FedMart Southern California?

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Dean
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Post by Dean »

runchadrun wrote:Fedco was a non-profit, owned by its members. The name was an acronym for Federal Employees Distribution Company. They had a nominal lifetime membership fee, which was something along the lines of $10. I was a member, joining when I was a college student which was an eligible group at the time.

They shut down in the late 90s, sold their property to Target for $120m, and used the money to pay off their outstanding debts. The remaining funds, $7m, were used to establish the FEDCO Charitable Foundation. It provides grants to public schools in school districts where their stores were.

Acquiring the La Cienega location alone probably made the entire sale price worth it to Target.
The San Bernardino FEDCO was converted to a number of things. The last time I drove by...the FEDCO free-standing sign is still on the side of the building facing Mount Vernon!
Dean
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Post by Dean »

runchadrun wrote:
javelin wrote: Is that the huge building on Waterman Ave that's now an abandoned swap meet? Looks like an old Gemco. Now even the fast food places have closed, all that's open now is the gas station.
There was a Kmart on Waterman and 9th, maybe that's what you're thinking of.
Yes, I believe that is what is being referenced. Drove by there last week. The far left of the building was THRIFTY DRUG...and the rest was K-Mart. The K-Mart was replaced with a new K-Mart on Highland Avenue in the City of Highland. This new store did not last long...as Wal*Mart opened down the street. The "new" K-Mart is also closed and boarded up. This is the same center where SMITHS was converted to Food4Less.
Dean
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Post by Dean »

Jeff wrote: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.
Yes, I believe they were similar to Pier 1...yet had more "junk" versus the Pier 1 home decor stuff. Don't think I ever went into one, yet their commercial as so annoying...that I still remember it. The Akron is... the first & original, something for everyone, out of your ordinary store!

As it was called THE Akron...what was an Akron?! Besides the town in Ohio!

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Dean
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Re: FedMart Southern California?

Post by Dean »

OCRedCub wrote:I remember a discounter in the 1970s called FedMart. Kind of an early warehouse store. There was one on Lincoln Ave in Anaheim (west of Euclid Ave.) now a Target and one on the northwest corner of Beach Blvd. and Imperial Highway in La Habra (entire shopping center now demolished and replaced with a circa 1990 Smiths now Vons)
Drove by the La Habra location today. The FIRESTONE dealer that faces Beach Boulevard, was the FedMart Auto Center, correct?!

Before SMITHS razed the FedMart building...the store faced Beach versus Imperial.
rjlawrencejr
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Post by rjlawrencejr »

javelin wrote:
runchadrun wrote:
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"
When Hugo Mann ran the store (into the ground) in the late 70's, the asterisk was added to show that it was a copyright.

El Centro was only the 2nd or 3rd store in the chain, San Diego was where it started.
That may be partially correct, but I also think the asterisk signified their claim as *America's greatest general store. I don't remember FedMart until about 1977/1978 when they came into the LA market after Two Guys went out of business. I can still remember reading "The Joy of Sex" at the FedMart on Sepulveda and Madrona in Torrance when I was 11 or 12. (Can you imagine a WalMart with such material in their book section?!)
scanman2
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Fedmart Ontario Mountain Ave

Post by scanman2 »

I asked this question about the Fedmart in Ontario. The history I got was that it was originally a White Front, Fedmart, then Target. The building is still standing and has been abandoned for several years and Target moved to the site of the old Montgomery Wards across from Montclair Plaza in Montclair. The left side of the building which was divided after Fedmart closed and was a Ralphs Giant, Ralphs, then a Food 4 Less. The building facing north to the freeway was an old Toys r Us. I live nearby and will go by and take some pictures unless somebody else that lives by there can do it. The old 3 sided sign is still there very visible from the I-10 freeway.
Dean
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Re:

Post by Dean »

klkla wrote:FedMart was started by Sol Price (also founder of the Price Club - now Costco) in 1954. The original concept was very close to FedCo's (geared towards Federal employees) but was later opened to everyone else.

He sold out to a German company to raise capital for expansion but they didn't get along and he got booted out and started Price Club, which later merged with Costco.

The Germans didn't understand the business and expanded too quickly and eventually went bankrupt. Target picked up many of the locations. Near my house we had a FedMart on Sports Arena Blvd. in San Diego that was 225,000 sq. ft. and was very similar to what a Wal-Mart SuperCenter is today. I remember going into that store on Saturdays and even with all 25 checkstands going it was a good thirty minutes in line.
Sol Price passed away Monday 12/14. Obit in Los Angeles Times today.
pseudo3d
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Re: FedMart Southern California?

Post by pseudo3d »

There was something in this thread about some locations carrying on as FedMart for a few years more after the chain went bankrupt. Apparently, franchised stores existed, and one existed in Pasadena, TX (a very small one, looks to be maybe 30k square feet max) up until the mid-1990s!
pseudo3d
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Re:

Post by pseudo3d »

klkla wrote:
Jeff wrote:Hmm, I wonder if the Target on Sports Arena is it. I dont remember but I think it was split into two stores.
Yes it is. The FedMart was originally 225,000 square feet. Target took part of it and I forgot who took the rest. I know they built a Ralphs next door to keep a grocery store in the center (Ralphs moved from a location down the street that is now a Longs Drug store that was either their first or second location in San Diego when they entered the market in the early 80's).

I remember that FedMart vividly. It was the busiest store in the chain when they closed. Every Saturday that store was packed with every checkstand open and long, long, long lines.
Amazing! That must have been the first "European style" hypermarket later attempted by Carrefour, bigg's, Auchan, and the rest. Since it was already shut by the early 1980s, I can't find much about it.
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