Established in San Francisco in 1925 by John W. Niven, this chain operated at least as far south as San Luis Obispo and as far north as Eureka/Arcata. The chain grew to 135 stores by the mid-1950s. Niven gave up active management of the chain in 1955, when the chain also went public, and died in 1961. His son took over as company president in 1955.
Purity abandoned its hometown of San Francisco in 1956 only to return in 1963 with purchase of four Siri’s markets, but financial difficulties began in the late 1960s and the chain began to contract. In 1969, an Indiana family (the Irvings) that was a major shareholder sold its shares to the Niven family. Whether this was a reaction to decline or the start of it, I do not know. I suspect the former. The chain was down to 85 stores at this point and reported operating losses in 1969 and 1970 after skipping a dividend in 1966.
By 1972, only 23 stores remained, none off them south of the San Francisco Bay Area. The Niven family sold out to a new corporation, of which John Niven Jr., interestingly enough, was the major shareholder.
It did not end well.
The new company continued to operate under the Purity name in some locations but also under the Bargain Basket banner in San Francisco and the immediate surrounding area. Other names were apparently used as well. In 1974, the chain acquired several stores from Mayfair Markets when that chain exited the region, but by 1975-1976 the “new” Purity chain had basically ceased to exist. The last Purity-branded location, in Fort Bragg, was sold to a private operator in 1977 and still operates as the last store bearing the name of the former chain.
Several former Purity stores on the Peninsula still operate as supermarkets under different ownership, including two in Redwood City. The last Purity store in San Francisco, a converted Mayfair Market in the Northpoint Center on Bay Street, eventually housed a Co-Op Market and later Safeway that closed in 2023. A former Siri’s-turned-Purity at Alemany and Geneva in San Francisco became a Lucky Store and closed in 1974. Another converted Siri’s on South Van Ness became a Cala Foods, a sort-lived DeLano’s IGA, and now a Grocery Outlet. One of the two Redwood City branches has been a Grocery Outlet (originally Canned Foods Outlet) since at least 1976.
Purity featured some very distinctive store designs. Through at least the 1940s, they used a very recognizable prototype that involved a Quonset-hut-shaped arch. Many of these are still standing on main streets in small downtowns throughout Northern California. At the dawn of the 1960s, They introduced a modern prototype with an unusual, four-sided glass “skylight” with intersecting rounded rooflines. When I first started researching Groceteria, I ran across four of these, still standing, two in Fresno, one in Mountain View, and one in Hayward. I’m sure there were others as well.
The Niven family began operating a winery after the original Purity corporation was dissolved.
For the record, the California Purity chain was not related to the also defunct Purity Supreme chain in New England.
Purity also had stores in Fortuna and Eureka, so Eureka was the most northern store. The Purity in Fortuna is what is now Rays Food Place. Prior to being Rays it was Food Mart, but it was built as Purity. Eureka had two stores , one in Henderson center, that building which had a major remodel , is now Joanne’s Fabric. The store in downtown Eureka is currently Picky Picky Surplus on the corner of 6th and E street. It was built as a Purity, then became many other things afterward including Bonanza 88, Yellow Front and Factory To U. Seems like it was other things too, but it was built as Purity.
I can remember walking to and from the Purity Grocery Store in Henderson Center as a kid. Mom didn’t drive, so would load my younger brother and I in the Western Flyer wagon and pull us to the store, the grocery’s road in wagon on the way home and we walked.
I was asst Mgr of the 6 and E Purity store in 1967 and 1968, always wondered what it ended up being after Purity.
The Henderson Center location is actually now a Rite Aid(before that a PayLess Drug).The Jo~Ann Fabrics is cat-corner to Henderson Center.
Did Purity sponsor some kind of televised home participation game show? I seem to remember something like that in the late 60s.
My dad worked for Purity Grocers for many many years. He did everything from stocker, produce, produce manager, assistant manager, manager, to trouble-shooter. He was good at it all and never missed a beat. Our family survived the earthquake early years ( I was a baby ) in Eureka Calif. But Purity was not so lucky and I think I have bkack and white photos of the damage it did to the store but they quickly repaired and then I think we moved so dad could tend to another store perhaps his own in Pixley Ca. Not a Purity though I know he worked at the one in Los Gatos, and Portervile many years ago. We lost daddy in 2007 ( Comanche, Tx. ) and mom in 2017 (Comanche, Tx.
It was a horse race game, and the currier service delivered the wrong week to the TV studio, and almost everybody won, I was the asst Mgr in Red Bluff when it happened and in 15 minutes we had hundreds of customers coming into the parking lot with their 10,000 winners. It actually put Purity out of business.
Post Time!
Purity had a store in San Luis Obispo, CA. They also had a game where you received a horse race ticket for buying groceries. The results of the race were given just before 8pm on Saturday in a sort-of long commercial. My mother won some 50 cent pieces that she kept for over 60 years.
my father worked for Purity stores for many many years from being a stocker, assistant manager, produce manager, troubleshooter, you name it he did it. he works at the one in Eureka when they have their big earthquake it pretty much destroyed the store we survived it I was just a baby I don’t remember the earthquake itself that I remember my crib going from one side of the room to the other and I was saying weeee. He worked at Purity in Los Gatos California Porterville California just all over Purity stores I can’t say enough about how great they were!
My husbands grandfather worked as a butcher for Purity Stores in Hollister, CA in 1940s – a detail we found on his draft card for WWII.
Purity in Fort Bragg continues to operate under the name as of January 2021.
Were there any PURITY stores in or near San Jose, California, in the late ‘50s / early ‘60s? I have a vague memory of shopping with my Mom at an unfamiliar market when I was very young, and when I asked her the name of the store, I think she answered, “Purity.” But she doesn’t remember such a place anymore. Maybe somebody out there does?
