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More regular updates can be found on the Bluesky/a> and the Message Board.
Food Fair, Paterson NJ
Food Fair lives. Sort of.
This photo, courtesy of Michael Williams, shows a new indepedent in Paterson NJ, that has adopted the Food Fair name. Interstingly enough, this location had been an actual unit of the Food Fair chain several decades ago as well.
Acme Style
For your amusement: an interesting new site dedicated to Acme history.
Pittsburgh, Charletson, and Richmond
Just returned from my holiday road trip to Charleston WV, Pittsburgh, and Richmond, and I have photos to share. Info on any of the questionable or unidentiied stores is very much solicited.
Some Jerk
Some jerk has stolen an entire page from this site and posted it on his own site (images linked directly from my server and all) without attribution, and he didn’t even include a link to the page he stole it from. Far be it from me to suggest that you add a comment telling him what you think of that, but…
Update: The page was removed shortly after I commented on his site and rather creatively updated the photos he’d leeched.
Food Fair, Cherry Hill, NJ
Wow. What happened to November?
Anyway, the semester from hell is now pretty much officially over (I submitted my last two papers today), and I’m hoping to be a little more active here in the coming weeks. For now, I’ll leave you with this nice shot of the former Food Fair store at Cherry Hill Mall in New Jersey. You don’t often see supermarkets as a part of enclosed malls. In fact, it’s an obscure enough topic to have its own thread on the message board.
Mayfair Market, Century City, Los Angeles
Behold the groovy, modern Mayfair Market at LA’s Century City, circa 1968. These photos come from a Progressive Grocer study of new stores published that year. This one is partcularly interesting because it was part of a high-rise office and residential complex, which made it somewhat ahead of its time in those days. Note the interesting column treatment below. I have no idea where in the complex this store was located, nor what is there now.
Discuss of this store in the Groceteria Message Board
Dillon’s (Kroger), Wichita KS
So is this cool or what? It’s an obvious Kroger — of this prototype, which is fast becoming one of my favorites — and it was shot in Wichita in 2005 by Terry, a Groceteria reader from Oklahoma City who’s provided me with tons of cool stuff lately.
The store obviously became a Dillon’s at some point, although I don’t know whether it was before or during the 1983 merger of the two chains. It’s really cool, though, to see that it survived for so long. As far as I can tell, it’s the location at 1640 South Broadway Street, and it’s apparently still open.
Vintage Colonial and Big Star
This is the Big Star I remember from my childhood. This photo was taken in Augusta GA in 1978, and was sent to me by Groceteria reader Terry in Oklahoma. He’s in the process of sending me an absolutely amazing archive of photos he’s taken over the years, including this Colonial store in Atlanta from 1978:
More to come…
Safeway: Cupertino Crossroads
From Heather David at SV Modern comes this sketch by architect John Bolles for a proposed Safeway at the Cupertino Crossroads Shopping Center northwest of San Jose. The store was mentioned in the June 1960 issue of Chain Store Age. The photo below is of the store as built, from a shopping center guide published by the San Jose Mercury News. I’d love to have seen this one.
Vintage Greensboro Grocery Ads
Microfilm is a wonderful thing. I’m working on a volunteer project at the Greensboro library that involves digitizing portions of the archives of the local newspapers so they can be placed online. Of course, I’m finding lost of interesting stuff along the way, like the 1960 ad above for the High Point-based Big Bear chain, which is not to be confused with several other chains of the same name around the country.
And then, there’s this: the 1947grand opening ad from the famed A&P that began my obsession with odl supermarkets:
Memco, anyone? Through other research, I’ve determined that Lucky‘s Lady Lee branded items were sold in esat coast memco stores, at least during the 1970s. Memco came to Greensbor in 1980 and lasted less than three years. It was close to my house that I could actually walk there during high school; I bought most of my musc there or at the Peaches Records and Tape across the street.
And, last but not least, here’s a 1984 ad for A&P‘s Family Mart chain. It was in Family Mart that your humble host, at age 15, was illegally purchasing several six-packs of beer when he turned around to see his (not at all amused) mother standing in line behind him:
