aaron's was before." Thanks!

I suspect that may be the last KMart in Northern California to use the classic red-and-light-blue lettering.
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Post by Jeff »

The large Kmart in Covina on Citrus St looks like it could have had a food market next to it. The design is slightly different, and it was added into the main store at some point in time. Same goes for the Kmart in West Covina off I-10 that now has a JoAnn's Fabrics on one side of the store.
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Post by Groceteria »

Jeff wrote:The large Kmart in Covina on Citrus St looks like it could have had a food market next to it. The design is slightly different, and it was added into the main store at some point in time. Same goes for the Kmart in West Covina off I-10 that now has a JoAnn's Fabrics on one side of the store.
Generally I'd say that if it looks added on, it probably wasn't a Kmart Foods but just a regular supermarket that happened to move in next door. Kmart seemed to pretty much give up on the Kmart Foods idea by about 1973-1974. Although many stores built after that had supermarkets adjacent, they were generally operated by (and under the name of) other chains.
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Post by Floyd »

It is interesting that Farmers Market took over the Kmart Foods in Sacramento. In 1974, Farmers Market took over Kmart Foods in Stockton,CA at 5757 Pacific Ave. Around 1976 or 1977, New Deal Market replaced Farmers and they stayed around until about 1982 when they were replaced by "Delta Super Market". In 1985, an asian market called "Vina Supermarket" replaced Delta and remained there until 1989, and that space has been vacant since then. Ironically, that Kmart and the surrounding shopping center is scheduled to be demolished next February and replaced by an upscale shopping strip.
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Post by greebs »

The Kmart in Covina had a District office next to it. it was added sometime in the early 90's if i'm correct. The Kmart in West Covina started out as a Save Co. in the early 60's then by 1970 was a Cal Store until Kmart moved in sometime in 1977 or 78. It also had a Vendome Liquor which opened on Nov. 9, 1978. It would later become a Liquor Barn by the early 80's before it closed by the late 80's. Not sure when Joann's Fabrics moved in. Also a Regional office was built behind what is now JoAnn's Fabrics in the early 90's.
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Post by javelin »

greebs wrote:The Kmart in Covina had a District office next to it. it was added sometime in the early 90's if i'm correct. The Kmart in West Covina started out as a Save Co. in the early 60's then by 1970 was a Cal Store until Kmart moved in sometime in 1977 or 78. It also had a Vendome Liquor which opened on Nov. 9, 1978. It would later become a Liquor Barn by the early 80's before it closed by the late 80's. Not sure when Joann's Fabrics moved in. Also a Regional office was built behind what is now JoAnn's Fabrics in the early 90's.
Would you have any additional information about Save Co? The first shopping center in Victorville, CA had one according to a website I had read once, which became a K Mart, then closed in the early 90's so they could build another store down the street next to the freeway, but off the main road...that too closed about 5 years later. The old K Mart-SaveCo is now split between a DD's discount (low end Ross store) and a Grocery Outlet.
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Post by Jeff »

greebs wrote:The Kmart in Covina had a District office next to it. it was added sometime in the early 90's if i'm correct. The Kmart in West Covina started out as a Save Co. in the early 60's then by 1970 was a Cal Store until Kmart moved in sometime in 1977 or 78. It also had a Vendome Liquor which opened on Nov. 9, 1978. It would later become a Liquor Barn by the early 80's before it closed by the late 80's. Not sure when Joann's Fabrics moved in. Also a Regional office was built behind what is now JoAnn's Fabrics in the early 90's.
JoAnn's was House of Fabrics before. It had to have opened in the 1980's.
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