Summer Road Trip to Philadelphia and Suburbs

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TW-Upstate NY
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Re: Summer Road Trip to Philadelphia and Suburbs

Post by TW-Upstate NY »

Since I have more time, a little background about those two former Grand Union locations. The first one (Save-A-Lot in Fort Plain) actually survived every wave of GU closings and was bought and run by C+S Wholesale as part of the bankruptcy auction. I'd say it stayed open for maybe a year or so before closing. At that point, a Big M (which is a chain of independents supplied by Penn Traffic through P+C Foods) moved in but closed after the 2006 flood when the owner couldn't afford to reopen it. The Save-A-Lot came along maybe a year or so later. The Palatine Bridge store (now Ace Hardware) opened in the mid-70's and was converted by GU to Hot Dot Foods (their discount banner) in 1999 and ended up closing sometime the next year. It sat empty until Ace moved in sometime within the last few years. Also, if you had headed down Route 5 towards Fonda you would've found a recently closed Great American.
TW-Upstate NY
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Re: Summer Road Trip to Philadelphia and Suburbs

Post by TW-Upstate NY »

krogerclerk wrote: Maybe someone more familiar with Grand Union and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre region could fill us in.
I lived in the area from late 1966 to mid 1980 and I can't ever recall Grand Union even having one store in the area. The major players at that time were Acme, A+P and Giant Markets. I'm not even sure if that Giant chain is/was connected to Giant headquartered in Carlisle Pa. There was even an old Food Fair in the Keyser Oak Plaza in Scranton which was gone a couple years after we moved here. First and last Food Fair I was ever in. But to get back to the original topic, no Grand Union stores in the area during that time frame and I doubt there were any afterwards.
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Re: Summer Road Trip to Philadelphia and Suburbs

Post by maynesG »

Hi, Just fantastic photo!s Thanks for the photo of the Safeway/Finast on Spring Street in Elizabeth. The store was one of those last Finasts in the state and was sold with the rest to Mayfair Foodtown. It was closed by mayfair because they were in the process of opening a new store a couple of blocks up the street from this unit. Mayfair the moved their general office into the old Finast. Interestingly enough MAYFAIR then sold back all of the stores they had bougth along with they rest of the chain mostly old Food Fairs back to Edwards ,Finast new name .
Also the marty carpets in dscf2438 was originaly a yellow fronted Acme Market. The store would have had a Blue scripted cursive Acme sign, illuminated by an over head lamp. Their are several in the Philadelphia area and most seem to have become carpet stores.They date back to the 1940!s
The pictures on the Rooservelt Hoighway in the Philadelphia/ bensalem area amazed me having that area many years ago with Quaker Oats. I called on those closed Acmes and on some of the former Food fairs and penn Fruits that operated as Thriftways and Shop @ Bags.
sbtinme
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Re: Summer Road Trip to Philadelphia and Suburbs

Post by sbtinme »

TW-Upstate NY wrote: I'm not even sure if that Giant chain is/was connected to Giant headquartered in Carlisle Pa.
The two Giant chains are, in no way, connected with each other. The Carlisle operation was light years ahead of the Scranton outfit.
TW-Upstate NY
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Re: Summer Road Trip to Philadelphia and Suburbs

Post by TW-Upstate NY »

I didn't think there was a connection between the NE Pa. Giant stores of that era and Giant Carlisle. Ironically, Giant Carlisle has come into the Scranton Wilkes-Barre market over the last few years. I've got a Giant shopping bag from the mid 70's which maybe someday I'll scan the logo and put it up here on the board.
MBZ321
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Re: Summer Road Trip to Philadelphia and Suburbs

Post by MBZ321 »

Image# 34: I didn't know Acme still had stores that looked like this. Surprised given this area is more upscale (There is a Wegmans in Princeton, NJ).

Image # 47...There is another Big Marty's in Hatboro, PA that looks exactly like the one pictured. I guess it was an Acme too at one point as mentioned by a previous post.

