American Stores Company operated restaurants in the 1980's

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luckysaver
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American Stores Company operated restaurants in the 1980's

Post by luckysaver »

In 1984, newspaper articles about American Stores' acquisition of Jewel Companies mentioned that ASC operated restaurants. Did they mean Alphy's (part of the Alpha Beta division) or did they also operate other restaurant banners?

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Daniel
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Re: American Stores Company operated restaurants in the 1980's

Post by Daniel »

I read somewhere they had a small chain of steakhouses, but I can't remember what it was called.
luckysaver
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Re: American Stores Company operated restaurants in the 1980's

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Excerpt from Wikipedia:

"At the company's June 17, 1998 annual meeting of shareholders in Salt Lake City, Utah, American Stores highlighted its accomplishments over the past year and its plans for the sustained long-term growth. In his keynote address, chairman and chief executive officer Victor L. Lund said, "During the past year, we have transformed many of our key plans for the future to reality. We are confident that our plan for growth is working and is squarely on track. We've set our sights very high because we know our visions of tomorrow will be achieved". A day earlier, American Stores had held a ceremony marking the opening of the American Stores Center, its 24 story corporate office building in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. The building had a company-owned Italian restaurant, Il San Savino and a convenience store, the American Store, on the ground level floor."

The building is still there - it is somewhere near the LDS Temple Square campus on 709 East South Temple. I don't know which company occupies it today.

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Ephrata1966
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Re: American Stores Company operated restaurants in the 1980's

Post by Ephrata1966 »

They acquired the franchise rights to Hardee's in the Philadelphia area in 1964, according to Pleasant Family Shopping. I wonder when they all closed.
pseudo3d
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Re: American Stores Company operated restaurants in the 1980's

Post by pseudo3d »

Remember, the American Stores pre-1979 is not the same American Stores post-merger (that's Skaggs). An article I found stated that American Stores operated around 50 restaurants, with no mention of Skaggs' restaurants, unless they were operations inside the drug stores.
klkla
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Re: American Stores Company operated restaurants in the 1980's

Post by klkla »

I'm pretty sure, but not 100% certain, that the restaurants were Alphy's as mentioned in the first post of this thread.

I think they were still open into the 1980's.
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Re: American Stores Company operated restaurants in the 1980's

Post by luckysaver »

klkla wrote: 28 Jul 2019 19:40 I'm pretty sure, but not 100% certain, that the restaurants were Alphy's as mentioned in the first post of this thread.

I think they were still open into the 1980's.
Yes I mentioned Alphy's. In 1982, American Stores Company/Alpha Beta sold all the existing Alphy's locations to...Denny's. A list of locations appeared in ads in the LA Times mostly in the 1970s and at the end of the Esther Cramer book. Alphy's were standalone coffee shop diners mostly located in the parking lot of selected Alpha Beta or HyLo Drug stores and sported a somewhat googie architecture. The division's executive management worked out of 777s in La Habra (Alpha Beta's main offices/warehouse, which now belongs to CVS Health). They served typical classic American diner food. Some locations were nowhere near an Alpha Beta. Later on, Denny's sold some of the buildings and depending on location, they became an ethnic restaurant, or a cash check/payday loan office. It turns out, Denny's was also involved with the Van De Kamp's coffee shops as well (as Van De Kamp's bakery products were also sold at Alpha Beta and is now a defunct Kroger/Ralphs brand).
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