Texas Updates

[Grocery Buff]

Anyone able to identify what chain these two stores may have been when originally constructed?

-New Braunfels, TX-
Arlan's Market
559 W San Antonio St, New Braunfels, TX 78130
https://goo.gl/maps/NvjgMnU6ghpoafEDA

Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/ep9Y2hRkJSpbb7hPA


-San Antonio, TX-
La Fiesta
6103 Pecan Valley Dr, San Antonio, TX 78223
https://goo.gl/maps/wjb96ebu2nJHUQ63A

Street view:
https://goo.gl/maps/bxE63zbbVQaqcyAd8

Thanks!

[Steve Landry]

The second one is a Safeway for sure.

[wnetmacman]

Anyone able to identify what chain these two stores may have been when originally constructed?

-New Braunfels, TX-
Arlan's Market
559 W San Antonio St, New Braunfels, TX 78130
https://goo.gl/maps/NvjgMnU6ghpoafEDA

Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/ep9Y2hRkJSpbb7hPA


-San Antonio, TX-
La Fiesta
6103 Pecan Valley Dr, San Antonio, TX 78223
https://goo.gl/maps/wjb96ebu2nJHUQ63A

Street view:
https://goo.gl/maps/bxE63zbbVQaqcyAd8

Thanks!

The first store, at least in 1980, was Wuest's Market.

The second store was Handy Andy, per Newspapers.com.

[Steve Landry]

Wow.....................it sure looks like a Safeway.

:-)

[Grocery Buff]

Thank you!

I found out from a person that lives in that area that it went Wuest’s, then Handy Andy, then Arlans (when Arlan’s bought the remaining Handy Andy stores).

A local San Antonio newspaper did a good article spotlighting Kroger’s history in the city. https://www.mysanantonio.com/business/a ... 021276.php
It sounds like they were having success until a union negotiation caused issues. The newspaper did the article because Kroger is moving back into the region but with delivery only, no stores.

I discovered one of the Kroger locations in now a La Fiesta and still has the originally cube Kroger sign in the parking lot (at least in Google Maps street view). https://goo.gl/maps/VqSFTKDzv7st7xdL7

[bigbmanb]

I still live in DFW and remember to this day when Food Lion announced that they were coming to Texas and specifically DFW. One of the heads of Kroger said that it would never work out. That Food Lion had no idea what it would take to "entertain" the DFW grocery shopper. There is a truth in what he said. The shopper has to be entertained.

I entered my first Food Lion in Lewisville TX in early 1990's. There were pictures of "meat", "eggs" and "milk" on the walls in the appropriate locations. However, the pictures were faded and looked like something from the 1950's print adds. In fact, everything in the store looked like it was from the 1950's. The most boring store I had ever entered and have ever entered.

I would like to thank Food Lion as most of their stores have turned into thrift stores, school admin buildings, and city service buildings. And I bet the door did hit them on the way out.

[wnetmacman]

I still live in DFW and remember to this day when Food Lion announced that they were coming to Texas and specifically DFW. One of the heads of Kroger said that it would never work out. That Food Lion had no idea what it would take to "entertain" the DFW grocery shopper. There is a truth in what he said. The shopper has to be entertained.

I entered my first Food Lion in Lewisville TX in early 1990's. There were pictures of "meat", "eggs" and "milk" on the walls in the appropriate locations. However, the pictures were faded and looked like something from the 1950's print adds. In fact, everything in the store looked like it was from the 1950's. The most boring store I had ever entered and have ever entered.

I would like to thank Food Lion as most of their stores have turned into thrift stores, school admin buildings, and city service buildings. And I bet the door did hit them on the way out.

Food Lion would have done slightly better and might still be in Texas had it not been for Dateline NBC exposing some shady practices. I remember seeing these things happening in other stores - repackaging meat, unsanitary conditions, etc.

The timing of the report coincided with the opening of the first wave of stores. I remember that when they opened, I was still living in East Texas, where there were two stores in Longview. Prior to that report, even though small, they were wildly popular. On the day after, crickets.

Brookshire Grocery bought several of them and still successfully operates them today, including one of the two in Longview.

Now having said this, I'm not too convinced that a concerned competitor didn't have something to do with the leak....