Wrigley's supermarkets in Michigan

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Rimes
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Wrigley's supermarkets in Michigan

Post by Rimes »

Anyone have any info on Wrigley's Supermarkets, a grocery store chain that was in Michigan in the 1950s-70s?

Here is what I know...

There was a Wrigley's at 3400 West Road in Trenton, MI from around 1960 till sometime in the 1970s. The 1967 city directory lists the store's manager as Pat McPhee. By 1980, 3400 West belonged to Richie's Super Market. West Grange Drugs (which had been at 3420 from the 1960s to 1980) moved to 3390, taking over Wrigley's former space and it still resides at that address today. Here is a fuzzy video capture of this Wrigley's circa 1963, taken from a home movie:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j254/ ... omemov.jpg
And here is that same place (and almost the same angle) in July 2006:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j254/ ... estRoa.jpg

In March 1971, K-Mart store #4183 opened, which is at 19800 West Road in Woodhaven, MI. The eastern portion of the store was a Wrigley's supermarket. I don't know the address number, but it would have been something like 19600. This Wrigley's closed sometime in the 1970s and K-Mart took over the space. I know that throughout the 1980s this K-Mart had two doors, one in the middle and one on the eastern side, which had been the Wrigley's entrance. In the 1990s, the store was remodeled, became a Big K-Mart, and the eastern door was removed.

1555 Fort and 2146 Fort, both in Lincoln Park, MI were Wrigley's stores in 1958. According to an internet search, 1555 is now an AutoZone car repair store and 2146 is now a Powerhouse Gym.

3760 Fort is currently a CVS Pharmacy located in a separate building in the Lincoln Park Plaza. In 1957, that address was a Wrigley's.

In 1950, 2245 Eureka in Wyandotte belonged to Packer's Super Market. The 1956 directory lists the address as belonging to "ACF - Wrigley's." (I don't know what ACF stands for.) In September 1957, Wrigley's moved from this address (which the Wyandotte News-Herald newspaper took over) to 13555 Eureka in Southgate, MI. This Wrigley's opened on Tuesday, September 24, 1957 and included (according to the 1958 city directory) an "Awrey Bakeries."

The Southgate Sentinel for Thursday, Sept. 19, 1957 reported: "The Wrigley supermarket, with 18,750 square feet of floor space and featuring the latest in food-marketing ideas and equipment, will have 120 feet of meat-display counters and 776 feet of grocery shelving in a building 125 by 150 feet in size. It also will have 96 feet of display counters for frozen foods and 21 feet for ice cream, plus 56 feet of triple-deck dairy shelving. Seven extended-belt check-out stands, designed by Wrigleys, will provide ample facilities for rapid checking out of purchases. Store aisles will be six feet three inches wide, and a new type of grocery shelving will enable employees to replenish stock continuously without causing congestion in the aisles. An Awrey Bakery shop in Wrigley's will display a complete line of bread, rolls and pastries. The exterior of the building is of face-brick construction. Managing the new store, located at 1355 [sic] Eureka, will be Harry Hawkes, with Larry Kempkes as manager of the meat department, and Elmer Hicks in charge of produce. The market will be open each weekday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m."

A September 1957 ad in local newspapers for Wrigley's grand opening of the 13555 Eureka store said: "Watch for Wrigleys grand opening ... you're invited to share in the excitement ... and enter the contests! Win a YEAR'S SUPPLY of FOOD FREE ... compete for thrilling HELICOPTER RIDES ... take advantage of the give-aways ... and SAVE SAVE SAVE ... at the opening of our NEW Southgate Super Market. ...yes, super-special, extra big GRAND OPENING VALUES ... replacing our smaller Wyandotte market ... with a modern, spacious super center. You'll love its newest innovations for smoother, better shopping ... with spacious aisles ... roomier parking ... everything for GREATER, EASIER SAVINGS for you!" Listed next to the Wrigley's logo was the phrase "Gold Bell Gift Stamps." (I don't know what those were.)

A local newspaper on October 3, 1957 reported: "Fifty persons received free rides in Wrigleys helicopter Saturday during a celebration opening of the new Wrigleys super market in the Southgate Shopping Center."

