NEW: Shreveport, 1925-2020

[Groceteria]

This one turned out more interesting than I expected:

https://www.groceteria.com/place/us-lou ... hreveport/

[wnetmacman]

This is great work. Shreveport has indeed over the years had some interesting grocery history, which includes several of the big companies like A&P, Albertsons (and Skaggs), Kroger (through acquisitions), Safeway and Weingarten, to name a few. I grew up just over the line in Texas, so I have a lot of insights there. I'd like to add to what you have:

First, Big Chain was not only a very innovative grocer, they did indeed have cafeterias that survived the Kroger acquisition. These cafeterias were eventually acquired by Brookshire, who renamed them Brookshire's Cafeterias. The last one closed in 1990 on Shreveport Barksdale Hwy. in front of the Shreve City Shopping Center, home of the last new Big Chain store, which became Kroger in 1963 and was sold to Brookshire in 1973 (photo here). Kroger also got a distribution center in the Big Chain/Childs deal at 2205 Hollywood Blvd. which contained a supermarket as well.

The Brookshire's store at 2640 Waggoner (the third in town) was actually demolished *beyond the slab* in 1988-1989 to be replaced by a new-to-Shreveport Super 1 Foods, the city's first. (The Brookshire's store was only 25,000 sq. ft., the Super 1 Foods store is 70,000)

The A&P at 326 E 70th St. actually survived as an independent (70th Street Food Store) with the only real change being the circle sign where the A&P logo was replaced by 70th Street. It closed in the early 2000's and was torn down.

850 and 2204 Benton Road are in Bossier City.

The Brookshire's at 388 Bert Kouns replaced the store at 300 W 84th.

The 1880 Airline Dr Brookshire's/Super 1 Foods in Bossier was originally at the opposite end of the shopping center. It was rebuilt at the opposite end in 1991, then remodeled to Super 1 Foods shortly after. The Super 1 building was originally Gibson's.

4019 Fern was the city's second Brookshire's store. It closed in 1987 when they bought the Safeway/Weingarten/Kroger/Big Chain Store at 5828 Line. Brookshire retained ownership in the building and remodeled it to be their Tasty Bakery plant, which they operated until about 4-5 years ago. A Self Storage facility filled the whole lot.

There are two Kroger Marketplace stores; 1050 George Dement Blvd., Bossier and 9484 Ellerbe Rd., Shreveport. Bossier replaced the store on Benton Road.

6363 Hearne Ave. was a former A&P that was expanded into a neighboring store to become Piggly Wiggly/Tayco Foods/County Market/Shopper's Value Foods. It did not move within the center.

The Safeway at 3810 Jewella spent far more time as K&B Drugs/Rite Aid than it ever did as a supermarket. That was the first K&B I ever saw (though certainly nowhere near the last).

The store at 3705 Jewella was never signed as Brookshire's; it became Super 1 Foods when it was remodeled and expanded from PriceLo.

5819 Kings Highway was also a very early Brookshire's store in Shreveport, but it also did not stay that long, owing to the (Skaggs) Albertsons across the street at 105 Southfield.

3730 Lakeshore was the first Brookshire's store outside Texas.

9090 Mansfield Road spent a lot of time as a drug store (Drug World), then Big Lots. It's now DD's Discounts (addressed as 9074 Mansfield). It is a Centennial store.

The Brookshire at 3000 N Market replaced an older store at 2001 Nelson.

The Brookshire's at 106 Oak Thicket in Haughton still survives next door at 1125 US 80, a former Walmart.

The Brookshire's at 3620 Pines Road is a former Food Lion, as is the one at 4918 Barksdale Blvd.

The Kroger stores at 6713 Pines Rd. (closed) and 4100 Barksdale (still open) are former Bestyet stores, part of the 1985 purchase.

737 Shreveport-Barksdale Highway was built for the short-lived Globe Shopping City chain owned by Walgreens. After Globe folded, this store became Walmart for about 16 years, after which it became Shreveport's second Super 1 Foods.

261 Southfield is actually at the corner of Southfield and Youree Dr. It is the anchor on the north end of that center. After Kroger moved to 70th street to a Superstore, this became a K&B Drugs/Rite Aid.

The Kroger still operating at 6652 Youree Dr. in the Bayou Walk shopping center replaced the 1708 70th Street store, in 1997.

Weingarten also operated a very spectacular store at Gilbert; I think it was the only store never re-tenanted as a supermarket at any point.

Whew. That's a lot. If I think of anything else, I'll add a comment here.

[wnetmacman]

Here's a location list for Big Chain Cafeterias for 1961. This would be before Shreve City, so I would guess that there were at least 6 cafeterias.

Big Chain Cafeteria List 1961

[BatteryMill]

Here's a location list for Big Chain Cafeterias for 1961. This would be before Shreve City, so I would guess that there were at least 6 cafeterias.

Big Chain Cafeteria List 1961

Were these ever spun off from Kroger?

[wnetmacman]

Here's a location list for Big Chain Cafeterias for 1961. This would be before Shreve City, so I would guess that there were at least 6 cafeterias.

Big Chain Cafeteria List 1961

Were these ever spun off from Kroger?

Kroger never bought the cafeterias. They continued as Big Chain for a while, then were bought by Brookshire's, who ran them until 1990-1991.

[BatteryMill]

Kroger never bought the cafeterias. They continued as Big Chain for a while, then were bought by Brookshire's, who ran them until 1990-1991.

Interesting, though what's confounding is how some of the Big Chain cafeterias were opened adjacent to Big Chain supermarkets after the Kroger acquisition.

[wnetmacman]

Kroger never bought the cafeterias. They continued as Big Chain for a while, then were bought by Brookshire's, who ran them until 1990-1991.

