Safeway Grand Opening-Photo-Unknown Date & Location

Uh...California.

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Jason B.
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Safeway Grand Opening-Photo-Unknown Date & Location

Post by Jason B. »

The Duke University archive of Outdoor Advertising Association of America photos includes a color shot of a Safeway store exterior and parking lot during a "grand opening." See: https://library.duke.edu/digitalcollect ... s_AAA2341/ Date likely is 1960s or 1970s based on automobiles in parking lot. Location possibly is California, but could be Arizona (based on "Eller" name on the portable billboard heralding the grand opening). Thrifty Drugs is other major tenant in shopping center. Oscar Meyer apparently participated in the grand opening ceremony, as evidenced by an Oscar Meyer truck near the Safeway entrance. Safeway store design seems akin to a "big box."
Super S
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Re: Safeway Grand Opening-Photo-Unknown Date & Location

Post by Super S »

The Chevy truck with the camper on it is either a 1969 or 1970 model. (there is a very minor difference between 1969 & 1970 which can not be seen in the picture) The LTD next to that truck I believe is a 1971 model.
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Groceteria
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Re: Safeway Grand Opening-Photo-Unknown Date & Location

Post by Groceteria »

It's very Safeway post-Marina (but not yet that far removed) and it's also sort of reminiscent of the Super S combos, which (I think) ended in 1971. It may even have been planned as one; Thrifty took over a lot of those locations. So 1971 seems a pretty good guess for the date.
klkla
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Re: Safeway Grand Opening-Photo-Unknown Date & Location

Post by klkla »

The license plates on the cars are yellow. Arizona had yellow license plates at that time. The houses have swamp coolers on the roofs, which are indicative of a desert-like climate (they only work in low humidity).

The billboard in the parking lot says Eller on it. According to Wikipedia someone named Karl Eller owned a billboard company, "In 1962, Eller purchased the Arizona operations of New York-based billboard advertising company Foster and Kleiser and built it into a major regional business.'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Eller

My guess is somewhere in Arizona.

But, New Mexico also had yellow license plates.
Super S
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Re: Safeway Grand Opening-Photo-Unknown Date & Location

Post by Super S »

klkla wrote: 17 Sep 2018 15:45 The license plates on the cars are yellow. Arizona had yellow license plates at that time. The houses have swamp coolers on the roofs, which are indicative of a desert-like climate (they only work in low humidity).

The billboard in the parking lot says Eller on it. According to Wikipedia someone named Karl Eller owned a billboard company, "In 1962, Eller purchased the Arizona operations of New York-based billboard advertising company Foster and Kleiser and built it into a major regional business.'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Eller

My guess is somewhere in Arizona.

But, New Mexico also had yellow license plates.
There is a plate clearly visible on the billboard trailer, unfortunately, the photo is too low resolution to zoom in for more detail. The swamp cooler on the roof definitely hints at a dry, hot climate. Arizona or New Mexico seems like the most logical places.
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Andrew T.
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Re: Safeway Grand Opening-Photo-Unknown Date & Location

Post by Andrew T. »

Super S wrote: 19 Sep 2018 12:29 There is a plate clearly visible on the billboard trailer, unfortunately, the photo is too low resolution to zoom in for more detail.
I'll vouch for Arizona. New Mexico also had yellow license plates in that era; however, they issued them singly and trucks and trailers had a different colour scheme than cars.

The plate on the trailer is blurry, but it clearly has black characters and two letters followed by a hyphen and four digits. It's undoubtedly one of these, from 1969-72.
"The pale pastels which have been featured in most food stores during the past 20 years are no longer in tune with the mood of the 1970s."
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Re: Safeway Grand Opening-Photo-Unknown Date & Location

Post by justin karimzad »

...Ready For It? This Safeway/Thrifty Drug combo is at 3528 & 3526 W Cactus Rd. in Phoenix-they are now Pep Boys & Nick's Furniture. This plaza was built in 1971, and the original streetlamps are still in the parking lot. As you can see, the former Safeway had its awning altered a little. The former Thrifty, though, is completely intact, with the Nick's sign using the old "Thrifty" oval. Inside, the former Thrifty still has its original ceiling, security mirrors, and terrazzo flooring.

https://www.yellowpages.com/phoenix-az/ ... -478713951
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/nicks-f ... -ZTh-G_Qzw
https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/nicks-f ... PcHqvUPpmg
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Re: Safeway Grand Opening-Photo-Unknown Date & Location

Post by Groceteria »

Excellent!
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Re: Safeway Grand Opening-Photo-Unknown Date & Location

Post by Super S »

Nice find. I have to wonder though why so many furniture stores feel the need to remove so many fluorescent tubes. It's the little things like that which makes stores look more tired than they really are.
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Re: Safeway Grand Opening-Photo-Unknown Date & Location

Post by BillyGr »

Super S wrote: 21 Nov 2019 11:42 Nice find. I have to wonder though why so many furniture stores feel the need to remove so many fluorescent tubes. It's the little things like that which makes stores look more tired than they really are.
Good question, although it didn't look that dark without them - maybe they just don't need as much light without things blocking it (like shelving creating aisles would have in a drug store)?
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Re: Safeway Grand Opening-Photo-Unknown Date & Location

Post by klkla »

Super S wrote: 21 Nov 2019 11:42 Nice find. I have to wonder though why so many furniture stores feel the need to remove so many fluorescent tubes. It's the little things like that which makes stores look more tired than they really are.
Bright lighting will make the scratches and imperfections on the furniture stand out more which would not be good for sales.
Jason B.
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Re: Safeway Grand Opening-Photo-3528 West Cactus Road, Phoenix, Arizona?

Post by Jason B. »

Justin Karimzad has done an amazing job of locating this one-time Safeway store and its neighboring Thrifty Drugs store. Based on Google Street View (March 2019), I agree with him that the location very likely is 3528 West Cactus Road, Phoenix.
https://www.google.com/maps/@33.5976014 ... 384!8i8192
Pep Boys now apparently occupies the former Safeway store and Nick's Furniture occupies the old Thrifty. The distinctive original facade on the old Thrifty still remains, but the facade of the old Safeway has been altered considerably. The smaller doorway on the former Thrifty is what helps me decide that Justin Karimzad has identified the location. Although the address is on West Cactus Road, the stores face North 35th Avenue.

However, the buildings in the background of the photo (presumably on N. 36th Drive) don't seem to make sense. In the circa 1970s photo, they seem like apartment buildings. But in the 2019 Google aerial and "street view" photos, the buildings seem like single-family residences. This makes me wonder if the West Cactus Road Safeway had a "twin" that actually is depicted in the 1970s photo.

I suggest that "Yer Humble Host" place a cross-reference on the "USA Southwest" message board.
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