Former Grand Unions in, Queens, Weschester & Nassau NY

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Edric Floyd
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Former Grand Unions in, Queens, Weschester & Nassau NY

Post by Edric Floyd »

10/21: Added one more store to original post

Former Grand Union supermarkets.

Main Street and Union Turnpike, Flushing Queens, NY This original Grand Union store survived until the 1990's. Other than paint, there has been little done to modify the exterior. It has a small front exterior but was the standard size for supermarkets of the 1950's through the 1970's. It became a Key Food store in the 1990's


http://edricfloyd.com/006.JPG

http://edricfloyd.com/007.JPG

http://edricfloyd.com/008.JPG

This store had a mix of vintage 1950's lettering on the pylon and 1970's lettering on the front awning.

This store had an entrance from the rear parking lot.
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Northern Blvd, Douglaston Queens NY


http://edricfloyd.com/044.JPG

This was a Grand Union store right to the end. Became a Stop and Shop store and the FRONT exterior has been heavily modified and there are no hints of the original Grand Union exterior.

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Hillside Avenue near Francis Lewis Blvd, Jamaica/Fresh Meadows? Queens NY

Site of former Grand Union store at least into the 1990's. This site was taken over by FOODTOWN, who either heavily remodeled it or they may have rebuilt it completely.


http://edricfloyd.com/023.JPG

http://edricfloyd.com/024.JPG

http://edricfloyd.com/025.JPG


Another totally unrecognizable former Grand Union is this Barnes and Noble store at Bay Terrace Shopping Center in Bayside Queens.

Front: http://edricfloyd.com/038.JPG

The Bay Terrace Grand Union was open into the 1990's and briefly shared the shopping center with a new Waldbaums that was built on the site of an adjacent bowling alley in the late 1980's.

There was a covered walkway that ran between the Grand Union and other shops where locals could walk from the shopping center to the neighborhood behind it. The entrance to the Grand Union was inside that walkway.

Rear of former Grand Union where covered walkway was (where White car and Truck are parked)
http://edricfloyd.com/040.JPG

When Bay Terrace was remodeled, the walkway was built in to add more retail space. You now enter the Barnes and Noble from the front.

And the Waldbaums in this shopping center is now "Waldbaums Fresh" and it appears to have been remodeled since its opening.

The Waldbaums at Bay Terrace
http://edricfloyd.com/039.JPG


Grand Union in Pleasantville (Westchester County) New York.
Now a Key Food Marketplace.

This is a free standing store in "Downtown" Pleasantville
http://edricfloyd.com/045a.JPG


http://edricfloyd.com/046.JPG
This building has most of the "original" Grand Union facade. I remember in the 1980's when the building was white and the Grand Union lettering was on the right. It was updated by Grand Union in the 1980's with the brick arches and the red dot Grand Union logo sinage in the center. I last saw this store as a Grand Union about 10 years ago. It is the only supermarket in the town limits, so it may have survived until the demise of Grand Union after 2000.


Former Grand Union in Great Neck (Nassau County) New York. Not recognizable after renovations that transformed this drab shopping center into a upscale marketplace fitting with the surrounding community.

http://edricfloyd.com/GreatNeckGU.JPG

This was a small Grand Union that closed in the mid 1980's. It became a PATHMARK DRUG STORE- The PathMark supermarket chain once operated separate drug stores. Most of them are now Rite Aid stores, just as this one is in Great Neck.
Last edited by Edric Floyd on 23 Oct 2007 13:15, edited 7 times in total.
TW-Upstate NY
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Post by TW-Upstate NY »

Is it possible that the Pleasantville store was an A+P at one time? I see the coupala and that roof where the signage is and it makes me wonder.
Edric Floyd
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Post by Edric Floyd »

TW-Upstate NY wrote:Is it possible that the Pleasantville store was an A+P at one time? I see the coupala and that roof where the signage is and it makes me wonder.
I went to school in Pleasantville in 1980, 81 and early 82. As far as I know, this was always a Grand Union.

Actually, there was an A&P just outside Pleasantville city limits. It was in the community of Thornwood. I remember it was a much older building and somewhat smaller than the Grand Union, beige in color with the high plylon and the A&P logo at the top. That store was open until the late 1980's, so Pleasantville was served by both Grand Union and A&P. The A&P building was later a medical office building but has since been demolished. There is a strip mall on that site.
RobJC
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Excellent pics!

Post by RobJC »

I did an old Waldbaums tour recently. Northern Blvd and 86th..you can see the old logo outline in the parking lot... The store in Forest Hills by 108th St. (91) is exactly as Waldbaums was when it closed inside...the office and the registers are from 10 years ago+...

Our own brand of a great vaca!
Edric Floyd
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Re: Excellent pics!

Post by Edric Floyd »

RobJC wrote:I did an old Waldbaums tour recently. Northern Blvd and 86th..you can see the old logo outline in the parking lot... The store in Forest Hills by 108th St. (91) is exactly as Waldbaums was when it closed inside...the office and the registers are from 10 years ago+...

Our own brand of a great vaca!
Those are two places I wanted to get photos of. I did not get to the Forest Hills area and there was too much traffic at Northern Blvd and 86th. I could not stop. But I do remember when the Waldbaums closed on Northern closed in the very early 1980's.
RobJC
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waldbaums

Post by RobJC »

The store on Nothern & 86th closed in 1982. I remember when all the employees were switched to my store in Rego Park (99th St. & 63rd Rd. Store #41)...then I was moved to the store on Queens Blvd & Yellowstone (#90) from there I went to Lefrak City (#64).

I recently bought a 1978 (yes....) Queens, NY Telephone Phone Book on Ebay that listed stores I didn't even know about. However, by then, Bohacks was gone...I'd hoped to do a Bohack's hunt also.
krogerclerk
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Post by krogerclerk »

My first guess was that the Pleasantville store may have originated as a Finast, which had a design similar to the A&P centennial store, but a closer look reveals the store looks more recent than any Finast or A&P colonial design and slightly more elaborate.

Grand Union was a leader in supermarket design, and always had several prototypes to draw from that included building stores to conform to traditional neighborhood architecture and community codes and covenants. It's likely this is such a store. Grand Union tended to build prototype stores even in markets they were a marginal operator, like the Washington, DC area and areas they were declining, a few Big Stars in the southeast exhibit this trend. Grand Union rolled out well received store designs right up until the end, not the typical direction of a supermarket that was at the end of its road.
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Post by Groceteria »

I agree it was probably built that way by GU. The arches were very common among new and remodeled Big Star stores owned by GU starting in the mid 1980s.
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