Image # 56 (City Line Center, now Dollar Tree) was an Eckerd(Thrift Drug) until maybe 2 years ago. #57 (former Penn Fruit) contained a modernized Acme which closed only 3 or 4 years back.
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MikeRa
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Re: Summer Road Trip to Philadelphia and Suburbs

Post by MikeRa »

MBZ321 wrote:Image # 47...There is another Big Marty's in Hatboro, PA that looks exactly like the one pictured. I guess it was an Acme too at one point as mentioned by a previous post.
Image #47 was a former Lionel's Kiddie City location that closed in the mid 1970's, when Lionel started to build the bigger stores.

Image #48 was never a supermarket. Image #49 (The Pep Boys) was a former A&P Supermarket. The Staples that's in the same shopping center was 1/2 of a former Acme Super Saver.

Image #50 is a former Acme Markets.

Image #53 is a former A&P Supermarket.

Image #55 is a former A&P Supermarket, then a Gaudio's, then a Frank's Nursery & Crafts, before becoming part of a Chevy dealership.
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submariner
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Re: Summer Road Trip to Philadelphia and Suburbs

Post by submariner »

MikeRa wrote:
MBZ321 wrote: Image #55 is a former A&P Supermarket, then a Gaudio's, then a Frank's Nursery & Crafts, before becoming part of a Chevy dealership.
That's surprising... I worked at Frank's Nursery here in Michigan from 1998-2000 ... that's pretty big for a Frank's... Sidenote: it's a shame the company was so mismanaged in its final years, I really liked the place...
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neil mcauliffe
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Re: Summer Road Trip to Philadelphia and Suburbs

Post by neil mcauliffe »

Some great pictures. I think I can help you identify some of them

2435 was never a Food Fair and I don't think it was ever a supermarket. The former Food Fair/Pantry Pride is now a very busy Shop Rite and it is located at Frankford and Knorr which I think is across the street from this building.

2438 the Big Marty Carpet Store is a former Acme.

2439 at 10500 Roosevelt Blvd. I believe is an old furniture store. It was not a Penn Fruit.

2441 at 7900 Roosevelt Blvd. was an Acme. It was closed after Acme purchased the FF/PP/ PF at Pennypack Circle.

2442 at Roosevelt Mall was a Penn Fruit later converted to Dale's which was Penn Fruit's answer to Pantry Pride.

2444 on Cottman Avenue was a FF/PP.

2446 at 7201 Roosevelt Boulevard was an A&P. It opened around 57-58 notable because it did not have the colonial look.

2449 at 6301 Roosevelt Boulevard was a Penn Fruit later converted to Dale's.
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Re: Summer Road Trip to Philadelphia and Suburbs

Post by Groceteria »

neil mcauliffe wrote:Some great pictures. I think I can help you identify some of them
Thanks to all! I will update.
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MikeRa
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Re: Summer Road Trip to Philadelphia and Suburbs

Post by MikeRa »

neil mcauliffe wrote:Some great pictures. I think I can help you identify some of them

2435 was never a Food Fair and I don't think it was ever a supermarket. The former Food Fair/Pantry Pride is now a very busy Shop Rite and it is located at Frankford and Knorr which I think is across the street from this building.

2438 the Big Marty Carpet Store is a former Acme.
This location was also a former Kiddie City toy store, from the late 1960's to the early 1970's before becoming Big Marty's
2439 at 10500 Roosevelt Blvd. I believe is an old furniture store. It was not a Penn Fruit.

2441 at 7900 Roosevelt Blvd. was an Acme. It was closed after Acme purchased the FF/PP/ PF at Pennypack Circle.

2442 at Roosevelt Mall was a Penn Fruit later converted to Dale's which was Penn Fruit's answer to Pantry Pride.

2444 on Cottman Avenue was a FF/PP.

2446 at 7201 Roosevelt Boulevard was an A&P. It opened around 57-58 notable because it did not have the colonial look.

