Rite Aid Castro Valley/Lee Bros. Value World

[TheQuestioner]

I am not a Bay Area native, so I am hoping one of the many folks from around here on this board can fill me in on a store that has piqued my curiosity. There is an absolutely HUGE Rite-Aid in Castro Valley, at 3848 Castro Valley Blvd. I have been there a couple of times and am always blown away at the scale of the place.

I know drug stores used to be bigger in the 60's and early 70's, but I know this place must have been built for some other purpose. I never saw a Thrifty Drug when it was Thrifty, but from the former Thrifty's I've seen this place is at least 75% bigger than those. For one thing, the ceilings are really, really high. My guess is that this was some kind of "Home Depot" type home-improvement store, though the old-looking entryway doors don't look quite huge enough for that, though Thrifty-PayLess_Rite Aid may have changed them. There are three separate entryways in the front, and one in the rear. One of the front ones is locked, the other opens into a fenced-in garden center, and the rear one looks to have been locked for years. The back lot is fenced off (with chain-link fence, unlike the front which has more permanent railing fencing.) Pointing at the locked rear doors is a really cool vintage security camera. This thing looks like something out of a 1970's crime TV show. It's bigger than a 1980's camcorder, mounted on a pillar near the dental stuff. This store even carries "vintage" products. They had "Lavoris" in stock, in modern-looking bottles, too! I didn't know they still made Lavoris!)

There seems to be a department for everything under the sun, with wide aisles. Nice to have room to shop! Another odd thing is that they have "modern" plastic shopping carts with Rite Aid printed on them, but they are all the small-size carts that were common in grocery stores in the 60's and 70's. I rarely see these "little" carts in any store anymore, let alone such a huge one. One other odd thing about this place is that the parking lot does not entriely encircle it. The lot begins to go behind the store (though it is fenced off now) but just past the closed entry in the rear, a neighborhood suddenly butts up against it. The houses and yards are filling what would have been (once was?) the rear parking area. There is a very aged looking loading dock on the left side of the building, though the dock area is small because the houses line up with the rear edge of the building.

What was this place originally? It looks like it could have been subdivided into two or three stores once, but I am assuming it was originally something huge, and that it predated the neighborhood. (After all, what neighborhood would tolerate a business building a huge store right up against their backyards?) A home improvement store, Toys R Us, or garden store are my best guesses. I would enjoy hearing some history on this store from anyone with actual memories!

[romleys]

The building was built as a Lee Bros. Value World. This was part of the same chain of Lee Bros. Markets. In 1970 Payless Drug took over the building and did very little modifications to the layout. In the early 1990's a stucco facade was put over the A-Frame entryway. The back of the store still has the A-Frame design but it isnt very accesable anymore because of a chain link fence. The store is now a Rite Aid and how it generates enough money is beyond me.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/romleys/1500354009/

[storewanderer]

I just pulled the satellite on this store over at Google Maps. I counted at least 30 cars in the parking lot within range of the entrance whenever they did the image. How much of this store is blocked off/walled off/not used anymore? This looks absolutely huge, must be well over 80,000 sq ft.

[Jeff]

It looks more like 40-50,000 sq feet. Its way smaller than most Zodys stores, which were about 80.

[justin karimzad]

How much of this store is blocked off/walled off/not used anymore? This looks absolutely huge, must be well over 80,000 sq ft.

I'd say about 10-15,000 square feet on the left side that was originally sales floor was blocked off, but that's a permanent wall that was put in when Payless opened in the early 1970s. That area is a stockroom area, and the only reason why I suspect that it was originally sales area is because it has evidence of some wall graphics, with colors and maybe a text that read "smoke shop" or something. Even so, the sales floor still feels like it's easily 50,000 square feet, and it's still entirely stocked.

[TheQuestioner]

Hey Charles, thanks for the info anf the great illustration! I think I have hear of Lee Bros. in passing on this site, but I know almost nothing about them. Purity and Brentwood are the "long lost" local chains I hear about most on these boards. When did the supermarket chain begin? When did they die/get bought out? I am assuming that the Value World was built in the early 60's. That seemed to be they heyday of huge discount store chains. Everybody an their brother seemed to have one for at least a few years during the Kennedy/LBJ/Nixon era. I'm surprised to hear that the sales floor is partially sealed off. It didn't even occur to me that any of it was walled off, it all seems so massive. Justin, where are the remnant colors/wall text you referred to? If they are in the back room, I'm guessing you peeked in there (or once worked there?)

I love the illustration of the store. Especially the grandiose "V" on a globe and the A frame entrance. Such a bygone style of branding and signage. You really don't see too many A frame anythings anymore. It's a shame! I did go around the back and noticed the A frame entry on the rear but forgot to mention it. I assumed it was once on the front too. Seems like a grand entrace to have facing away from the thoroughfare. What was back there in the 60's? No one mentioned it, but I assume those houses abutting the property were built after the store. Still seems crazy to see them that close. Maybe the builders thought that the store was due to close, and they could buy the plot.

Anyway, thanks for solving the mystery. I don't have enough knowledge of local chains to piece some of these together with scant clues, though I try. The A frame told me it was not likely to have been a White Front, but for all I knew Yardbirds or some other long gone home improvement chain used that entry. Were there any other locations of this chain, or was this Lee Bros'. one and only prototype? I am really puzzled by the odd parking lot layout, was the lot always shaped like that? For all I know Castro Valley Blvd. may have been widened or rerouted a bit since then.

