Defunct grocery chains you personally shopped at

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Ohio Man
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Location: Cincinnati, Ohio

Defunct grocery chains you personally shopped at

Post by Ohio Man »

Ones you browsed in without buying are OK as well. Memory exercises like this are not only fun but remind me of places I've traveled in the past. Also, any lists serve to shed some light on supermarket history.

My List:

-Albers (Portsmouth, Ohio)

-Schwegmann (New Orleans)

-Canal Villere (New Orleans)

-Van Leunens (Cincinnati area)

Defunct regional chain based in Cincinnati. Most locations were
general merchandise discount department stores, but some had
full service supermarkets.

-National (St. Louis)

-Kwik Chek (Miami, Florida area)

By the time I shopped there, pretty much Tweededum to Winn Dixie's
Tweedledee

-Pantry Pride (Vero Beach, Florida)

Food Fair's (the old one, not the newer chain with the same name)
discount grocery operation, if memory serves.

-Big Bear (Columbus, Ohio)

-Hart's Family Center (Portsmouth, Ohio area)

Owned by Big Bear, much like Van Leunens: discount department
store with full supermarket attached

-Super Duper (Columbus, Ohio)

-Thriftway (Cincinnati area)

Long time regional chain based in Cincinnati, owned by Winn Dixie at
the time of its demise in 2004-2005.

-Thorofare (Greater Cincinnati area)

-LoBills (Cincinnati area)

Discount grocery brand of Indianpolis-based Marsh. All existing
locations appear to have been converted to Marsh Hometown
Markets

-Stevens (Miam, Florida area)

Interesting case here. In the Miami area in the late 60s, and
perhaps into the early 70s, the papers would run joint ads for
Grand Union, Grand Way (supermarket in addition to general
merchandise), and Stevens--I guess Grand Union owned all three.
I remember my father buying a Christmas tree at Stevens during
a holiday visit to my grandmother in Miami.

On edit:
A&P (New Orleans and various locations in Ohio)
Pathmark (New Monmouth, New Jersey or close by)
Super Fresh (Ocean City, Maryland)

On further edit:

Marsh (Cincinnati, Ohio area)
Marsh Hometown Market (Cincinnati, Ohio area)
MainStreet Market (Cincinnati, Ohio area)

On further edit:

Dominick's (suburban Chicago)

On further edit:

Grand Union (New Monmouth, New Jersey area)

Mars (Baltimore area)

Stop-n-Shop (Cleveland area)

BI-LO (South Carolina)

-
Last edited by Ohio Man on 03 May 2021 07:24, edited 7 times in total.
klkla
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Joined: 29 Jun 2006 18:39

Re: Defunct grocery chains you personally shopped at

Post by klkla »

Seattle:
Thriftway
Lucky
Mayfair

So Cal:
Big Bear (San Diego)
Market Basket
Lucky
Food Basket (San Diego)
Mayfair
Low Cost Discount Foods (Part of Mayfair)
The Boys
Viva
ABC Markets
McCoys
Alpha Beta
Hughes Markets
Thriftimart

Arizona
El Rancho Markets
A.J. Bayless
ABCO
Food Giant

I'm probably forgetting some in Southern California because there have been so many!
maynesG
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Location: DELAWARE

Re: Defunct grocery chains you personally shopped at

Post by maynesG »

Defunct SuperMarkets I Have Shopped In: Finast/First National
Victory/Great American
Food Fair/ Pantry Pride
HoneYDew Markets
American Family Stores
Pickwell Markets
Federated Co-op ( four Store co in Nyc)
Parkers Thriftways 5 store chain
Shop & Save Markets ( ten Store Chain)
Clements Markets
Mad Grocers
Grand Union
ShopWell
Bohack
Sloans
Packard Bambergers
Panzenhagens Foodtowns
Mayfair Foodtowns
Valley Fair
Modells
Two Guys
Great Eastern
Lyods of Orange County Ny
I am sure there is more Gerry
s
Super S
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Re: Defunct grocery chains you personally shopped at

