Long Beach Chain Grocery/Supermarket Locations, 1923-1969

This is a list of all known chain grocery addresses in Long Beach between 1925 and 1969, compiled from city directories, telephone books, and other sources. It is generated through a live Google Spreadsheet so it reflects the latest information I have.

Long Beach is fascinating and was apparently quite the competitive environment over the years. For years one of California’s five largest cities (and still number seven), it has been served by such regional and national chains as Safeway, A&P. Thriftimart, Boys, Mayfair, Alpha Beta, Food Fair, Ralphs, and Lucky, not to mention local chains like McCoy’s and Iowa Pork. The city has also seen a number of chain re-uses of old buildings. It’s very representative of SoCal’s retail environment.

View and download a copy of this location spreadsheet via Google Sheets.

Store tags:

  • A&P
  • Albertsons
  • Alpha Beta
  • Carpenter’s
  • Cole’s
  • Dollar
  • Food Fair
  • Iowa Pork
  • Jim Dandy
  • Lucky
  • McCoy’s
  • McDaniels
  • Pay’n Takit
  • Piggly Wiggly
  • Ralphs
  • Safeway
  • Smart & Final
  • Smith’s
  • Thriftimart
  • Vons
Updated on 26 November 2022

One thought on “Long Beach Chain Grocery/Supermarket Locations, 1923-1969

  1. James Rarmsey

    June 24, 2019 at 5:26am

    A walk down History Lane. I lived in the Los Altos area just east of Clark Ave and remember McDaniel’s. It was a good store, though small. It was replaced by Cole’s sometime in the 60s. This area now has a Von’s. This chain is very good in my book. Oh, how I miss the Long Beach of yesteryear.

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Luana Livingston

      February 1, 2024 at 8:13pm

      I’m looking for a small market that my mom and step dad had inside the market. It was owned by an Asian couple and there son w worked there as well. Any information would be appreciated. Thank you in advance. This was in the early 70’s

      Permalink  ⋅ Reply
  2. Dwheeler

    March 29, 2021 at 4:52pm

    My family owned Four Jolley Markets from 1923 -1955 in Long Beach. My father, Glenn Dallin, owned three in the 1940s to he sold in 1955. The big one, 1/2 block long, was at 601 Broadway and had ice cream parlor, grocery, meat, vegetables and special events every Saturday. Would love to her from anyone who shopped there or knew him dwheeler@allwest.net

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply

Your email will not be published. Name and Email fields are required. Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.