The Southgate Sentinel for Thursday October 17, 1957 carried an article on the store, accompanied by a photo of the store's exterior and another photo showing a checkout aisle. Unfortunately, I didn't photocopy the entire article, so here's what I have: "NEW WRIGLEY'S 155TH IN NATION. Wrigleys new supermarket in the Southgate Shopping Center is the company's ninety-ninth store in Michigan and brings to 155 the total in the nationwide chain, indicating the rapid strides the company has made since the first Wrigleys was opened in 1937. The first Wrigleys self-service market was opened in...." [this part of article missing from my photocopy] "....and a month later united with Big Bear Markets of Michigan. The new organization, taking the name ACF-Wrigley Stores, Incorporated, immediately acquired Standard Food Markets and Humpty-Dumpty Supermarkets, of Tulsa and Oklahoma City. In 1956, Wrigleys acquired 13 supermarkets operated by the Food Town Stores, in the Cleveland area, and 10 stores of the Fred Rapp chain in St. Louis. Samuel Frankel, ACF-Wrigley vice-president, and general manager of the Wrigley Division, announced recently that the Food Town Division, now headquartered in Cleveland, will be combined with the Wrigley Division, with head-" [remainder of article missing]. I will have to get a complete photocopy of that article in the future; sounds like it contains a lot of good info!

By 1965, the 13555 Eureka location became a Packer Foods grocery store. This makes me wonder if there was some relation between Packer and Wrigley's.

In 1958, there was a Wrigley's at 15411 Southfield Road in Allen Park, MI. By 1965, it was a Packer Foods; by 1994, a Perry Drugs; and currently a Rite-Aid store.

On Telegraph Road in Taylor, MI, in 1975, there was a Wrigley's Supermarket at 11500 Telegraph. K-Mart store #4393 was located at 11100 in 1975, so this Wrigley's may have been attached to the K-Mart store, as with the aforementioned Woodhaven K-Mart. In 1965, there was a Packer Foods at 11500, which probably was there long before the K-Mart store was built (judging by the K-Mart store's number).

In Wyandotte, MI, there was a Wrigley's at 130 Sycamore in 1957-58. The 1958 city directory says that the manager of this store was Richard L. Lampe. I don't know if there is anything currently at this address.

A photo of a barely-visible Wrigley's sign -- painted on a wall in Detroit near East 7 Mile and Gratiot -- can be seen at
http://qqm468.tripod.com/other.html
(scroll down to near the bottom of the page)

An internet search revealed that there is apparently Wrigley's supermarkets still around in the California area, although I don't know if they are part of the same chain as the old Wrigley's, or just have the same name. Trying to seach online for info on Wrigley's can be a bit frustrating because so many sites refer to Wrigley's gum, which I don't think is related to the grocery store chain. But I could be wrong.

Well, that's pretty much everything I know about Wrigley's supermarkets. Any other info out there?
rich
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Post by rich »

The ACF part of the business was industrial; don't know what happened to it.

The Foodtown chain in Cleveland was sold to Cook Coffee (later Cook United) which operated Pick-n-Pay super markets in Cleveland (most Foodtowns became Pick-n-Pays; a few were sold to A&P or to independents). The sale took place in '59. Cook Coffee had other retail businesses and home shopping routes similar to those of Jewel Tea. Foodtown was started shortly after WWII by a group of men who wnet on to play roles in the revival of the Fisher Foods chain in the 60s and Pick-n-Pay in the 70s.

Wrigley had a couple stores under its name in Toldeo around the early 60s. They were one of several chains, including Big Bear (Columbus) and National that unsuccessfully tried to enter the Toldeo market around that time.

Wrigley had an agreement with K-Mart to operate stores under the name "K-Mart Foods" in much of the Midwest, as well as parts of the SE (mostly Florida) and California. To use the K-Mart name, they had to operate "discount" food stores which meant no trading stamps, games, or other popular incentives. A number of ther chains also operated supers with the K-Mart name under the same kind of license. Packer Supermarkets were the same format as "K-Mart Foods", but not located with K-Marts and I think they were largely in Detroit. When Wrigley opened K-Mart Foods stores in the Cleveland area, it violated the non-competition clause from their sale of Foodtown. These clauses were technically illegal, but were commonplace and Cook Coffe unsucessfully tried to have it enfornced. K-Mart Foods ultimately became a burden for Wrigley as it forced them to greatly extend existing territories or enter new ones where the K-Mart stores didn't have the scale of a normal grocer.

