Possible ex-Delaware Food Fair (Kiddie City)

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Ephrata1966
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Possible ex-Delaware Food Fair (Kiddie City)

Post by Ephrata1966 »

The Pep Boys on 202 in Wilmington (2904 Concord Pike) looks suspiciously like a couple Food Fairs in West and South Philadelphia which are post offices now. What really gives it away is the run down steel poles holding up the front. I know Pep Boys bought a certain 50's Food Fair in New Castle, along with the Penn Fruit in Glenolden, PA after it was a skating rink for a few years.
maynesG
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Re: Possible ex-Delaware Food Fair

Post by maynesG »

Hi, the Pep Boys that you are speaking of was a part of a five store toy store chain , known as Kiddie Land that died in the early80!s. They had a unit in a simillar store east of the Tri State Mall on Naamans Road( Up on A hill south Bound Lane) that is a home improvement store, they also had the old Penn Fruit in Prices Corner and one in Dover. The one in Naamans is similar to the old Thriftway/Shop&Bag/American Family store, now a Green Tree Dollar Store on the Philadelphia Pike. I don!t think that any of these store were Food Fairs Here is a list of Food Fairs that a former DM with that chain gave me years ago.
Tri State Mall route 141 New Castle
route 141 north of the Kirkwood hwy
Graylin Crest Plazza
3114 Market Street
55 marrows Road
2005 Pennsyvania ave
1400 Dupont Highway
3416Philadelphia Pike
714 Maryland Avenue All of these considered Wilmington Area units
Ephrata1966
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Re: Possible ex-Delaware Food Fair

Post by Ephrata1966 »

Are you sure Kiddie City wasn't the name? That chain was owned by Penn Fruit at one time. I think the Food Fair on Cottman in North Philly became a Kiddie City and has for years now been a Toys R Us.
maynesG
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Re: Possible ex-Delaware Food Fair

Post by maynesG »

Hi, NOPE, Kiddie Land a Delaware independent chain and insttution. Belive me I know the difference. My kids were small and I shopped in Kiddie City, Toys R Us, Kiddie Land, KBToys and many others. Often going half nuts trying to find the latest and greatest toy that was in limited supply for Christmas morning ( I miss those days!) Hey, wasn!t the name of the chain LIonels Kiddie City. There was one in South Philadelphia off of Oregon Avenue ,in and Old Acme
across from the new Acme facing a Cross street( I cant think of the centers name or cross street)
Ephrata1966
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Re: Possible ex-Delaware Food Fair

Post by Ephrata1966 »

Did they have Toys R Us anywhere in Philadelphia/Delaware before 1984 or so? Toys R Us used to be a lot like KB Toys with small stores in malls. Dixie Square Mall in Chicagoland had a Walgreens before the mall closed in 1979. For The Blues Brothers movie, the Walgreens was "dressed up" as a Toys R Us. This mall is still abandoned to this day! I think it was built by the same people as Cheltenham Square Mall in North Philadelphia. It opened a little earlier and started with Gimbels instead of Penneys. That mall got a minor remodel in 1980-something and has been freshened up lately. Merchants Square in Wilmington reminds me a lot of Dixie Square too. Only difference is Merchants Square has been maintained all these years! That center also once had a JCPenney, but the main empty anchor is a Strawbridge's. And instead of sitting empty with a JCPenney sign, it wears a Marshalls sign that was never used!
neil mcauliffe
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Re: Possible ex-Delaware Food Fair

Post by neil mcauliffe »

The Toys R Us in the former Food Fair/Pantry Pride at Cottman and Castor was never a Kiddie City. There was a Kiddie City store over near where the Orleans Theater was located. (At one time there was a Pathmark next to the Orleans but that is another story). Kiddie City was owned by the Lionel Corporation.
Ephrata1966
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Re: Possible ex-Delaware Food Fair

Post by Ephrata1966 »

What about the one in South Philadelphia next to the ex-Acme/Chinese market? I know they were once owned by Penn Fruit. The Penn Fruit in Darby I think was closed experimentally in the early 1970s, then was converted to Kiddie City. Perhaps the competition from Acme Super Saver in Yeadon and the new Pantry Pride nearby was too intense. That store later moved to Springfield and was converted to Toys R Us, which closed in 2005 and is a PetSmart at this point. The Darby store became a Big Marty's flooring store and is now ironically a welfare office!

Is it true KB Toys is now completely gone?
JoshAustin610
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Re: Possible ex-Delaware Food Fair

Post by JoshAustin610 »

I did some research on the Delco Times archives, which gave me some info about Kiddie City:

The first store opened in 1954 as "Nelson's Kiddie City"; it was acquired by Penn Fruit in 1961 and then sold to Lionel in the late 60s. The Springfield store was at 641 Baltimore Pike and opened as their 16th store in 1969; that's the store that became Toys R Us and then Petsmart. Previous locations were on 69th St in Upper Darby (closed by the late 60s), 3721 West Chester Pike in Newtown Square, and 1011 Macdade Blvd in Collingdale (both closed in 1970 after the opening of the Springfield store). According to articles the toy store at 845 Main St in Darby (the Penn Fruit) was called Play Town; either that was a chain later started by Penn Fruit after selling Kiddie City, or it simply moved in after Penn Fruit left. It was never mentioned in any of the Kiddie City ads though.

KB had been consistently closing stores since early 2004 as leases came up, but all of their remaining stores liquidated and closed in early 2009.
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MikeRa
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Re: Possible ex-Delaware Food Fair

Post by MikeRa »

JoshAustin610 wrote:I did some research on the Delco Times archives, which gave me some info about Kiddie City:

The first store opened in 1954 as "Nelson's Kiddie City"; it was acquired by Penn Fruit in 1961 and then sold to Lionel in the late 60s. The Springfield store was at 641 Baltimore Pike and opened as their 16th store in 1969; that's the store that became Toys R Us and then Petsmart. Previous locations were on 69th St in Upper Darby (closed by the late 60s), 3721 West Chester Pike in Newtown Square, and 1011 Macdade Blvd in Collingdale (both closed in 1970 after the opening of the Springfield store). According to articles the toy store at 845 Main St in Darby (the Penn Fruit) was called Play Town; either that was a chain later started by Penn Fruit after selling Kiddie City, or it simply moved in after Penn Fruit left. It was never mentioned in any of the Kiddie City ads though.

KB had been consistently closing stores since early 2004 as leases came up, but all of their remaining stores liquidated and closed in early 2009.
Lionel operated their toy stor division under the Kiddie City, Play Town, and Playworld names. The final location of the Lionel Toy Division HQ was on Grant Avenue, in NE Philadelphia, across the street from the old Penn Fruit bakery complex (now LA Fitness and GIANT [PA] on that site)
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