I think that you’ll find there is a page on the site dealing with San Jose stores:
https://www.groceteria.com/place/california/san-jose/
Newark had one Newark Blvd and mayhew landing
There was a Purity store in downtown Palo Alto on a side street off of University Ave.
There was a Purity In Los Gatos, CA on the corner of Blossom Hill Rd and Los Gatos Blvd. Use to live very nearby starting when I was 3 in 1961. I read the Niven Family sold the chain in 1972 and that seems about right as to when it changed hands.
There was a Purity market at the early Westgate Mall growth – Westgate Mall, where Saratoga Ave & Campbell Ave crossed on one side of the mall and the other side was on Hamilton Ave.
There was also, just across from the market, just across the walkway, a small amusement park with a few rides.
Hopefully jogs some memories
We walked by the Purity store in Fort Bragg today, March 25, 2025. I remember the Purity stores in Eureka during the 60’s.
The CoOp in Arcata was also a Purity, even further north than Eureka.
Yep…….glad Burt chimed in. Purity (the new store) is the Arcata Co-op. Just adjacent on the NE corner of 9th & I Street was the original Purity with its small parking lot in the back that probably dated from 1940. It became Hensel Hardware but the building burned in the 1990’s and the present structure bares no relation to the original building. Old Purity stores are identifiable by their distinctive “quansit hut” curved roof and adjacent small parking lots that transitioned well into hardware stores and garden shops.
Do you have any information on the metal private parking plaques in the asphalt at the current Arcata Co-op parking lot? Wondering the history of them.
I remember my Dad not able to get home from Arcata store in (I think the winter of 65?) because of flooding
My Dad was the store manager for that loser company when they decided to close his store in San Anselmo, CA, around the year 1960. What did they offer him? A job as a “checker” at half his former salary and quite a ways from San Anselmo. Smartly, he went and formed a partnership with two others and they bought a large supermarket in nearby Santa Venetia.
I remember my dad working for Purity Stores in Gilroy, Ca. He was their chief mechanic at the warehouse facility. so many memories of me going with him on the road to repair those Peterbilt rigs broken down along the highways. Not to mention the sawdust on the floors of the Quonset hut grocery stores or the free banana someone would always give me when I got to visit the warehouse on the south end of town. 65 years ago went by so fast.
There was a Purity Market in Santa Maria, CA in the 60’s as I recall.
We had one in Chico. It became a Safeway and now the building is a sporting goods store.
We lived on Hillsdale St. in the early 50’s
My mother my sister Martha and l walked to Purity store. What memories of old eureka days
We had a Purity in Watsonville.
For furthest north, there was a Purity store on South Broadway in Yreka, California. The building is still there and now houses the Siskiyou News newspaper.
Incidentally, the building next door was the first Safeway in the area.
I worked in the Yreka building for 10 years as a reporter and editor of the Siskyou Daily News back in the 90s and early 2000s. I didn’t know it was a Purity store (although I did know that it used to be a grocery story) until yesterday when I came across an old picture from the 1940s that one of my authors (I work in book publishing now) wanted to include in his family biography. His ancestor, John Niven was a founder of the Purity stores. I took one look at the picture and recognized the building immediately! Uncanny!
I remember a Purity grocery store in Healdsburg, CA in the 1970’s. It was on Center Street, in the little shopping area at the corner of Center St. and Piper St. My parents used to get their groceries there all the time. That store has changed hands/businesses several times over the years. I think after Purity it may have been Molsberry’s Market? That’s a Sonoma County business. Then sometime after Molsberry’s it was a Long’s Drugs and is now currently a CVS drugstore. I’ve probably missed one or two businesses in between those I listed.
I remember going to the Purity in Merced with my grandfather to get their peach pies, which Papá loved (and so did I).
me too, 1680 Union Ave.
My father, George Souza worked at Stanford shopping center location wen it turn in to Nivens international foods he retired from there. He had a great boss, his name is John Nevins
Purity in Los Gatos, CA was operating in 1961 and probably earlier. Replaced by Food Villa in probably 1972. Currently it’s “Whole Foods Market” I believe.
There was a Purity Store in Orland, California when I was a boy.
Just read that the Donut Wheel in downtown Livermore since 1962 was originally built for Purity in 1941. I wasn’t born yet so can’t confirm but wondering if anyone else knows.
My father started at at Purity stores as an inventory man , then produce manager. He worked his way up the ladder to Regional Manager of Northern California where he managed 60 stores. He was on the road a lot, visiting each store twice month. He left there in 1963 to explore the real estate market.
I remember the Purity store in Salinas, California back in the 1950’s and 60’s. As the article above states, I guess the company was liquidated but I wonder if it was sold piece-meal or just who ended up with it?
I am remodeling a building in Carmel-By-The Sea, Ca and we uncovered original store front lettering that says “Purity Stores; Meat, Groceries, Fruit, Vegetables”. We are actively trying to date the lettering and have it narrowed down to what I believe is between 1937-1946. Does anyone have any recollection or maybe even photos of the store in Carmel? I have already gone through all of the historical society records here in town. Thank you
Matt, I will share this with longtime residents there for info. I live nearby and remember the Purity in Valley Center in Salinas. It was the first grocery store I shopped in when I got married in 1974. Its latest iteration is as as a part of the Compass Church that also encompasses at least part of the original Woolworth.
Did the Purity stores have a standard color for the exterior paint or was it just random. I seem to remember a light greenish color but it’s been a few years.
Livermore had one as well. My mother always shopped there. I saw someone posted that there was a store in Healdsburg. She had lived there at one point so it was probably familiar. My Dad always shopped at Safeway next door.