[javelin]

Does anyone remember FedMart having an sterisk in their logo towards the end? I think it was written FedMart* but I could be wrong.

I posted about that upthread :) It was written FedMart* and I always thought it was strange. It was as if there was some kind of disclaimer that you had to find in the find print, like "*Store contains no actual Feds"

When Hugo Mann ran the store (into the ground) in the late 70's, the asterisk was added to show that it was a copyright.

El Centro was only the 2nd or 3rd store in the chain, San Diego was where it started.

[RandallFlagg]

I just came across this board and thought I would add my 2 cents. I worked for Target stores in 87 and 88. I trained at store T188 on orange show rd in San Bernardino. It was a former white front and fedmart store. Where the pic and save or big lots is now use to be the grocery part of those two stores. When Target opened it closed off that area and it was known as either Siberia or Upper Mongolia. One of those two names was used at T188 and the other was used at the Covina store on Azusa. Mostly the areas at both stores were used to hold fixtures. At T188 the area held all the fixtures from store T187. That store was up the 215 at highland. The store is now Home Depot 683. It was originally a Two Guys location. The theft at T187 was so high that it opened and closed rather quickly. As for Target running auto centers. When Target first came to California it converted as many Fedmarts as it could to Target. It also opened auto centers at these location. My friends worked for Target when they when still operating. My first store location was at the La Verne store T227. The store never opened with an auto center, but if you were able to enter the stock room on the east side, the wall from the garden center out to the front of the building would have had dock doors. Inside the stock room the steel was put in place. Sometime during the buildings construction, Target decided to close down the auto center and this area was bricked in but you could tell from inside the stock room what they were buiding. At least you could when I worked there. The closed location on Mountain Ave. was store T186. The triangle signs are extremely high and have a ladder in the middle of them, but they are not that close to the ground. I remember my 2 friends having to change some lightbulbs in them and using the forklift and a scary stack of pallets to reach the ladder. Definely not something we could do these days. The sign for Fedmart in El Centro was probably for one of the original small locations. There was one in Fontana on Foothill that was white with maybe 25,000 sq ft. of selling space. The store didn't stock a very big mix, and when Sol opened the large old white fronts he kept this little store operational. It was never expanded, nor as I can remember did it have the room too. Another Target location I worked at was on Sterling Ave in San Bernardino. It was a former Gemco location and when the store first opened it was opened by Larry Baizae[sp]. He was the former Gemco mgr and the new Target mgr, heh crazy. For my last piece of trivia, during the years I worked at Target, we were a division of Dayton Hudson. We were always running under hours to make up for Mervyns, who were dying in Texas. The oil business had dried up and the stores were dead. At the same time the Gemco locations were closed, the Dayton Hudson corp wasn't overflowing with cash, but the reason I was told that we were buying Gemco was to keep Walmart from coming to California. Remember this was in 87 and Walmart was unheard of in Ca. You only heard of them from out of staters who were looking for one. Target knew for Walmart to enter CA they would have to open multiple locations at once and didn't want to give them an easy opportunity.

[WhenenRome]

As a little kid, I remember the FedMart in Covina (on Azusa Ave, between Covina Blvd. & Arrow Hwy.) I understand that, like many FedMarts, it was originally a WhiteFront. As was mentioned, this location also became a Target in the early 80's.

By the mid-90's, Wal-Mart was moving in across the street, and this Target closed in favor of two new locations in San Dimas (Arrow Hwy. east of Lone Hill Ave.) and West Covina (Eastland Center, on Baranca Ave. & Workman Ave. - I hear this was the "official" replacement for the Covina store). The former Covina Target / FedMart is now a Bert's Mega Mall - a major local retailer of ATV, boat, and other off-road products.

Back to FedMart, I remember their private label food products. They all had a logo: a small red circle with a white "FM" in it.

