NEW: Elizabeth NJ, 1925-1967

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Groceteria
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NEW: Elizabeth NJ, 1925-1967

Post by Groceteria »

Forgot to mention this one a month or so back:

https://www.groceteria.com/place/us-new ... elizabeth/
rich
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Re: NEW: Elizabeth NJ, 1925-1967

Post by rich »

Big Bear had at least one location before the 40s: take a look at https://www.nj.com/galleries/EHWGU5QDZN ... F6RIKX4WM/ and scroll down. It's an old warehouse on Newark Ave and fits the descriptions I've read of their original location. I've seen different dates for the opening--probably 1933. The building itself has an interesting history: https://www.nj.com/news/2011/12/elizabe ... torie.html

This store doesn't predate King Kullen and but is sometimes considered "the first supermarket" perhaps because it was many times larger than the original King Kullen. Stores in southern California are sometimes cited as the first, but again none were this large. Big Bear was a model for other early supers and probably the reason that there were a number of other Big Bear chains (Columbus, San Diego, among others) as well as the Big Bear discount chain in Ohio that later became Giant Tiger when it enetered the Big Bear supermarket territory. The Columbus, Ohio chain claims to have originated the name, but they made a lot of dubious claims about themselves.
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