and
And Norwalk Square
Contributor
Bellflower Boulevard at Spring - Lakewood
and
And Norwalk Square
and
And Norwalk Square
Contributor
I was glad to see the picture of the Market Basket Store in Norwalk, Calif.
I worked at this store in the 1970's just after they had remodeled the store. The store had a very tiny backroom and we had to use a conveyor belt system to send cases of paper goods and cereal upstairs to be stacked and stored. We also used what I believe what the old Super X Drugstore's backroom which was build with corrugated siding and roofing and everytime it rained the roof would leak and merchandise would be ruined. I've worked for Alpha Beta Markets (where my father was a store manager) and later on when I got out of my service in the Navy I went to work for Ralph's Grocery Company, and then Safeway and finally Market Basket Stores and I will say that Market Basket Market stores treated me the best. Just before I moved out of state I remember hearing rumors that Market Basket was looking for some more stores to buy. The story was that Marekt Basket needed to service at least 100 stores to be profitable and at this particular time they only had about 62 stores. I heard it rumored that Market Basekt had approached Hughes Markets about buying them out but that Hughes Markets rejected the offer and after other attempts to buy other companies I read in the Wall Street Journal about just how slick a deal the Kroger Company could make.
From what I remember, the Market Basket Stores were sold to a group of 4 major grocery store chains in Calif. and I don't remember who all of them were but the group of Grocery Chains bought a big block of Kroger stock from some big investment bank or financial company and then the 4 grocery store chains exchanged the big block of stock for ownership of the Market Basket Stores and for income tax purpose the sale of the Market Basket Stores was just a tax free exchange of assets because the Kroger Company was exchanging the Market Basket Stores for the big block of Kroger Company Stock. It seems ironic now that when the Kroger Company bought the Fred Meyer Company and all of the stores under various banners that they in turn most likely ended up buying back some of their previously owned Market Basket Stores which may have ended up as Boys Markets or Ralph's Markets, and other companies as well. Thanks again for posting the pictures.
I worked at this store in the 1970's just after they had remodeled the store. The store had a very tiny backroom and we had to use a conveyor belt system to send cases of paper goods and cereal upstairs to be stacked and stored. We also used what I believe what the old Super X Drugstore's backroom which was build with corrugated siding and roofing and everytime it rained the roof would leak and merchandise would be ruined. I've worked for Alpha Beta Markets (where my father was a store manager) and later on when I got out of my service in the Navy I went to work for Ralph's Grocery Company, and then Safeway and finally Market Basket Stores and I will say that Market Basket Market stores treated me the best. Just before I moved out of state I remember hearing rumors that Market Basket was looking for some more stores to buy. The story was that Marekt Basket needed to service at least 100 stores to be profitable and at this particular time they only had about 62 stores. I heard it rumored that Market Basekt had approached Hughes Markets about buying them out but that Hughes Markets rejected the offer and after other attempts to buy other companies I read in the Wall Street Journal about just how slick a deal the Kroger Company could make.
From what I remember, the Market Basket Stores were sold to a group of 4 major grocery store chains in Calif. and I don't remember who all of them were but the group of Grocery Chains bought a big block of Kroger stock from some big investment bank or financial company and then the 4 grocery store chains exchanged the big block of stock for ownership of the Market Basket Stores and for income tax purpose the sale of the Market Basket Stores was just a tax free exchange of assets because the Kroger Company was exchanging the Market Basket Stores for the big block of Kroger Company Stock. It seems ironic now that when the Kroger Company bought the Fred Meyer Company and all of the stores under various banners that they in turn most likely ended up buying back some of their previously owned Market Basket Stores which may have ended up as Boys Markets or Ralph's Markets, and other companies as well. Thanks again for posting the pictures.
Veteran
That second photo seems to be from 1959 or later...note the red "batwing" Chevy making a left turn in the intersection.
And note the Sav-On on the corner of the shopping center...and what appears to be a Sears farther down the street (the right side of the pic - the green sign in the distance.
I wonder how that spindly sign tower fared on a strong Santa Ana day--despite the guide wires! :roll:
And note the Sav-On on the corner of the shopping center...and what appears to be a Sears farther down the street (the right side of the pic - the green sign in the distance.
I wonder how that spindly sign tower fared on a strong Santa Ana day--despite the guide wires! :roll:
Veteran
That sign is still there, but the base was widened years ago. I'm originally from Downey, so I remember this place from the early 80's, passing by from the back seat of the family sedan on the way to In & Out burgers (the old twin drive thru, still there too).jamcool wrote:That second photo seems to be from 1959 or later...note the red "batwing" Chevy making a left turn in the intersection.
And note the Sav-On on the corner of the shopping center...and what appears to be a Sears farther down the street (the right side of the pic - the green sign in the distance.
I wonder how that spindly sign tower fared on a strong Santa Ana day--despite the guide wires! :roll:
Nothing else looks the same except for that flower shop at the corner. That old market basket may be a Food 4 Less now if I'm not mistaken.
In the far left hand corner is a metal sign for a gas station...25.9 cents a gallon.
Veteran
See, I'm mistaken. It's been several months since I was in town. How 'bout the Sears? BTW, do you know what's happened to some of the other establishments around there? The last time I was in the area before earlier this year was in the mid '80s.Jeff wrote:Today the Market Basket is a Fallas Paredes mexican wear store.
Veteran
I remember it being a Sears Surplus Store (their outlet store) when I was in high school in the 80s and it seems to me that it closed in the late 80s.javelin wrote:How 'bout the Sears? BTW, do you know what's happened to some of the other establishments around there? The last time I was in the area before earlier this year was in the mid '80s.
Contributor
nice pics! I wasnt alive during that era, but i often wondered about how the stores looked back then. I am 36, so for the most part, the stores i have seen were built in the late 60's to the present. I remember in 1979 going to a brand new ShopRite that was built here in New York. I remember thinking how the store was so far ahead of the other stores in the area (A&P, Waldbaums, King Kullen, and Grand Union) Now that ShopRite is gone. They actually tore it down and built a Stop and Shop there. The store was only 20 years old, I was suprised that they tore it down.
Great Pumpkin
Strangely enough, that seems to have been a fairly common term in California way back when. In fact, there's still a fairly well-known one in San Francisco.Dave wrote:"Mexi-catessen"? Was it near a "Hofbrau-cantina"?