Search found 225 matches

by TenPoundHammer
09 Jan 2012 06:08
Forum: History: Specialty Retail Chains
Topic: DEFUNCT Home Improvement Chains
Replies: 34
Views: 51965

Re: DEFUNCT Home Improvement Chains

There was of course Builder's Square. I remember one in Saginaw — 1/3 of it is still empty. Another was in Flint. About 90% of the store became Jo-Ann Fabrics, Old Navy and Bed Bath & Beyond. This left a skinny little store in the middle which became a discount bookstore. It still had concrete f...
by TenPoundHammer
09 Jan 2012 04:17
Forum: History: USA Mid-Atlantic
Topic: Frankenstein Kroger store (St. Albans, WV)
Replies: 3
Views: 5778

Re: Frankenstein Kroger store (St. Albans, WV)

The turrets used to be entryways to a small mall.
by TenPoundHammer
09 Jan 2012 04:16
Forum: History: Drugstore Chains
Topic: Rite-Aid Sign Replacements for Acquired Chains
Replies: 33
Views: 37830

Re: Rite-Aid Sign Replacements for Acquired Chains

For comparison, the few Rite Aids around here that opened as such have signs similar to the PA/DE ones shown above: the Rite Aid pentagon followed by [Pharmacy] on a white tab. As I mentioned, Oscoda has had 3 Rite Aids in time. The second one had the pentagon and "pharmacy" in blue, but a...
by TenPoundHammer
09 Jan 2012 04:04
Forum: History: Drugstore Chains
Topic: Early Walgreens stores in Michigan
Replies: 6
Views: 10572

Re: Early Walgreens stores in Michigan

A little more searching shows that Walgreens also had mall based stores in Flint in at least Eastland (now Courtland) and Dort Mall. By the late 70s, these were both Perry. Genesee Valley also had a Perry for a while, so I wonder if it was a Walgreens too.
by TenPoundHammer
09 Jan 2012 03:51
Forum: History: Department Store Chains
Topic: Zody's
Replies: 88
Views: 72337

Re: Zody's

These are all the Yankee stores I found. Some came from an Ebony magazine ad that only had the city names. A little more digging shows that they were founded in Flint in 1948. The Flint ones were paired with Hamady supermarkets, but after they sold to Borman (then-owners of Farmer Jack) in 1965, man...
by TenPoundHammer
08 Jan 2012 16:08
Forum: History: USA Midwest/Plains
Topic: Northern Michigan A&P's
Replies: 3
Views: 8687

Re: Northern Michigan A&P's

Bumping to add a few: * East Tawas — 115 Newman St. Closed in the mid 70s. Still listed as A&P in 1971, but was called "Brugger's East" in 1976 (Brugger's was a supermarket in nearby Tawas City that closed in the early 80s). Later a department store called Mill End, then an ACE Hardwar...
by TenPoundHammer
06 Jan 2012 22:09
Forum: History: Miscellaneous and Not Region-Specific
Topic: Odd A&P architecture
Replies: 10
Views: 5940

Re: Odd A&P architecture

Essexville's store was probably more distinctive because it was at the other end of the mall and not accessible from within the mall itself (it's on the west end of the mall, behind the west anchor, which was Weichmann's). Kmart itself had the ribbed walls I've seen on some 1970s Kmarts, and actuall...
by TenPoundHammer
05 Jan 2012 03:06
Forum: History: Miscellaneous and Not Region-Specific
Topic: Odd A&P architecture
Replies: 10
Views: 5940

Re: Odd A&P architecture

rich wrote:Post-centennial, A&P built a lot of stores like the brown one.
By which I assume you mean the architecture of the Essexville store? (There was a Kmart at the other end of the mall.)
by TenPoundHammer
03 Jan 2012 21:31
Forum: History: Miscellaneous and Not Region-Specific
Topic: Odd A&P architecture
Replies: 10
Views: 5940

Re: Odd A&P architecture

The brown store next to it probably dates to just before the beginning of the Centennial era then. I know my grandmother remembers A&P being downtown in her youth, and she turned 13 in 1950. The downtown store was probably postwar, because I know they had an even smaller store downtown in the 30...
by TenPoundHammer
03 Jan 2012 17:22
Forum: History: Restaurant Chains
Topic: Older KFC Locations
Replies: 28
Views: 32901

Re: Older KFC Locations

Buckethead wrote:Speaking of old KFCs, in Turlock in1980 there was a KFC between 2 houses in a residential neighborhood! Bizarre & god only knows how they got a permit for it or why they thought it was a good idea. Dad laughed when we went there, and rightfully so.
Where in Turlock was this?
by TenPoundHammer
03 Jan 2012 15:57
Forum: History: Department Store Chains
Topic: Walmart in-store restaurants
Replies: 17
Views: 26041

Re: Walmart in-store restaurants

^ That might explain why Malvern had the snack bar shoved in the back. Kmartwise, Flint—Dort Hwy. is the only store I know of that ripped out the snack bar entirely. I don't remember Grayling (also a 9000 store built around the same time as Oscoda) ever having a snack bar, nor do I remember Grand Bl...
by TenPoundHammer
03 Jan 2012 01:37
Forum: History: Miscellaneous and Not Region-Specific
Topic: Odd A&P architecture
Replies: 10
Views: 5940

Re: Odd A&P architecture

When did they stop building the colonial stores?

Before this store opened, A&P was in the brown store seen on the left side of this picture, where a drugstore later was. I can verify that they were there before 1965, and are still listed there in 1971. They were in the green store by 1976.
by TenPoundHammer
02 Jan 2012 19:10
Forum: History: Department Store Chains
Topic: Walmart in-store restaurants
Replies: 17
Views: 26041

Re: Walmart in-store restaurants

All the ones that I remember Walmart-wise were in the front. However, I do seem to recall going to one somewhere that had the Radio Grill just randomly shoved in the back, near a clothing section. I think it was Malvern, AR, which has since moved. Kmart was the same way with their snack bars. Willia...
by TenPoundHammer
02 Jan 2012 18:51
Forum: History: Miscellaneous and Not Region-Specific
Topic: Odd A&P architecture
Replies: 10
Views: 5940

Odd A&P architecture

I might have asked this before, but I can't recall. Our A&P here in Oscoda, MI moved in the mid-1970s to their fourth and final location, which looks like this . It looked exactly the same its entire life — when A&P started closing stores in 1992, it became Big Valu for a few months, then Ca...
by TenPoundHammer
08 Dec 2011 22:59
Forum: History: Department Store Chains
Topic: Walmart in-store restaurants
Replies: 17
Views: 26041

Re: Walmart in-store restaurants

The Walmart in Battle Creek, MI lost its McDonald's in the early 2000s. Instead of turning it into a Subway or Radio Grill, they gutted it for the customer service desk. More recently, the store went Supercenter and added Subway. They also did an interesting thing with the one in the Alpena Walmart....