Wrigley owned the Gold Bell trading stamps, which they used for many years in Detroit and Cleveland. They gave S&H Green Stamps in their other divisions. They dropped Gold Bell in the 70s in Detroit. After they merged with Great Scott in the late 70s (and adopted the Grett Scott name), they gave S&H Green Stamps for a number of years.

Wrigley left St. Louis around 1970. K-Mart stopped licensing the "K-Mart Foods" name to new stores in the mid-70s and, instead, co-developed new stores with various chains, allowing them to use their usual names and formats. In different places, chain ssuch as A&P, Grand Union, and Colonial/Big Star opened stores with K-Mart. Wrigley began selling or closing their "K-Mart Foods" stores in the mid70s and they were mostly gone by about 1980.

At some point, they also acquired the Ideal super market chain which I beleive was in Kansas and operated in markets relatively close to those of Humpty-Dumpty.
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Post by runchadrun »

Wrigley's Supermarkets is listed in my eScrip Socal merchant listing and only locations show up:

34 N. Euclid Ave., National City
1731 "A" Euclid Ave., San Diego

The logo can be seen at http://www.escrip.com/merchants/search/ ... jsp?row=68 I have no idea if they are related to the company in Michigan.

I assume there is no historical relationship to the Wm. Wrigley Jr Company (that's the gum company). I'm a shareholder and I've not seen any mention of grocery stores in the company's history. That Wrigley family had a presence in Socal in the LA area with, among other things, their ownership of Catalina Island. As has been pointed out in another thread the Vons on Catalina is probably the oldest operating Safeway/Vons in the chain in the same structure. So if the gum Wrigleys were involved in the grocery trade they probably would have set up one of their own stores on their island instead of letting Safeway do it.
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Post by Groceteria »

Wrigley's was owned by Allied Supermarkets. FYI, there is also a good bit of discussion of the chain in the topic on Kmart Foods:

http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=7
rich
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Post by rich »

Actually, ACF-Wrigley eventually became Allied Supermarkets probably in the early 60s; presumably they spun off the non-food business.
Rimes
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Post by Rimes »

Thanks for all the info! Eventually I hope to find a list (or compile one myself) of the various Wrigley's stores and what is there now (and/or was there before Wrigely's).
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Two more Wrigley locations

Post by TenPoundHammer »

There was a Wrigley's in Oakland Mall in Troy. It was in the middle of the mall. It was later converted to JCPenney, then the space was demolished in the late 1970s for the current JCPenney wing.

Tel-Twelve Mall in Southfield also had one; however, I don't think the store opened out into the mall. Judging from pictures, it looks like Kmart expanded into the Wrigley space at some point. The Kmart lived on for a year after the mall was torn down for big-box, and now the Kmart itself has been torn down for a Meijer.
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Post by terryinokc »

Yes, it is correct that Allied owned Humpty Dumpty supermarkets in Oklahoma, and quite possibly, Ideal Food Stores out of Liberal, KS.

Humpty had been locally owned by Sylvan Goldman, the guy that invented the modern shopping cart. He sold the stores to Allied in the mid 60's, I believe. Humpty's store brands had been Food Club and Top Crest for years, after the Allied change, store brands were Allied's brand, I believe, Camelot for first quality, Meadowdale for second tier, Squire for household products, and fresh bread and refrigerated biscuits and rolls were called Mel-O-Fresh.

I still have phone numbers in a little spiral notebook....it has a yellow price sticker on it that says something like..."Regular Price...and then Allied Discount Price...."

I never worked for Humpty Dumpty/Allied, but I went to a checker training school they had for a few days. I've still got the training manuals......the examples of coupons and receipts in the manual say "Good only at Wrigleys, or Great Scott, or KMart Foods, or Humpty Dumpty".

Humpty gave Top Value stamps for years and years.....stopped giving stamps in 1973 or 1974, I think.

I think the Ideal stores were Allied and a sister store to Humpty.....but I'm not 100% sure....I know that the Ideal stores in Oklahoma were not located in any town that had a Humpty, which makes me think they were related. What makes me think they WEREN't related, is that I think at one time they were supplied by Nash Finch...and didn't carry the Allied/Camelot brands. I suppose they could have used Nash Finch as their wholeasler, instead of using their own warehouse out of Oklahoma City.