[javelin]

There was one in Fontana on Foothill that was white with maybe 25,000 sq ft. of selling space. The store didn't stock a very big mix, and when Sol opened the large old white fronts he kept this little store operational. It was never expanded, nor as I can remember did it have the room too. Another Target location I worked at was on Sterling Ave in San Bernardino. It was a former Gemco location and when the store first opened it was opened by Larry Baizae[sp].

Fortunately for me, when I opened the glove compartment of a '66 Rambler I bought last year, it had a ton of FedMart invoices for auto service...the car was from San Diego. On the back was a listing of every FedMart location, including the one in Fontana. I've passed by a hundred times and never knew what it was. There's currently a gas station and a strip mall including a Grocery Outlet. Is this part of the old building or was it demolished to make room for what's there now?

Where was the Sterling Ave location and what's there now? Is that the huge building on Waterman Ave that's now an abandoned swap meet? Looks like an old Gemco. Now even the fast food places have closed, all that's open now is the gas station.

[OCRedCub]

Could you scan and post the FedMart location list? PLEASE!

[klkla]

Does anyone remember FedMart Junior? I remember one in San Diego's Hillcrest nieghborhood. It was the size of a large supermarket and much smaller than a regular FedMart.

[Jeff]

There was one in Fontana on Foothill that was white with maybe 25,000 sq ft. of selling space. The store didn't stock a very big mix, and when Sol opened the large old white fronts he kept this little store operational. It was never expanded, nor as I can remember did it have the room too. Another Target location I worked at was on Sterling Ave in San Bernardino. It was a former Gemco location and when the store first opened it was opened by Larry Baizae[sp].

Fortunately for me, when I opened the glove compartment of a '66 Rambler I bought last year, it had a ton of FedMart invoices for auto service...the car was from San Diego. On the back was a listing of every FedMart location, including the one in Fontana. I've passed by a hundred times and never knew what it was. There's currently a gas station and a strip mall including a Grocery Outlet. Is this part of the old building or was it demolished to make room for what's there now?

Where was the Sterling Ave location and what's there now? Is that the huge building on Waterman Ave that's now an abandoned swap meet? Looks like an old Gemco. Now even the fast food places have closed, all that's open now is the gas station.

Its on Sterling Ave and Highland, right by Del Rosa Ave and the 30 Freeway.

[RandallFlagg]

Yeah Jeff, the store is on highland and sterlling. I look it up on live local and I noticed the gas station has been torn down. I opened that store in 1986 and the old gemco gas station was directly across the parking lot from the garden shop.

[runchadrun]

Is that the huge building on Waterman Ave that's now an abandoned swap meet? Looks like an old Gemco. Now even the fast food places have closed, all that's open now is the gas station.

There was a Kmart on Waterman and 9th, maybe that's what you're thinking of.

[runchadrun]

Here's some information I found out from a 1980 LA Times article:

First FedMart store opened in 1954 at Main and Division Streets in San Diego. It was originally a membership store, but this was dropped in the 60s. The company went public in 1969. (Another single article indicates that they were acquired by Arden-Mayfair in 1969 but I don't see any other references to that so maybe the deal didn't go through.)

By 1975 there were 44 stores in CA, AZ, NM, and TX. A German retailer named Hugo Mann bought a controlling interest in 1975. By 1978 they had acquired 26 more stores from other retailers. The flagship store near the SD Sports Arena was the largest single-floor store in the US at 208,000 sqft. In 1980 they had 4000 employees in San Diego and 11,000 in the whole company with sales of $1b.

They announced in April 1982 that they would close down.

[Jeff]

Hmm, I wonder if the Target on Sports Arena is it. I dont remember but I think it was split into two stores.

[klkla]

Hmm, I wonder if the Target on Sports Arena is it. I dont remember but I think it was split into two stores.

Yes it is. The FedMart was originally 225,000 square feet. Target took part of it and I forgot who took the rest. I know they built a Ralphs next door to keep a grocery store in the center (Ralphs moved from a location down the street that is now a Longs Drug store that was either their first or second location in San Diego when they entered the market in the early 80's).