Post by Super S »

As I have traveled all over the U.S. growing up, I can think of a few:
(Some are mentioned that no longer operate in those regions, but exist elsewhere)

Ohio:
Food Town
Pick-N-Pay
Lawsons Convenience Stores
A & P
The Andersons

Wyoming:
Buttrey

Idaho:
M&W
Waremart (same company is now WinCo)
D'Alessandro's (very nice single-store operation in Boise which I believe was bankrupted by an employee embezzling money)
Maxx Warehouse Food & Drug (what I believe is the first one of these Albertsons-owned stores opened in the former D'Alessandros, the name was later changed from Maxx to Max.)
Smith's (Boise locations)
Maverik Country Stores
Club Wholesale
Safeway (Boise, Mountain Home, Nampa)
Buttrey (three Boise locations became Albertsons in the 1980s)
Paul's
Canned Foods Warehouse (this would evolve into Grocery Outlet)

Washington:
Thriftway (there appears to be a Seattle based as well as a Portland based chain with this name, and I believe most, if not all, of the stores in Washington that were operated by the Portland based chain have closed)
Park-N-Shop (Longview, this store was an IGA and later Thriftway)
Shop 'N Kart (Longview)
Stock Market Foods
Bag 'N Save Foods
Mega Foods
TOP Foods (Kelso)
Sinnett's Market Place (Two-store chain in Longview-Kelso which closed a few years ago)
Sentry (various small towns)
Cub Foods
Food World (Vancouver, this was an attempt by Zupan's at a discount format, a store that barely lasted a year. I believe there was one other location in Oregon)
Canned Foods Warehouse (this would evolve into Grocery Outlet)
Haggen (pre-Albertsons ownership)


Oregon:
Kienow's
Waremart/Cub Foods (before the Waremart name returned for smaller locations)
Sentry (various small towns)
Farmer Jack (during their brief time they took over some Safeway locations in Eastern Oregon/Idaho) The only location I ever visited was in Ontario, Oregon. The store was basically an unremodeled Safeway with Farmer Jack signs covering everything that said Safeway.
Haggen

California:
Alpha Beta
Lucky (pre-Albertsons chain)
G&G Supermarkets

I updated this list on 12/10/21 to add a few more that I remember, and a few that have disappeared since my first post.
Last edited by Super S on 10 Dec 2021 09:36, edited 2 times in total.
jamcool
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Re: Defunct grocery chains you personally shopped at

Post by jamcool »

Defunct/departed chains in Phoenix

AJ Bayless (at its end just known as "BAYLESS")
E-Z Save (one store discount grocery/dept store experiment by Bayless)
Cooke's (another Bayless experiment - a warehouse-style supermarket)
The famous Smitty's..which briefly changed to Fred Meyer before becoming Fry's Marketplace
Smith's (changed to Fry's with the Kroger/Fred Meyer merger)
El Rancho/Low Cost (Low Cost rebranded to El Rancho just before Mayfair shut down its AZ operations)
Alpha Beta (which its AZ stores became ABCO in the mid 80s, then finally ABCO Desert Markets)
Gemco
Lucky (AZ stores bought out by ABCO in the late 80s)
TW-Upstate NY
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Re: Defunct grocery chains you personally shopped at

Post by TW-Upstate NY »

I don't have as varied a shopping history as some of you but a few Upstate NY names do come to mind:

-P+C Foods-the recently bankrupt (again) Penn Traffic Company's flagship banner. Topps Friendly Markets bought the company and rebranded a number of the units and closed or sold off others

-Save-Way Markets-a very small local chain based in Schenectady, NY which was bought out in the early 1970's by the very same P+C Foods listed above

-Chicago Markets-small regional chain based in Utica, NY which was bought out by Victory Markets of Norwich, NY in the late 1980's and now Victory (aka Great American) is gone as well although some units live on as independently-owned franchises. Chicago Markets was known for their unbiquitous yellow shopping carts-"come on in and push me around" was their slogan

-Central Markets-this chain isn't really defunct but was rebranded by Schenectady based Golub Corp. as Price Chopper in the early 1970's. And if you want to include rebranding, you could also count Shop 'N Save-a Hannaford Brothers banner which entered the local area in the late 1980's and eventually all the stores were rebranded Hannaford which they continue as to this day.

