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Posted: 12 Sep 2006 14:39
by Daniel
The Gemco here had an auto center, when Target took over it was sold or leased to a third party. They ran it for a few years before closing up. It sat vacant for about 6 years before being demolished when the Target store was remodeled inside and out.

Posted: 12 Sep 2006 14:45
by runchadrun
Let me do a better job of describing the 3-sided sign. Looking down on it, it's shaped like an open triangle. It has 3 legs, one at each vertex of the triangle that are essentially just long poles, probably 40 feet tall (?). The sign itself is white at the top of the poles. I know some still exist because I saw the one from the South Gate store off of the Long Beach Freeway the other day.

I'm not familar with the San Lorenzo Gemco but if you google "gemco hesperian" you'll find a vintage picture from the 60s of that Gemco. So it was probably always a Gemco.

Posted: 12 Sep 2006 15:16
by jamcool
There was a chain in SoCal called "the Akron" that used similar 3-sided signs

Posted: 12 Sep 2006 16:33
by runchadrun
jamcool wrote:There was a chain in SoCal called "the Akron" that used similar 3-sided signs
The Akron signs were different. The legs are closer together and the signs are a little stylized. There was no style at all to the Fedmart signs.

Many of The Akrons are now Circuit Citys. A good example of one of those signs is on the 210 freeway at Rosemead.

Posted: 12 Sep 2006 16:41
by OCRedCub
What kinds of products were sold at Akron stores?
I remember one on the north side of Main Street near Chapman in the city of Orange, but don't remember ever going inside.

Posted: 12 Sep 2006 16:57
by runchadrun
OK, here are a couple of examples of the signs I was talking about above.

Fedmart sign (South Gate, CA):
http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2& ... ene=945091

Akron sign (Pasadena, CA):
http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2& ... ne=6821284

Posted: 12 Sep 2006 19:18
by Jeff
Akrons had a several locations. Think of it as a Pier 1 type store. I cant remember them too much, but had a few locations around. I think most became Circuit City stores when they entered the market

Pasadena (Circuit City today)
Hollywood (Circuit City)
Monterey Park (Torn down in the 80s)

San Lorenzo Gemco/Target

Posted: 13 Sep 2006 08:44
by romleys
The San Lorenzo Gemco opened on October 12, 1966. The store was never anything else prior to being Gemco. The auto center was owned and operated by Gemco. However, when Target opened the auto center was being operated by Kragen Auto. When the Grand-Auto merger occured Kragen closed the site and moved across the street to a larger store (formerly Grand Auto). I recently heard from a longtime worker of the San Lorenzo Target that the store will be CLOSING IN OCTOBER 2006. I find this to be terrible news because this is the only Target with a full functioning grill that serves the best Grilled Cheese sandwiches:).

The Akron

Posted: 14 Sep 2006 23:54
by J-Man
Maybe I'm mis-remembering, but weren't there Akrons in the Bay Area as well? I seem to recall one in the Fishermen's Wharf area -- maybe at the North Point shopping center? And also in San Jose. Anyone?

Re: The Akron

Posted: 28 Sep 2006 21:46
by robsster
J-Man wrote:Maybe I'm mis-remembering, but weren't there Akrons in the Bay Area as well? I seem to recall one in the Fishermen's Wharf area -- maybe at the North Point shopping center? And also in San Jose. Anyone?
You are correct! There was an Akron in the NorthPointe Shopping Center along with a Mayfair and later Co-op Market. The other Akron I remember was on the far Northeast Corner of Serra Center in Colma. As I recall they used to be somewhat of a close-out operation with a twist as they sold old street signs, parking meters, traffic lights, and the like.

Re: The Akron

Posted: 29 Sep 2006 00:23
by TheStranger
robsster wrote:
J-Man wrote:Maybe I'm mis-remembering, but weren't there Akrons in the Bay Area as well? I seem to recall one in the Fishermen's Wharf area -- maybe at the North Point shopping center? And also in San Jose. Anyone?
You are correct! There was an Akron in the NorthPointe Shopping Center along with a Mayfair and later Co-op Market. The other Akron I remember was on the far Northeast Corner of Serra Center in Colma. As I recall they used to be somewhat of a close-out operation with a twist as they sold old street signs, parking meters, traffic lights, and the like.
So is the Drug Barn at Serra Center the former Akron? Target is a former Gemco there.

The BevMo at Serra Center is a former AMC theater, and the Target garden center building is on land that was once a Union 76 station up to the early 90s.

There also used to be a Ross Dress For Less in that center. I think it's a mattress store now.

Posted: 29 Sep 2006 13:38
by TheQuestioner
Thanks for the background on the San Lorenzo Target. The Target's sign is very much like the "FedMart style" in the above posting, but I guess it was always Gemco. There's another sign kind of like that rotting away near the Oakland Airport, just to the west of I-880. I'm not sure what used to be there.

Yes, I can confirm that the San Lorenzo Target is cloing, I believe the date is Oct. 3rd. I was there the other day and half the store is empty already. Very quiet even though there seemed to be a decent amount of people milling around, it was like the whole place lost it's energy. I can't say I'm surprised, given that there's a newer Target about 3/4 of a mile away in Bayfair Mall, and they are building a new Target about 2 miles south on Hesperian in Hayward. I will miss the old Target though, since it was very easy to pull in and out of the lot, unlike Bayfair.

I had never heard of Grand Auto, so I figured that Kragen had always been where it now is. Is the merger with Grand Auto part of the reason many Kragen's have half their building devoted to "Wheel Works" tire stores that seem to be independently operated from Kragen? I have never seen a "Wheel Works" that is not part of a Kragen building, though I have seen Kragens without WW.

Posted: 29 Sep 2006 19:39
by javelin
runchadrun wrote:Let me do a better job of describing the 3-sided sign. Looking down on it, it's shaped like an open triangle. It has 3 legs, one at each vertex of the triangle that are essentially just long poles, probably 40 feet tall (?). The sign itself is white at the top of the poles. I know some still exist because I saw the one from the South Gate store off of the Long Beach Freeway the other day.
Not all Fedmarts used the 3-sided sign...the first stores were plain and flat. This one was from the El Centro store, and the sign outlived the building (demolished) by some 20 years. It was finally removed about 3 years ago and the site is now a Food4Less. Image

The San Bernardino Target still retains the 3 sided sign, but the White Front arch was removed during a remodeling a couple of years ago.[/img]

Posted: 30 Sep 2006 21:59
by klkla
That sign brings back memories of a couple of old fedmarts in San Diego as well.

Does anyone remember FedMart having an sterisk in their logo towards the end? I think it was written FedMart* but I could be wrong.

Posted: 01 Oct 2006 09:15
by runchadrun
klkla wrote:Does anyone remember FedMart having an sterisk in their logo towards the end? I think it was written FedMart* but I could be wrong.
I posted about that upthread :) It was written FedMart* and I always thought it was strange. It was as if there was some kind of disclaimer that you had to find in the find print, like "*Store contains no actual Feds"