I remember that FedMart vividly. It was the busiest store in the chain when they closed. Every Saturday that store was packed with every checkstand open and long, long, long lines.

[Jeff]

Hmm, I wonder if the Target on Sports Arena is it. I dont remember but I think it was split into two stores.

Yes it is. The FedMart was originally 225,000 square feet. Target took part of it and I forgot who took the rest. I know they built a Ralphs next door to keep a grocery store in the center (Ralphs moved from a location down the street that is now a Longs Drug store that was either their first or second location in San Diego when they entered the market in the early 80's).

I remember that FedMart vividly. It was the busiest store in the chain when they closed. Every Saturday that store was packed with every checkstand open and long, long, long lines.

Same with that Target today, its always busy (and the one I always go to in San Diego based on the fact that I know its there when I need one)

[jamcool]

There were a few FedMarts in AZ that were bought by local interests after the original chain closed (In Tucson and in Window Rock-one of the few big chains that operated on the Navajo Reservation) Those stores kept the FedMart name for a few years until they were sold to other interests.

[Dean]

I just came across this board and thought I would add my 2 cents. I worked for Target stores in 87 and 88. I trained at store T188 on orange show rd in San Bernardino. It was a former white front and fedmart store. Where the pic and save or big lots is now use to be the grocery part of those two stores. When Target opened it closed off that area and it was known as either Siberia or Upper Mongolia. One of those two names was used at T188 and the other was used at the Covina store on Azusa. Mostly the areas at both stores were used to hold fixtures. At T188 the area held all the fixtures from store T187. That store was up the 215 at highland. The store is now Home Depot 683. It was originally a Two Guys location. The theft at T187 was so high that it opened and closed rather quickly. As for Target running auto centers. When Target first came to California it converted as many Fedmarts as it could to Target. It also opened auto centers at these location. My friends worked for Target when they when still operating. My first store location was at the La Verne store T227. The store never opened with an auto center, but if you were able to enter the stock room on the east side, the wall from the garden center out to the front of the building would have had dock doors. Inside the stock room the steel was put in place. Sometime during the buildings construction, Target decided to close down the auto center and this area was bricked in but you could tell from inside the stock room what they were buiding. At least you could when I worked there. The closed location on Mountain Ave. was store T186. The triangle signs are extremely high and have a ladder in the middle of them, but they are not that close to the ground. I remember my 2 friends having to change some lightbulbs in them and using the forklift and a scary stack of pallets to reach the ladder. Definely not something we could do these days. The sign for Fedmart in El Centro was probably for one of the original small locations. There was one in Fontana on Foothill that was white with maybe 25,000 sq ft. of selling space. The store didn't stock a very big mix, and when Sol opened the large old white fronts he kept this little store operational. It was never expanded, nor as I can remember did it have the room too. Another Target location I worked at was on Sterling Ave in San Bernardino. It was a former Gemco location and when the store first opened it was opened by Larry Baizae[sp]. He was the former Gemco mgr and the new Target mgr, heh crazy. For my last piece of trivia, during the years I worked at Target, we were a division of Dayton Hudson. We were always running under hours to make up for Mervyns, who were dying in Texas. The oil business had dried up and the stores were dead. At the same time the Gemco locations were closed, the Dayton Hudson corp wasn't overflowing with cash, but the reason I was told that we were buying Gemco was to keep Walmart from coming to California. Remember this was in 87 and Walmart was unheard of in Ca. You only heard of them from out of staters who were looking for one. Target knew for Walmart to enter CA they would have to open multiple locations at once and didn't want to give them an easy opportunity.

Hey thanks for the info on the current Orange Show Road Target/BIG LOTS. I literally there last week...and wondered what the BIG LOTS had been. The HUGE sign is still out there for Target...can't miss it from the freeway.