2449 at 6301 Roosevelt Boulevard was a Penn Fruit later converted to Dale's.
Photo #2249 was never a Penn Fruit. The front of the building looks simuilar to the Pep Boys (photo #2240) that's further up Roosevelt Blvd, at 9800 Roosevelt Blvd, and that Pep Boys was also a former A&P Supermarket. plus, the big vertical tower was also common in some locations with A&P, before they started building the "Centennial/Colonial" design, not Penn Fruit. Also the back of this locations look just like picture #2447, which is the back of the former A&P Supermarket that's in picture #2449.

Plus, less than 10 blocks from this location is the Holiday Thriftway at Frankford & Pratt, which was a former Penn Fruit/Dale's.
neil mcauliffe
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Re: Summer Road Trip to Philadelphia and Suburbs

Post by neil mcauliffe »

2449 was definitely a Penn Fruit. I grew up in that neighborhood and shopped a few times in that store. One of its unique features was that it had entrances on the Boulevard and from the parking lot. Most of the activity was on the parking lot side. I think there were only 2 or 3 checkouts on the Boulevard side.

It was not uncommon during that period to have stores from the same company relatively close together. Other examples by Penn Fruit would be Cottman and Bustleton, Cottman and Frankford and Frankford and Robbins.
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MikeRa
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Re: Summer Road Trip to Philadelphia and Suburbs

Post by MikeRa »

neil mcauliffe wrote:2449 was definitely a Penn Fruit. I grew up in that neighborhood and shopped a few times in that store. One of its unique features was that it had entrances on the Boulevard and from the parking lot. Most of the activity was on the parking lot side. I think there were only 2 or 3 checkouts on the Boulevard side.

It was not uncommon during that period to have stores from the same company relatively close together. Other examples by Penn Fruit would be Cottman and Bustleton, Cottman and Frankford and Frankford and Robbins.
Picture 2449 was never a Penn Fruit. it was a A&P. The front of that location (which faces the parking lot) matches exactly with the former A&P (current Pep Boys) on Roosevelt Blvd & Red Lion Road, as well as some of the old A&P that were in Southern California. There was also a A&P store on Woodlawn Avenue that had the same tower as the Roosevelt Blvd & Bustelton Avenue store.

The Penn Fruit location at Bridge & Pratt was built sometime after 1962, replacing a smaller store that was on the SE Corner of Frankford & Bridge Street. That original Penn Fruit location was bordered by a Bowling Alley and the Forum/Ellis Theatre, and was replaced, along with the bowling alley, by the current building that houses a chicken fast food place.
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Re: Summer Road Trip to Philadelphia and Suburbs

Post by neil mcauliffe »

MikeRA, I don't know what I have to do to prove to you that picture 2449 located at 6301 Roosevelt Blvd. was a Penn Fruit. As I previously said I grew up in that neighborhood and I am old enough to have shopped there when it was a supermarket. (I think it closed as a supermarket in the early 70s). The A&P was a few blocks north of this location at the Boulevard and St. Vincent and is currently a clothing store.

BTW, are you certain about the 1962 date for the Pratt Street store? I thought it was a little older.
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Re: Summer Road Trip to Philadelphia and Suburbs

Post by MikeRa »

neil mcauliffe wrote:MikeRA, I don't know what I have to do to prove to you that picture 2449 located at 6301 Roosevelt Blvd. was a Penn Fruit. As I previously said I grew up in that neighborhood and I am old enough to have shopped there when it was a supermarket. (I think it closed as a supermarket in the early 70s). The A&P was a few blocks north of this location at the Boulevard and St. Vincent and is currently a clothing store.

BTW, are you certain about the 1962 date for the Pratt Street store? I thought it was a little older.
It could have been that A&P opened the store originally in the 1950's, then sold the store to Penn Fruit in the 1960's. I do know that by the 1970's it was already Gaudio's Garden Center.

As far as the Penn Fruit (Holiday Thriftway), that store was amung their 3 pieces of land and buildings that they owned in the FTC area in 1962. One of the land that they owned now has Walgreen's on it. There was also a A&P Food Market store across the street from the Thriftway. this A&P later became a Rite Aid, and is now demolished and the Market Frankford Line passes over its's site.
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