Tag: Piggly Wiggly

This is a list of all known chain grocery addresses in Little Rock and North Little Rock between 1925 and 2021, compiled from city directories, telephone books, and other sources. It is generated through a live Google Spreadsheet so it reflects the latest information I have.

Access and download the location spreadsheet via Google Sheets.

Notes:

  • Kroger apparently entered Little Rock through the purchase of Cox Cash Stores. They also did several swaps with Black & White Stores.
  • Safeway owned Little Rock’s Piggly Wiggly stores by at least 1930. Some stores were listed as “Safeway” in 1935 but may actually have operated as Piggly Wiggly stores.
  • Model Markets was a franchise/co-op. Black & White may have been as well.
  • National Tea was in and out in less than a decade.
  • Harvest Foods was the name given to Safeway stores when they were purchased ca. 1987 as part of Safeway’s exit from the market. Based on the directory information, there is some question about whether some stores may have closed for a time between owners. Harvest went bankrupt in 1995 and things got confusing after that with stores being listed under multiple banners (Harvest, City Market, and Food Giant). Edwards Food Giant seems to be the survivor of that lineage today.
  • Kroger ended up purchasing several Harvest locations and now operates at least one stores that was probably built as a Safeway and another than started as Skaggs-Albertsons (later Skaggs-Alpha Beta).

Store tags:

  • Black & White
  • Cox Cash Stores
  • Harvest Foods/City Market/Edwards Food Giant
  • IGA
  • Kroger
  • Model Markets
  • National
  • Piggly Wiggly
  • Safeway
  • Weingarten

This is a list of all known chain grocery addresses in Lincoln between 1925 and 2015, compiled from city directories, telephone books, and other sources. It is generated through a live Google Spreadsheet so it reflects the latest information I have.

Access and download the location spreadsheet via Google Sheets.

Store tags:

  • Albertsons
  • Freadrich Bros
  • Handy System
  • Hinky Dinky
  • Hy-Vee
  • IGA
  • Piggly Wiggly
  • Russ’s/B&R
  • Safeway
  • O.P. Skaggs
  • Sun Mart

This is a list of all known chain grocery addresses in Calgary between 1930 and 1991, compiled from city directories, telephone books, and other sources. It is generated through a live Google Spreadsheet so it reflects the latest information I have. I was not able to access city directories between 1953 and 1968; I will update when and if I can.

Access and download the location spreadsheet via Google Sheets.

Store tags:

  • Calgary Co-op
  • Dominion
  • Empress
  • Food City
  • Jenkins Groceteria
  • Loblaws/L-Mart
  • Piggly Wiggly
  • Red & White
  • Safeway
  • Shoprite
  • Super Valu
  • Woodward’s

Posted on

spokane-1941

While doing research for some long-promised updates on the site, I ran across this ad from 1941 that lists six new “deluxe drive-in” Safeway stores in Spokane, Washington, along with a list of all then-extant stores in the city. It gives a great picture of Safeway’s presence in one city at the time, as well as providing a glimpse into the state of the chain in general.

By 1940, Safeway had moved decisively into the “supermarket” era after a somewhat conservative start. New stores at the time averaged 6000-6500 square feet and boasted tiled meat and produce departments and employee showers. These stores were also among the first to feature parking lots as a standard amenity, usually to the side of the store and approximately the same square footage as well. Safeway had been building some stores with parking lots as early as the late 1920s, but they were far from universal. In fact, in 1940, Safeway was operating hundreds of older units in taxpayer strips or on the first floors of apartment or commercial buildings, most of which were a fraction of the size of the new supermarkets and some of which dated from the 1920s and had originally operated under any number of other brands. The Spokane stores, for example, had largely started under the Piggly Wiggly, MacMarr, or Pay’n Takit names, all of which had different points of entry into the Safeway corporate structure.

payntakit-84-spokane

A surprising number of Safeway’s class of 1941 are still standing in Spokane, including a very ornate former Pay”n Takit store like the one shown above. Here’s the list:

New “Deluxe Drive-in” stores:

Existing stores:

  • 514 S. Washington St.
  • 727 W. Garland Av.
  • 814 W. Riverside Av.
  • 1704 N. Monroe St.
  • 5005 N. Market St.
  • 3002 Grand Av.
  • 2022 E. Sprague Av. (this is a very ornate former Pay’n Takit)
  • 3315 Northwest Blvd.
  • Division at Sinto
  • Hamilton and Mission (interestingly enough, there’s still a Safeway at this intersection, albeit not a 70-plus year old one)

Posted on

081307-wilkesboro1

I made a road trip up to Wilkesboro and North Wilkesboro on Sunday. These foothill towns have always been a little over-retailed relative to their size, because they serve a rather large, rural hinterland. The Wilkesboro area is also the birthplace both of Lowes Foods, the regional grocery retailer, and of the nationally-known Lowes Home Improvement.

I’m guessing the store in the photo above, just east of downtown North Wilkesboro, is a former A&P, but I could be wrong. The store below, located east of downtown, definitely was, though:

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This one may have done some time as an A&P as well, even though it was obviously built as a Kroger. Note the revamped pole sign sporting A&P’s Sav-a-Center logo , probably from the late 1980s:

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The Sav-a-Center inset photo is by Groceteria reader Thom Wright, by the way.

The following, from downtown Wilkesboro, strikes me as a likely Piggly Wiggly location, but I have no evidence to back that up:

081307-wilkesboro2

Last on the tour is a remodeled, but seemingly rather old (and definitely very small) Lowes Foods on old US 421:

081307-wilkesboro4

Posted on

2 August 2005 | Link this

080205-dgpw

In case there was any doubt, I am most definitely living in the south again.

There are no more Safeways in my world, and nothing resembling an Albertsons or a Ralphs. I’m finding groceries to be considerably cheaper and the whole experience of shopping to be much more pleasant than in California. Stores are big, and properly stocked and staffed. You can actually find bread even on Sunday nights.

The downside is that there are very few older stores still open and available for me to check out. There are plenty of abandoned A&P and Kroger and Colonial stores around if you know where to look and what to look for, but almost none of them are still selling groceries. It’s too bad, really…

But I promise to find any interesting ones and let you know where they are soon.