"GIANT" supermarket near century and crenshaw in l

Uh...California.

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steps
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"GIANT" supermarket near century and crenshaw in l

Post by steps »

hey guys! does anyone remember this store...?? i remember it as a little kid...it had a bakery...service deli..(i think) and a ice cream couter...this store was huge!! it was opened by ralhs because i remember seeing the prvt label products there...i loved this store...! i believe today its a food4less...does anyone know if they are any still around...??? thanks!
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Post by runchadrun »

Ralphs bought many of the old Zody's discount department stores in the late 80's and turned them into "The Giant" which for some time was also called "Ralphs' The Giant" (they dotted the "i" with the oval Ralphs logo).

This was about the same time Vons launched Pavilions. Vons was going for the upscale with their "chain within a chain", Ralphs was going for volume with these huge stores. With each chain, the parent chain went back and forth between whether the stores would have separate identities with separate promotions. (For a while the Vons logo appeared over the Pavilions logo on their signs.)

The Giant format only lasted a couple of years, when the stores were turned into the Ralphs format and many of those became Food4Less after Yucaipa bought out Ralphs.
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Post by steps »

wow u so rock! your so smart when it comes to this!!

but pavilions laucned in 1985...and i was there with my aunt and mom...i cant remember the sign with the vons logo tho...does vons have a logo...?? lol...and yes at the time of the pavilions launch, the store had its own ads which didn't cross over into vons! so u couldnt get the same sale item at vons from a pavilions ad...it wa sgreat tho...i love the pavilions brand...too bad it went to hell with the safeway take over!

people still dont realize pavilions is owned by vons.....the old store format from the launch was VERY bland....the store was all white...with 2 colored strips boarding the walls of the stores....! red was on tops...(for the Vons color) and purple was on the bottom...(for pavilions color)...but is there any point to the pavilions chain anymore...?? i mean they are all the same now! when iw as younger the pavilions stores were all unquie...bakery and service deli products would vary from store to store...because back they they allowed the employees to to bring in recipes and the chefs would prepare them and sell them to the public....wonderful memories!!

thanks again for your reply!
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Post by runchadrun »

1985 is actually probably about right for Zody's closing. I know Gemco closed in 1986 and I don't remember if Zody's closed before or after. But Giant and Pavilions launched around (not necessarily at) the same time.

By Vons logo, I meant the red "VONS" sign you see on every store. For a while it was above the pink and purple Pavilions sign.

I haven't understood the point of Pavilions anymore either. My local Vons has just remodeled and looks quite spiffy inside and has always had the same amenities as Pavilions (pharmacy, service deli, Panda Express, Wells Fargo). I figured Safeway wasn't opening any new Pavilions, but a couple years ago they opened one in Valencia. And it's a couple miles away from a Vons in Stevenson Ranch of about the same age with the same amenities.

As a side note, some of the former Safeways that became Pavilions were originally called "Pavilions Place." I'm not sure why, maybe they weren't big enough to hold things like the huge service deli and bakery and pharmacy.
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Post by Steve Landry »

Yes, I think you are on the mark about that. If memory serves me, Pavillions Place was the moniker they used for their smaller stores (in upscale neighborhoods).
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Post by steps »

i dont think the "pavilions place" idea is right....because the pavilions place in torrance ca has a service deli and a bakery and is a pretty decent size! u wanna talk about a small store...the pavilions in beverly hills is SMALL....but it has a full service deli and some what of a bakery...its more of a bake off if u ask me...lol...and the pavilions in santa monica is SMALL...it has a sevice deli but no barey...and their panada express is on the outside of the store ....but i would say the only store that is like the old school pavilions is the one in burbank...they carry things the other stores dont....it jus got a recent remodel...the store is beauoh and they opened up a few new pavilions stores a couple of yes ago that i know of....

i think they are concertrating on remodeling current stores right now.....they are putting pavilions stores up in more ritzy areas because of the name and status i suppose...but vons/pavilions all the same to me now!

they are also converting some stores to vons from pavilions....like for example trhe very first pavilions they opened up in 1985 in garden grove is now a vons....I'm assuming they are goin with the class of the area...garden grove isnt like it was in the 80's anymore...and a pavilions wouldnt fit there....
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Post by Jeff »

Pavillions also closed a lot of stores.

One I couldnt beleive was one they opened in the late 80's in Baldwin Park. I was later turned into a Vons, then closed. It lasted at the most 10 years.

All the Giant locations are Food 4 Less stores nowadays. The Giant stores were so big that most added shops within the market (Annas Linens, video stores, etc were added to the fronts of them, and many remain today)

Zodys closed in 86, same year as Gemco.
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Post by storewanderer »

The Garden Grove Vons has closed. It received no remodel in the conversion from Pavilions to Vons.

The Chino Pavilions was converted first to Vons, then to Pak N Save, then closed.
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Post by Jeff »

The Upland Pavillions has closed as well.
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Post by steps »

when did the garden grove vons close...??? that's a shawm...as i loved goin to that store with my aunt...I'm sure the area has changed tho...it isnt upper middle class anymore....
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Post by runchadrun »

I believe the Chino Vons/Pavilions is (was?) a former Gemco. I knew it was a Vons but I didn't realize it was Pavilions, though that would make sense considering the strange layout of the store. My personal connection to that store is that someone was giving away kittens outside that store in 1991 and my ex mother-in-law took one. About a year later he became my cat, and he's still my kitty today :-)

If you want to talk about a short-lived concept from Vons, how about their Expo format? I never went in one, but I understand it was supposed to be like a warehouse store. I know there was one in Fontana and one in Pomona inside a former Gemco.
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Post by Jeff »

The Vons Expo only lasted about a year or two. I think it opened in the mid 90's in the Former Gemco, and then closed by 1995. It became a Pic N Save (pre-big lots) and closed as well immediately. The building was torn down a few years back, and has been an empty lot since.
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Post by greebs »

The Garden Grove Vons closed at the end of the year of 2004. It opened in 1985 as a Pavillions, having been a Zodys store. This was the first Zodys store to open back in 1960.
I have a picture i took in December of this store right before it closed, but i just don't know how to put it with my reply.
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