-Albany Public Markets-another small local chain which was bought by Weis Markets way back in the 1960's and eventually was closed down by Weis sometime in the 1980's by either closing or selling off the units.

Now, I have a question/comment. I read some of the replies and they mention Grand Union. I think I have to take issue with that since there are some GU's left which are run by C+S Wholesale who bought what was left of the original company in a bankruptcy auction. They also have some connection to whatever is left of Great American as well.
dooneyt63
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Joined: 07 Nov 2005 20:16

Re: Defunct grocery chains you personally shopped at

Post by dooneyt63 »

Mississippi:

Jitney Jungle
Sunflower(Lewis Grocer Co.)
Liberty Cash Markets
Big Star(supplied by Malone & Hyde)
Food Center/Sack & Save
New Deal Supermarkets
National

Alabama:

Delchamps

Florida:

Pantry Pride
Kash 'n Karry(now Sweetbay and owned by Delhaize, then owned by Lucky and independent)
Jewel T(limited assortment)
Grand Union(original chain, not the current C&S operation)
Ohio Man
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Posts: 18
Joined: 11 Mar 2009 14:49
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio

Re: Defunct grocery chains you personally shopped at

Post by Ohio Man »

Ohio Man wrote:Ones you browsed in without buying are OK as well. Memory exercises like this are not only fun but remind me of places I've traveled in the past. Also, any lists serve to shed some light on supermarket history.

My List:

-Albers (Portsmouth, Ohio)

-Schwegmann (New Orleans)

-Canal Villere (New Orleans)

-Van Leunens (Cincinnati area)

Defunct regional chain based in Cincinnati. Most locations were
general merchandise discount department stores, but some had
full service supermarkets.

-National (St. Louis)

-Kwik Chek (Miami, Florida area)

By the time I shopped there, pretty much Tweededum to Winn Dixie's
Tweedledee

-Pantry Pride (Vero Beach, Florida)

Food Fair's (the old one, not the newer chain with the same name)
discount grocery operation, if memory serves.

-Big Bear (Columbus, Ohio)

-Hart's Family Center (Portsmouth, Ohio area)

Owned by Big Bear, much like Van Leunens: discount department
store with full supermarket attached

-Super Duper (Columbus, Ohio)

-Thriftway (Cincinnati area)

Long time regional chain based in Cincinnati, owned by Winn Dixie at
the time of its demise in 2004-2005.

-Thorofare (Greater Cincinnati area)

-LoBills (Cincinnati area)

Discount grocery brand of Indianpolis-based Marsh. All existing
locations appear to have been converted to Marsh Hometown
Markets

-Stevens (Miam, Florida area)

Interesting case here. In the Miami area in the late 60s, and
perhaps into the early 70s, the papers would run joint ads for
Grand Union, Grand Way (supermarket in addition to general
merchandise), and Stevens--I guess Grand Union owned all three.
I remember my father buying a Christmas tree at Stevens during
a holiday visit to my grandmother in Miami.


-




I'm following the good example of others by amending my initial post to include the areas where I shopped at the closed chains.

I guess Grand Union is a judgment call. I decided not to include them in my list but I did shop at a pre-C+S location in or near New Monmouth, New Jersey.

There are probably others I've been to that I don't recall at the moment. I'll add them in as I remember them.
paysh
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Joined: 17 Sep 2006 13:58

Re: Defunct grocery chains you personally shopped at

Post by paysh »

I shopped at the following defunct stores in New York:

downstate: (Chappaqua, NY)

Grand Union

upstate (Elmira, NY)

Great American

Super Duper
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Brian Lutz
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Re: Defunct grocery chains you personally shopped at

Post by Brian Lutz »

Not a lot really, there isn't much turnover here lately.

