New York area: Waldbaums (Safeway?)

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Jeffrey55
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Posts: 28
Joined: 10 Dec 2005 23:10
Location: South Salem, NY

Re: Shop Rite in Queens

Post by Jeffrey55 »

RobJC wrote:There was a Shop Rite in Lefrak City (Rego Park/Corona) on the Long Island Expressway in the early 70s. That same store changed names a lot. It was a Food Town, Food Fair, Red Apple and a Shop Rite. The building is gone and it's now a "BP" gas station and a smaller building housing several smaller stores.
I know it's been quite a while since you posted that, but I just discovered it and can't figure out what you're talking about! I lived in that neighborhood until the mid 70s, and I don't recall there ever being a Shop Rite in or anywhere around Lefrak City. There was a Penn Fruit - Hill's - Hill's/Korvette - Key Food - whatever it then became on the Junction Blvd. side; a Waldbaum's across 57th Ave.; and some of the other stores in the 99th St. shopping center later became an Associated. But there certainly is no place on the Lefrak City property that has been turned into a gas station! Just look at the pictures on Google Maps. There isn't even any room for anything like that.

There WAS a Food Town, but it was a former Billy Blake's and stood where the Queens Center Mall is now. It never became anything after Food Town, as it was demolished to make way for the mall.

Are you perhaps confusing Lefrak City with one of the other apartment complexes on the other side of the Expressway, or something further east?
Jeffrey55
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Posts: 28
Joined: 10 Dec 2005 23:10
Location: South Salem, NY

Re: Safeway on Kissena

Post by Jeffrey55 »

RobJC wrote: To start, I was born in '65 so I can't answer to the Safeway at this location. However, the odd shaped curved building that is now Kissena Farms was an "Olinsky's" supermarket. They were a small chain of 20+ stores that died out as the older owners died. I worked for "Olinsky's" at their store in Rego Park in '78. At that time they had 5 left, Kissena Blvd., Rego Park and three in the Bronx.
Now THIS is interesting. I'm 10 years older than you, and I remember Olinsky's both from Rego Park and the Bronx. Until I was 8 we lived at the intersection of E. 167th St. and Morris Ave., and there were two supermarkets on opposite sides of 167th: A&P on one side, and Olinsky's on the other. My mother always shopped in Olinsky's, though we sometimes went to A&P. I remember A&P being very dark inside, and in her later years my mother complained that the place was always dirty. In Olinsky's they had real pickle barrels that you picked your pickles, sour tomatoes and sauerkraut out of (something that would be considered "trendy" today). The deli man always gave me a slice of something to try. Tragically, around 1962 or so there was a fire on the block, and though the supermarket sustained some roof/water damage, it was not a total loss and was able to reopen within a short time. However, the manager, whose name was Murray, was standing on the sidewalk looking at what was happening to his store when he suffered a heart attack and died. My mother was heartbroken, as we all knew him by name and she liked him a lot.

After we moved to Elmhurst, Queens in 1963, we took a walk up Junction Blvd., past Alexander's to look around Rego Park, and what did we find but another Olinsky's! Of course my parents were convinced that they had "followed" us there. But we never shopped there, as we had a Hill's right across the street...and Olinsky's just wasn't the same without Murray. And I went off to college in 1972 and never returned, so I missed you - by that much!
RobJC
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Re: New York area: Waldbaums (Safeway?)

Post by RobJC »

Late to the post:
The ShopRite wasn't on the Lefrak property. It was on Horace Harding on the next block east where a gas station is now. You'll get this: It was towards the bowling alley - away from Loehmann's. :)
Jeffrey55
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Posts: 28
Joined: 10 Dec 2005 23:10
Location: South Salem, NY

Re: New York area: Waldbaums (Safeway?)

Post by Jeffrey55 »

Late to the post:
The ShopRite wasn't on the Lefrak property. It was on Horace Harding on the next block east where a gas station is now. You'll get this: It was towards the bowling alley - away from Loehmann's. :)
I know where Loehmann's was, and the bowling alley, which was called Bowl-A-Way. It became a Newtown annex to relieve overcrowding while I was attending Newtown High School. On Google Street View I can see it is now the High School of Arts & Business.

Not sure exactly where the supermarket was. I can see a small strip mall with a Liquor Warehouse, next to a 7/11, next to the BP station. Are you saying the supermarket was demolished to make way for the gas station?
fire3000
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Posts: 3
Joined: 27 Sep 2017 14:07

Re: Safeway on Kissena

Post by fire3000 »

Jeffrey55 wrote: 09 Jan 2011 04:03
RobJC wrote: To start, I was born in '65 so I can't answer to the Safeway at this location. However, the odd shaped curved building that is now Kissena Farms was an "Olinsky's" supermarket. They were a small chain of 20+ stores that died out as the older owners died. I worked for "Olinsky's" at their store in Rego Park in '78. At that time they had 5 left, Kissena Blvd., Rego Park and three in the Bronx.
Now THIS is interesting. I'm 10 years older than you, and I remember Olinsky's both from Rego Park and the Bronx. Until I was 8 we lived at the intersection of E. 167th St. and Morris Ave., and there were two supermarkets on opposite sides of 167th: A&P on one side, and Olinsky's on the other. My mother always shopped in Olinsky's, though we sometimes went to A&P. I remember A&P being very dark inside, and in her later years my mother complained that the place was always dirty. In Olinsky's they had real pickle barrels that you picked your pickles, sour tomatoes and sauerkraut out of (something that would be considered "trendy" today). The deli man always gave me a slice of something to try. Tragically, around 1962 or so there was a fire on the block, and though the supermarket sustained some roof/water damage, it was not a total loss and was able to reopen within a short time. However, the manager, whose name was Murray, was standing on the sidewalk looking at what was happening to his store when he suffered a heart attack and died. My mother was heartbroken, as we all knew him by name and she liked him a lot.

After we moved to Elmhurst, Queens in 1963, we took a walk up Junction Blvd., past Alexander's to look around Rego Park, and what did we find but another Olinsky's! Of course my parents were convinced that they had "followed" us there. But we never shopped there, as we had a Hill's right across the street...and Olinsky's just wasn't the same without Murray. And I went off to college in 1972 and never returned, so I missed you - by that much!
I lived in the Anita apartments from 1953 to 1963. I used to play in the vacant lot along 63rd Drive before the lot became a strip of stores including O'linsky's market circa 1963. I was excited to see Waldbaums open on 99th street circa 1959 and it was my parent's favorite grocery store. I left the area in 1977 and moved to Virginia where I still reside. This year I want to visit and walk the streets of Rego Park and Forest Hills to see sites I remember from my childhood years.
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