Interesting, though what's confounding is how some of the Big Chain cafeterias were opened adjacent to Big Chain supermarkets after the Kroger acquisition.

Big Chain retained ownership in the property after the Kroger purchase.

[Groceteria]

Whew. That's a lot. If I think of anything else, I'll add a comment here.

This is great and incredibly helpful. Thanks! I have added notes in the list.

[Groceteria]

Kroger never bought the cafeterias. They continued as Big Chain for a while, then were bought by Brookshire's, who ran them until 1990-1991.

Actually, I'm almost certain I ran into a newspaper ad for the cafeterias that listed them as a division of Kroger. I'll see if I can find one and post it.

Update: Newspaper articles pretty consistently refer to Kroger as owning the cafeterias at least into the early 1970s (and Kroger ads included mentions of specials at the cafeterias). They still operated under the Big Chain name and closed in 1978 after apparently failing to find a buyer. Brookshire's stepped in a few months later and reopened Shreve City (and others?) with the new name.

[wnetmacman]

Kroger never bought the cafeterias. They continued as Big Chain for a while, then were bought by Brookshire's, who ran them until 1990-1991.

Actually, I'm almost certain I ran into a newspaper ad for the cafeterias that listed them as a division of Kroger. I'll see if I can find one and post it.

Update: Newspaper articles pretty consistently refer to Kroger as owning the cafeterias at least into the early 1970s (and Kroger ads included mentions of specials at the cafeterias). They still operated under the Big Chain name and closed in 1978 after apparently failing to find a buyer. Brookshire's stepped in a few months later and reopened Shreve City (and others?) with the new name.

I missed the Kroger part in that ad. I'm fairly sure that Brookshire's had more than Shreve City. I remember when I worked for them in 1990 that it was the only one left.

[Andrew T.]

Here's a bit of trivia about Shreveport: It's the city where the founders of Id Software started their career at locally-based Softdisk, and where the first Commander Keen game was written on evenings and weekends.

So where were Tom Hall, John Romero, and company buying their groceries in 1990? According to this site, Softdisk's headquarters were located at 606 Common St...and the closest chain supermarkets were Brookshire's in a former 1970s Safeway at 510 Kings Highway (still open today!), and the off-model Kroger at 801 Benton Road. Neither were within walking distance.

The Id crew's other development location was a "lake house," vaguely defined near South Lakeshore Drive. The nearest grocery options were Brookshire's at 3730 Lakeshore Drive, and a 1950s-era Cotten's (still open!) at 3656...and again, neither were exactly close by.

[wnetmacman]

Here's a bit of trivia about Shreveport: It's the city where the founders of Id Software started their career at locally-based Softdisk, and where the first Commander Keen game was written on evenings and weekends.

So where were Tom Hall, John Romero, and company buying their groceries in 1990? According to this site, Softdisk's headquarters were located at 606 Common St...and the closest chain supermarkets were Brookshire's in a former 1970s Safeway at 510 Kings Highway (still open today!), and the off-model Kroger at 801 Benton Road. Neither were within walking distance.

The Id crew's other development location was a "lake house," vaguely defined near South Lakeshore Drive. The nearest grocery options were Brookshire's at 3730 Lakeshore Drive, and a 1950s-era Cotten's (still open!) at 3656...and again, neither were exactly close by.

606 Common is in Downtown Shreveport, and retail in general left that area for dead in the early 80's.

510 Kings Highway is a pretty popular store owing to the fact that the closest others are Brookshire's at 5828 Line, Kroger at 6652 Youree to the south and Super 1 Foods (also owned by Brookshire) to the east on Shreveport-Barksdale Highway. When Safeway left the Dallas division in 1987, there were three Safeways left in Shreveport/Bossier: Line Avenue and this store in Shreveport were bought by Brookshire, and Bossier went to former managers; 510 Kings was a new store for Brookshire at the time, and Line replaced the second Shreveport store at Fern Avenue (which itself became the Tasty Bakery plant). To the west, supermarkets are much further away, and some are more desirable than others. This is the Highlands are of Shreveport. Highlands is highly affluent even now; Centenary College (circa 1825) is a very exclusive Methodist Church-owned private college and is just a few blocks away.

The Bossier Kroger you mention was a Superstore that was expanded. It looks off-model due to the expansion and renovations. It moved to Airline Drive into a new Marketplace store in 2018; it had relocated from the original Big Chain/Kroger at the Heart O'Bossier center down the road.

I mentioned this above, but the Lakeshore Brookshire's store was the first outside Texas. It closed when Brookshire bought the Weingarten/PriceLo on Jewella at Greenwood Rd. and turned it into Super 1 Foods. Interesting side note: I worked for Brookshire at Super 1 #612 (Longview) in 1990; a truck driver told us that where a typical Brookshire's store got one or two half-filled trucks a week, most Super 1 stores got a full load every night. That's how much more business they do in those stores, and why some replace Brookshire's stores.

Cotten's is a Shreveport institution. I find it funny that it has survived the largest national grocery chain (Kroger) and the largest regional chain (Brookshire) on the same corner, and has done so for 80+ years (since 1939!). They are known for their meat market (fresh smoked sausage, among other things) and that they do what the big guys will not. A must if you're in Shreveport, but I would suggest going during the day, as that is not the neighborhood you want to be in at night.

[wnetmacman]

Here's a clipping showing the Safeway turned Brookshire's after its final Safeway remodel and expansion in 1981.

Link

This look was fairly typical of Dallas Safeway stores from 1979-1983; similar stores were built in Longview (x2), Henderson (now Kroger) and elsewhere in the region. Henderson still looks like this:

Henderson