Southwest (NM/AZ):
Alpha Beta
Furr's
Lucky
Abco

Northwest (Seattle area):
Larry's Market
Olson's (merged into QFC, then Kroger)
The Sledgehammer - Version 2.0 - Seattle Area Malls, Retail History, and other random things.
krogerclerk
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Joined: 05 Nov 2005 01:47
Location: Northwest Georgia

Re: Defunct grocery chains you personally shopped at

Post by krogerclerk »

Colonial/Big Star
Seesel's(Memphis, TN)
Red Food(now BiLo)
White Stores (now Food City)
Big Apple/Food Giant
Pantry Pride
Acme of SW Virginia
Community Cash
Kash-n-Karry
The Family Mart(A&P)
FutureStore(A&P)
Jitney Jungle
Delchamps
M&M(now Kroger)
Doscher's
M&J Markets
Consumer Warehouse(a Bruno's format)
National/Real Superstore
Gooding's
Florida Choice/SupeRx Food-Drug(Kroger in Florida)
Goolsby Foods
jimbobga
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Posts: 68
Joined: 10 Feb 2007 01:31
Location: Senoia, Ga

Re: Defunct grocery chains you personally shopped at

Post by jimbobga »

Jackson's "Sooper" Market
...five-store chain with a store in Orlando and four stores in Brevard County, FL. Competed with A&P and Winn-Dixie, but done in by Publix by the mid-60's
Setzer's
...Jacksonville, FL, chain mentioned on here previously in another post.
Bargain Corner
...Savannah, GA; two-store deep discount chain; closed around 1980
Food Town/Food Fair
...six store inner-city Savannah, GA, chain; five operated as Food Town; one as Food Fair. Chain was bought out in the mid-eighties by...
Gurley's
...Augusta, GA, based grocer with run-down stores in county seat towns around Augusta
Frederich's
...Pompano Beach, Fl; somewhat upscale and possibly connected to Food Fair in the late fifties
Deskin's
...Southern WV/western VA chain that served the exact same area as the locally-owned Acme stores up until the seventies; Deskins survived Acme by a few years.
Mick-or-Mack
...another chain serving the same area as Deskin's and Acme, although Mick-or-Mack covered more territory, and was based in Roanoke. There is still one relic of this store operating under the same name, signage, and decor, in Roanoke. The rest of the chain disappeared slowly in the fifties/sixties
Jones and Spry
...four-store chain in southern WV, with store-front locations in larger towns in the coalfields; they disappeared with the coal and the people
Island Creek Stores
General Stores
Pocahontas Fuel Stores
...actually "company stores," in the coalfields of the southern Appalachians; stores lost their comapny-store personnae in the sixties and operated as grocery stores run by coal companies until they disappeared in the eighties.
wrallen99
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Joined: 17 Jun 2007 15:08
Location: Austin

Re: Defunct grocery chains you personally shopped at

Post by wrallen99 »

Texas:

Skagg's Alpha Beta
Appletree
wnetmacman
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Joined: 06 Nov 2005 23:48

Re: Defunct grocery chains you personally shopped at

Post by wnetmacman »

In Texas:

Buddies
Skaggs Alpha Beta (and Skaggs/Albertsons before that)

In Louisiana:

Canal Villere
Sav-A-Center (they were a little different from A&P)
Scott Greer
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submariner
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Joined: 01 Jul 2007 02:13
Location: Orange County, CA

Re: Defunct grocery chains you personally shopped at

Post by submariner »

In California:
Alpha-Beta
GEMCO
does Price Club count?
Fedco
Lucky

In Michigan:
Farmer Jack (actually worked there as well)
Food Town
Family Foodland

Elsewhere:
Abco
Furr's
==========
Aaron
"his foxtail-wielding skills are unparalleled, dust bunnies fear his name"
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