NEW: Gary, Indiana 1911-1975

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NEW: Gary, Indiana 1911-1975

Post by Groceteria »

For your Thursday evening viewing (and debate-avoiding) pleasure:

https://www.groceteria.com/place/indiana/gary/

This is one I've wanted to do for a long time, but it's depressing as hell...
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Re: NEW: Gary, Indiana 1911-1975

Post by Andrew T. »

Ah, Gary! What a city it is. Er, was. *sighs*

Delving back into the original Gary thread where I scrounged up the 1925-60 location information two years ago, there were some interesting themes and trends visible:
Andrew T. wrote: 19 Aug 2018 00:05* As with Chicago and Waukeagn, Kroger expanded to Gary through the purchase of the Chicagoland Consumers chain. Confusingly however, there were actually two "Consumers" chains operating in the early 1930s: Consumers Sanitary Coffee & Butter (the one bought by Kroger, and the one listed as "Consumers" in the table), and an unrelated Consumers Packing chain that disappeared almost as soon as it appeared.

* Kroger evidently took its time with naming transitions! The 1935 directory listed concurrent "Consumers" and "Kroger-Consumers" stores, and the 1941 and 1945 directories had listings under both "Kroger-Consumers" and "Kroger."

* Oddly, National stores are completely absent from the 1935 directory even though the chain had a Gary presence in both 1930 and 1941. National lasted a while after that, though the last column may have captured the chain in a state of local implosion (their store count decreased from 5 in 1955 to 1 in 1960).

* The Lake Street addresses in the Miller Beach neighbourhood are the only ones in the entire city with a decent survival and occupation rate today.
Oh, and 71% of the locations had been demolished. 71%! That must be some kind of record, sadly.

I had been curious to learn if Kroger and A&P had withdrawn from the city in advance of their exit from other nearby markets, but it seems as though they stayed around as long as they did in Chicago: Early 1970s for Kroger, early 1980s for A&P. A&P also left behind a couple of still-extant centennial buildings, one at 1401 Massachusetts St (which both David and I have pictures of), and one at 3450 Grant.

Poking around Google Maps, I was intrigued to see that the 1970s Jewel at 6071 Broadway in nearby Merrillville was paired off with a Venture department store...that still has its original diagonal-striped facade, more than 20 years after the chain went out of business!
Last edited by Andrew T. on 23 Oct 2020 12:08, edited 1 time in total.
"The pale pastels which have been featured in most food stores during the past 20 years are no longer in tune with the mood of the 1970s."
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Re: NEW: Gary, Indiana 1911-1975

Post by Andrew T. »

The table cleared up the mystery about the arch-roofed Kohl's doppelgänger at (approximately) 6140 Broadway in Merrillville! It was once a Tittle & Sons food store.
"The pale pastels which have been featured in most food stores during the past 20 years are no longer in tune with the mood of the 1970s."
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Re: NEW: Gary, Indiana 1911-1975

Post by Groceteria »

Andrew T. wrote: 23 Oct 2020 12:07 The table cleared up the mystery about the arch-roofed Kohl's doppelgänger at (approximately) 6140 Broadway in Merrillville! It was once a Tittle & Sons food store.
Yeah, I meant to mention that. I'm not sure if it was anything before or if they built it. The city directories list that address as in Gary, though it actually is Merrillville, which makes me wonder if maybe it just wasn't included in earlier directories.
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Re: NEW: Gary, Indiana 1911-1975

Post by Groceteria »

Andrew T. wrote: 23 Oct 2020 11:59 Delving back into the original Gary thread where I scrounged up the 1925-60 location information two years ago, there were some interesting themes and trends visible:
Somehow I missed that you had done that. I'm sorry.
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