[romleys]

There was at least two additional Lee Bros. Value World A-Frame locations in Modesto and Larkspur. Neither of them retains the A-Frame though...

BTW... I was explaining how such a large store could generate enough business. Unless they own the property they (Rite Aid) must be struggling. The place is kind of an eyesore too.
More on Lee Bros. soon...

[Groceteria]

It's good to have an ID on this store. I'd wondered about it in the past as well.

I'm moving this topic to the CA supermarkets forum, since it's turned out to be based around a supermarket chain (albeit one that also opened discount department stores).

[TheQuestioner]

While I will agree that the store isn't going to win any beauty contests, I have to say I enjoyed visiting it. It just has this feel that I haven't encountered in a long time. I remember when almost any store that dealt in "discount" items, be it drugs, food, or general merchandise, had this kind of seedy, empty, echoy feeling when you went there. It didn't seem to matter if they had all the lights on, it still seemed kind of dank and old. And even if they were busy, these stores had a bygone vibe. Dart Drug, Zayre, Korvette's, Drug Fair, KMart all used to be like this. Toys R us was even kind of like this once, though it never seemed smelly or stale, just kind of dark and cavernous. KMart has tried in fits and starts to move beyond this, and to some extent has succeeded. They no longer feel like total relics of the 60's, though I do kind of get that old-store feeling in many of them to this day. While they were not pretty, these stores often had a lot of things in one place that modern drug or discount stores do not. This Rite Aid has a Watch Repair and Keys Made stand. I have never been able to find a Target that made keys, and Home Depot is a pain in the butt because no one is ever there when you need them. There is also a very large "cheap toy and board games" section at this Rite Aid. While CA drug stores like Longs are generally better about this than CVS or others in the East, overall it is rare nowadays to see those kinds of fun throwaway toys and seasonal toys (beach toys, balsa wood planes etc.) in any store anymore.

Even though they're supposed to be a downer to shop in, I miss the era of beat-down stores. They made me feel like I was getting a bargain. When I go to Target, even if I get a good price, it feels like I am not classy enough for the joint. I suppose that is the point, and that most people these days want to feel like they are wealthy even if they aren't. I miss humble, tumbledown discount stores like this old Rite Aid. At least I can visit it if I ever feel the need to experience that again.

[romleys]

I agree that this is one of those stores where you simply enjoy seeing it and looking at it for the history it shows (not buying anything much).

[justin karimzad]

Justin, where are the remnant colors/wall text you referred to? If they are in the back room, I'm guessing you peeked in there (or once worked there?)

Yeah, they're in the stock room. I didn't go inside, I just peeked in through the double doors, and I think they're nearest the doors in the center of the left wall. Coming to think of it, I might have been wrong to say that ALL of that space was once sales floor. (After all, Lee Bros. had to have a stockroom somewhere). I seem to remember that it looked like the rearmost area of the stockroom (beyond the wall graphics) had always been a stockroom, and the stockroom was just pushed forward when it became Payless. Overall, I got a strong impression that the area forward of the wall graphics was originally sales area, as I'm pretty sure that the ceiling in that part looks like the ceiling of the remaining sales area, while the area behind has an exposed ceiling or something. And, of course, the wall graphics got me suspicious. I think the wall graphics were on the wall of a mezzanine (maybe that was the original end of the sales area?), and there was no wall to the left or right of that, so the stockroom extended further back in that area. I want to say that the area in the far right looked like it had always been a stockroom too. I know that description might not make sense; it's hard to explain. It's been 2 years since I've been there, so my memory is probably fuzzy.

[storewanderer]

Between reading the comments and looking at the excellent photos that Charles has on his page of this store inside and out, this place is very odd. It looks like something that is very lost. I will hope to visit it soon. I don't think this kind of store does much good for Rite Aid's reputation. It is nice they are operating some sort of odd museum, but I don't know about this place.

[TheQuestioner]

Perhaps this old-fashioned Rite Aid persists because Castro Valley itself is kind of an odd town. I know San Leandro and Hayward pretty well (the neighboring towns, for readers who might have been unaware) and they are pretty similar, middle-of-the-road (demographically speaking) typical East Bay towns. Things only start to get more So. Cal-looking once you get into Fremont and closer to Silicon Valley. Yet Castro Valley has a distinct, odd vibe to it compared to San Leandro or Hayward. One thing I have noticed is that even though they are very close to SL and Hayward, and have only a hill dividing them, there seem to be a lot more white people there, mainly middle-to-lower middle class. The towns closer to the bay seem a lot more racially diverse. Most other cities in the bay area that lean white are almost exclusively upper-middle class/wealthy in their demographics. CV also seems to have many more businesses that one would find in rural areas, such as bait shops and western wear stores. There are a good number of old-looking buildings and signs, even a single-screen theater that seems successful. It's like a weird little time warp compared to anything else nearby. Maybe some of that is due to Castro Valley being a census designated place, not an incorporated city. They are patrolled by Alameda County sheriffs, since they have no city police force. It's an interesting area, unlike any other part of the Bay Area I have seen. The closest think I could think of is some of the lower-income parts of the peninsula, where here are many old mid-century signs and buildings, but the "rural" aspect is missing from those areas. Anyway, I digress. Just some thoughts on how a strange old drugstore might be able to survive there.