This is a list of all known chain grocery addresses in Little Rock and North Little Rock between 1925 and 2021, 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.

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

Notes:

  • Kroger apparently entered Little Rock through the purchase of Cox Cash Stores. They also did several swaps with Black & White Stores.
  • Safeway owned Little Rock’s Piggly Wiggly stores by at least 1930. Some stores were listed as “Safeway” in 1935 but may actually have operated as Piggly Wiggly stores.
  • Model Markets was a franchise/co-op. Black & White may have been as well.
  • National Tea was in and out in less than a decade.
  • Harvest Foods was the name given to Safeway stores when they were purchased ca. 1987 as part of Safeway’s exit from the market. Based on the directory information, there is some question about whether some stores may have closed for a time between owners. Harvest went bankrupt in 1995 and things got confusing after that with stores being listed under multiple banners (Harvest, City Market, and Food Giant). Edwards Food Giant seems to be the survivor of that lineage today.
  • Kroger ended up purchasing several Harvest locations and now operates at least one stores that was probably built as a Safeway and another than started as Skaggs-Albertsons (later Skaggs-Alpha Beta).

Store tags:

  • Black & White
  • Cox Cash Stores
  • Harvest Foods/City Market/Edwards Food Giant
  • IGA
  • Kroger
  • Model Markets
  • National
  • Piggly Wiggly
  • Safeway
  • Weingarten

This is a list of all known chain grocery addresses in Lincoln between 1925 and 2015, 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.

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

Store tags:

  • Albertsons
  • Freadrich Bros
  • Handy System
  • Hinky Dinky
  • Hy-Vee
  • IGA
  • Piggly Wiggly
  • Russ’s/B&R
  • Safeway
  • O.P. Skaggs
  • Sun Mart

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This one was just an extra cool find. It was quite obviously built as an A&P, probably in the 1940s. You can even make out the labelscar on the parking lot signs if you’re there in person. It’s located on Taylor Boulevard in Louisville, right across from Churchill Downs. From the shape of the sign, I would guess it may have been an A&P at least until they switched to the pill-shaped logo in the 1970s. And what’s really cool is that it’s still a pretty popular spot and it’s still selling groceries with very few modifications in its more recent incarnation as the Pic Pac IGA.

I love finding stores like this.

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Lest anyone worry, my favorite Cala Foods location in San Francisco (previously featured here and here) is apparently still a Cala Foods location, per this recent photo snapped by the photographer I love. This store was one of the only ones not sold by Kroger a few months back. Therefore it has not been converted into a Delano’s IGA. And I’m very glad, although I’m not exactly certain what the future holds for 1095 Hyde Street.

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The photo above was emailed to be by my husband, who’s working in San Francisco this week. So it happens on Monday. After more than sixty years as one of the most recognized names in San Francisco grocery retailing, most Cala Foods and Bell Market stores will become Delano’s IGA. Sounds vaguely like the name of a feed store, doesn’t it?

When I first moved to San Francisco, Cala stores were exactly how I’d always imagined “urban” supermarkets would be: small, old, and almost comically overpriced. Despite the fact that shopping there regularly would have bankrupted me, I always liked visiting their stores. In fact, the Cala store at 1095 Hyde Street (featured earlier here and here) was the first supermarket I ever visited in California, and it remains one of my favorite stores ever.