Humpty closed all their stores around 1983.

The KMart Foods in Augusta, GA also had Camelot as their house brand...I guess it was one of the Allied stores, too.

The KMart Foods in Augusta
produce

Re: Wrigley's supermarkets in Michigan

Post by produce »

There were four Wrigleys in Pontiac. One on Perry St.; one on Auburn St.; one at Tel-Huron; and one on South Saginaw which was directed toward the "Colored" trade. There also was one in Rochester, and two in Flint. The Flint stores were at Court @ Dort, and Clio @ Pearson. The Flint stores could not compete with the several Hamady Bros. Markets that dominated the area. I worked at most of these Wrigleys stores in high school and college. I know that at least one, Perry Street, was a Packers before it was a Wrigleys. When I was in grade-school, I remember my folks taking me to the Perry St. Packers and telling me it was our first "supermarket", a new concept to us. I also remember that Wrigleys used Abner Wolf as their wholesale distributor. Many of these stores later became Big Valu stores, which was a name change with slightly lower prices, and the same employees. Competition got to be too much for them to survive. Several of my friends worked for Wrigleys; it was a good place for a teen-ager to work.
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Re: Wrigley's supermarkets in Michigan

Post by ohc »

There was a Wrigleys at 19150 Wyoming in Detroit, it was there until september 1976 It was an independent store called Newport foods until 1997 and currently it houses a Rite-Aid drug store
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Re: Wrigley's supermarkets in Michigan

Post by werememberretail »

Back in 1999-2000 My library had a stack of Moodys Investment manuals dating back to 1979 that featured financial records of numerous public companies I was able to pick up some info on Wrigley/Allied Supermarkets including.

after merging with Great Scott! the chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1978 but emerged sometime in the early/mid 1980s
ultimately with the sale of the Wrigley stores in former Kmart Foods locations (e.g the Southeastern stores) and the purchase of Great Scott! the Wrigley name dissapeared.

The Humpty Dumpty and Ideal stores in Oklahoma and Kansas were related and operated as a single division which even as late as 1983/84 still numbered about 40-50 units.
the operation was sold off in 1985

In an interesting series of events in 1987 the company merged with an unlikely partner, Vons Companies ( yes, the same Vons chain in Southern California now owned by Safeway) which had separated from Household Finance) Vons sole purpose for purchasing Allied was to use Allied's listing on the stock exchange to go public, Vons then quickly sold to Allied management the renmants of Allied including Great Scott! under the generic sounding name of Meadowdale Foods

and lastly, in 1989, Kroger bought Meadowdale/Great Scott-the former ACF/Wrigley/Allied and added the stores to the Kroger chain. thus ending the interesting history of what had once been one of the biggest grocery chains in the US (ACF/Wrigley/Allied/Great Scott)
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Re: Wrigley's supermarkets in Michigan

Post by krogerclerk »

Bettendorf-Rapp in the St. Louis area was also and Allied banner. I believe Schnuck's acquired the Bettendorf-Rapp stores in 1970, at some point they operated as Schnucks-Bettendorf.
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Re: Wrigley's supermarkets in Michigan

Post by terryinokc »

I didn't realize that the company had changed their name to Meadowdale Foods.....Meadowdale was their second tier private label brand....with Camelot being the first quality private label....they also had other private labels.....Squire was the brand for their household/cleaning products and Mel-O-Crust was the brand for bakery/bread items.
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Re: Wrigley's supermarkets in Michigan

Post by pseudo3d »

From what I've read, Kroger purchased Great Scott! and liabilities from Meadowdale Foods, and not the company itself. I assume it went out of business soon after (having basically divested itself of all assets). Did Kroger do the ol' "close and reset" on Great Scott! (or even a full renovation), or did they slowly convert it to their systems before rebranding it?
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Re: Wrigley's supermarkets in Michigan

Post by rich »

Abner A Wolf was the wholesale arm of Wrigley and the original business. Wolf was a wholesaler who serviced independent markets and then bought several companies to make a chain.

Packer was a Wrigley chain that was basically KMart foods without a KMart next door. It was a run as a discount operation, mostly in stores that were underperforming. They probably dropped the name when they dropped trading stamps in the regular Wrigley stores.
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