Groceteria.com

My photo of the former Pak 'n' Save in South San Francisco, now Safeway:



EDIT: Out-of-focus photo of the parking lot sign that is still in the Pak 'n' Save shape:

TheStranger wrote:My photo of the former Pak 'n' Save in South San Francisco, now Safeway:



EDIT: Out-of-focus photo of the parking lot sign that is still in the Pak 'n' Save shape:

Wow that transitional signage didn't last long! I think that the signage shape will stay longer. There's plenty of ACME stores now that have a suspiciously A&P-oval shaped sign that will probably last for years to come (or facades with Pathmark patterning).

I'm surprised of the claims that this was a former Kmart (at least built as such), because it really reminds me of many of the 1970s-era former Safeway stores in Houston (now mostly serving as Fiesta if they're still in grocery use at all).

The sign shape will stay. California is full of other retail uses now with the old sign shapes: various things with old Thrifty ovals, Ralphs ovals, Alpha Beta ovals... various things with old Lucky trapezoids.

pseudo3d wrote: I'm surprised of the claims that this was a former Kmart (at least built as such), because it really reminds me of many of the 1970s-era former Safeway stores in Houston (now mostly serving as Fiesta if they're still in grocery use at all).

At least one Yelp review of the PNS/Safeway mentions its KMart past...the now-demolished store at El Camino Real and Serramonte Boulevard in nearby Colma had pretty identical architecture and front signage facade shape (IIRC this was the replacement for the SSF KMart location).

TheStranger wrote:

pseudo3d wrote: I'm surprised of the claims that this was a former Kmart (at least built as such), because it really reminds me of many of the 1970s-era former Safeway stores in Houston (now mostly serving as Fiesta if they're still in grocery use at all).

At least one Yelp review of the PNS/Safeway mentions its KMart past...the now-demolished store at El Camino Real and Serramonte Boulevard in nearby Colma had pretty identical architecture and front signage facade shape (IIRC this was the replacement for the SSF KMart location).

I know it's probably not related to the Safeway Houston stores as PnS was from another company Safeway bought out (when and what, I forgot) but I just can't imagine Kmart at least building a store like this...all of the native-build Kmarts had a distinct (if somewhat plain) look to them.

pseudo3d wrote: but I just can't imagine Kmart at least building a store like this...all of the native-build Kmarts had a distinct (if somewhat plain) look to them.

Well, up to about 1980, yes, Kmarts were very distinct. But throughout places like CA and FL, they experimented with more 'friendly' facades that veered away from the billboard face and the Mansard Slice. Take this Gainesville, FL, store:

https://goo.gl/maps/e5rdDpS81R52

Very (at least until then) un-Kmart-like. Also, this store was among the first sets built without an auto center. Kmart was trying to get out of that business in the 80's, only to get back in during the 90's, to sell it out to Penske before giving up in 2002 during bankruptcy.

These designs would lead them through a large chunk of the 80's until the 1990 rebranding, where store design was completely revamped.

Looks like it does have those distinct Kmart style parking lot lights. I can't seem to find when it closed, though.

It may have been a Kmart at some time as far as I know but many Safeway's built between 1975-1980 had that exact same awning or similar variation. Here's an example:

pseudo3d wrote:
PnS was from another company Safeway bought out (when and what, I forgot)

Brentwood Markets, a South San Francisco-based chain which Safeway bought in 1983:

http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=176 (2006 thread on PnS - second page mentions a PnS location in a former KMart in Dublin)
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/J ... 576976.php
http://www.brentwoodholdingco.com/about

The original Brentwood Market location was at Kenwood & Hazelwood Drives (very close to El Camino Real) across from the former White Front building at El Camino Real/South Spruce that they would move to at some point in the 1970s; it is now Smart & Final. The ex-White Front location became a Safeway in the 1980s and closed in 2014, slated to reopen in the same spot as part of a new shopping center in a year:
http://www.smdailyjournal.com/articles/ ... 26867.html
http://www.everythingsouthcity.com/cent ... ge-update/
wtmitchellgroup.com/
As the neighborhood of the original location in SSF is called "Brentwood" I'm inclined to think that is where the chain's name came from.

Other former locations of Brentwood I am aware of: the Salvation Army thrift store at Sunshine Gardens center located on Mission Road in South San Francisco:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/1170+ ... 8a!6m1!1e1

And this store on Junipero Serra Boulevard in Daly City, which according to some research on this forum had been a Mayfair previously (and the local King's Market before that, per info from Justin Karimzad) then after Brentwood was a Safeway for a few years before the Westlake Shopping Center location opened. (It was REI/Any Mountain for a few years but has been the Korean store Kukje Market for a decade now)
https://www.google.com/maps/place/2350+ ... kQxB0IPzAE
http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=608

Brentwood-era Pak N Save had a 1980s location (which had been an Alec store from about 1961-1970) somewhere near D Street and Hill Street (not far from the currently-closed Serra Bowl) in Daly City that was demolished to make way for the BART Colma station -
http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtop ... f=32&t=930
Based on that thread, Pak N Save moved into the ex-KMart on Gellert in South San Francisco after the closure of the Daly City store.

Additional Brentwood locations in SF:

4175 Mission, built as Brentwood Super X, later Cala Foods.
355 Ocean, built as Mayfair Market, later Thrifty or Payless Drug.

I've also been told that 1335 Webster (currently Safeway) was a Brentwood but I have never been able to verify this.

There is a Pak n' Save commercial from circa 1987 for the San Francisco Bay Area on YouTube. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPgRnWXGPbA

The locations then were San Leandro, S. San Jose, E. San Jose, Dublin and Sunnyvale. I shopped at the Dublin store. It was in a former K-mart. I remember in the 1980s that it was big on bulk food. I seem to recall self-packing of bags at check-out. By the early 2000s, that Pak n' Save was akin to a Safeway store.