Groceteria.com

Does anybody know the history behind these chains that Lucky operated besides Lucky food stores: (especially during the years the chains were OWNED by Lucky)

- Jim Dandy - small grocery chain in Los Angeles area
- May's Drug Stores
- L & G Sporting Goods
- Yellow Front General Stores
- Hancock Fabric
- Kragen/Checkers/Dormans/Grand Auto Supply
- Honey's
- Pickadilly

socalgrocer

Moved to Non-grocery Retail, since, well, all of them but Jim Dandy are...

Yellow Front was started in Phoenix during the 50s as a Army surplus/sporting goods chain (their stores had - of course - "yellow" fronts). In the 60s and 70s the chain added clothing and auto supplies and expanded across the Southwest and West - mostly in small towns.

Checker Auto sprang out of Yellow Front's discount auto supply depts in the 70s. A number of Yellow Fronts were co-branded with Checker Auto and seperate Checker stores were built (the early stores had a checkered-flag facade)

In the late 70s Lucky bought the parent company of both (Valley Distributing) and operated it until the late 80s. Checker was sold off and combined with Kragen and Schuck's to form CSK. The Yellow Front operation was liquidated - this was about the time WalMart and KMart were expanding into the same towns Yellow Front had stores in.

I know back in the 1970's, Hancock Fabrics traded as Piece Goods Shop. For some reason, I seem to remember that Piece Goods Shop was based in Winston-Salem.

Dave wrote:I seem to remember that Piece Goods Shop was based in Winston-Salem.

It was, and was initially owned by these two crazy brothers who also owned a TV station here. I wasn't aware of the Hancock relationship, although we do have Hancock stores (and no more Piece Goods) now. Perhaps Hancock bought out Piece Goods and left it operating under its old name for a time?

Groceteria wrote:.., I wasn't aware of the Hancock relationship...

Well, I was confusing Piece Goods with Fabric Warehouse, but there was a connection. Sort of.

Piece Goods filed Chapter 11 in 1993 and was reorganized as Silas Creek Retail in 1995. Silas Creek Retail bought Northwest Fabrics in 1996 and went into its own Chapter 11 in 1997, auctioning off all of its assets. The Northwest Fabrics piece was sold to Hancock.

So, not exactly what I had in mind, but a connection, nonetheless.

Hancock became as independent company from Lucky in 1987. It was based in Michigan, but it appears to be based now in Mississippi.

What about the Lucky owned Gemco and Memco stores?

dth1971 wrote:What about the Lucky owned Gemco and Memco stores?

They've been discussed extensively in other threads:

http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtop ... ight=gemco

http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtop ... ight=gemco

What about Sav-on?

Ephrata1966 wrote:What about Sav-on?

Came along with American Stores merger...not before.

Hancock Fabrics recently filed for Chapter 11 but hoped to stay alive.

As part of the Hancock acquisition, Lucky obtained not only Hancock's retail business but also some manufacturing facilities as well.

luckysaver

Pic-A-Dilly was a chain of off-price juniors stores founded in 1973 by Stuart Moldaw and acquired Lucky in 1977. (Moldaw had started Country Casuals in the late '50s and bought Ross Stores in the early '80s, which he grew from six women's sportswear shops in the SF Bay Area to a major player in the off-price apparel sector.) Pic-A-Dilly was up to 240 stores by 1984, when Lucky sold them off to The Limited. Over the next couple of years, The Limited phased out the Pic-A-Dilly banner, closing some stores and changing others to Sizes Unlimited locations.

In the Seattle region, Pic-A-Dilly covered a broader geographic area than Lucky supermarkets. I remember Pic-A-Dilly had a store in Bremerton (at Wheaton & Sylvan, next to the ca. 1957 Safeway that had become a Color Tile showroom by that time) but Lucky did not operate any supermarkets in Kitsap County. Lucky's grocery presence was limited to King and Pierce counties, which makes me wonder if Pic-A-Dilly had other "outlying" stores, such as in Everett or Olympia/Lacey. I do know that there was a Pic-A-Dilly in Lakewood's Villa Plaza, but there was also a Lucky (now QFC) a few blocks away in the Lakewood Colonial Center.