What is the oldest Safeway in operation?

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pseudo3d
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What is the oldest Safeway in operation?

Post by pseudo3d »

Question posed: what is the oldest Safeway in operation? To meet this criteria, I'm looking for stores with minimal remodels, but the oldest one, total, without extensive closures and especially not being demolished and rebuilt. I know that there's many from the 1960s still in S.F., and the oldest in the (combined company) is Albertsons in Boise, where the 1939 store is (it's been expanded, obviously, but it looks like the old building is one and the same), and I don't believe anymore stores from the 1930s exist anywhere anymore (the 1930 A&P in New Orleans was sold to Rouses in 2007 after a 77-year run).
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Re: What is the oldest Safeway in operation?

Post by wnetmacman »

I would bet that it's going to be a Marina-styled store, or possibly Market St. in San Francisco. Safeway isn't very nostalgic; they will and frequently did replace stores due to size and age constraints. Not a west coast example, but I use Henderson, Texas as a good fit for this. Henderson had THREE stores in a very short (less than 30 year) period. The original store was just down the block north from the Court house. Store 2 was a Marina 10 blocks south (around 1968), and store 3 was built in 1980 on US79 south (now a Kroger). I never went in store #1 as Safeway, because it was moved before I was born. I did go in the Marina store there, and it was always full and always cramped. The third store was nice and spacious, but didn't stay Safeway long enough (7 years) because of the Dallas pullout. Both 1 and 2 became Brookshire Brothers after Safeway moved out. Even BB had three locations, moving down the hill from Safeway to the old Kmart when they moved. BB is no longer in Henderson, a victim of a successful alcohol referendum (the store was across the street from a school).
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Re: What is the oldest Safeway in operation?

Post by TheQuestioner »

The Market St. Safeway might have been Marina-styled ages ago, but it certainly isn't now. I think it is so old, that it was built without a Marina roof, was given one when that became the chain's "signature style" and has since been expanded and remodeled beyond recognition. That location definitely has one of the oldest Safeway signs still standing, it looks to be from the late 40s/early 50s from the font used. Another very old active Safeway is the initial Marina store on Marina Blvd. in San Francisco. It still looks as it should, for the most part, though the interior has of course been spruced up given the well-off clientele of the neighborhood. If there are any older active stores out there, I'd love to hear about them!
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Re: What is the oldest Safeway in operation?

Post by submariner »

Not sure if Vons stores count, but there's a 1940's Safeway-turned-Vons in Avalon on Catalina island still in operation today... It is sadly not long for the world, however: http://www.thelog.com/CatalinaConnectio ... roves-Vons

And there's plenty of Gable-era Safeway and Vons stores around predating the Marina stores :)

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pseudo3d
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Re: What is the oldest Safeway in operation?

Post by pseudo3d »

Probably one of the smallest stores in operation (it looks not much bigger than a 7-Eleven), not counting those "seaside village" Acme stores that the chain keeps still. Reading one of the news articles seems to indicate a proposed 28k square feet would be "way too large" for the area, when in reality, 30k is probably the absolute minimum for a full-line grocery store.
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Re: What is the oldest Safeway in operation?

Post by Groceteria »

The MacArthur Boulevard store in Washington DC is one of the strongest contenders. It opened mid-1940s and seems to have been expanded fairly shortly afterward in the same style as the original (which is still very visible). There are plans in the works to demolish it and build a new store with housing above.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Safew ... 3f!6m1!1e1
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Re: What is the oldest Safeway in operation?

Post by klkla »

Back when I worked for Safeway many years ago the Avalon store was store #1 (the actual number of the store) although I don't think it was Safeway's first store in the division. At that time the divisions all had their own numbers so there were duplicate numbers in the chain for different divisions.
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Re: What is the oldest Safeway in operation?

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TheQuestioner wrote:The Market St. Safeway might have been Marina-styled ages ago, but it certainly isn't now. I think it is so old, that it was built without a Marina roof, was given one when that became the chain's "signature style" and has since been expanded and remodeled beyond recognition. That location definitely has one of the oldest Safeway signs still standing, it looks to be from the late 40s/early 50s from the font used.
The Marina facade still exists and in fact with the recent addition of a Starbucks kiosk, windows were restored to the facade for the first time since the 90s!

Not as old as Marina Boulevard or Market Street, but the Bernal Heights (Mission/30th) store that I visit regularly is now the only one remaining in city limits (and one of few, period) still using the pre-1982 Circle S logo, though it has been remodeled to the Lifestyle look inside and has current logos elsewhere. (A smaller, half-sized Marina that actually predates the namesake store over on 7th between Cabrillo & Fulton was replaced about 5-6 years ago with a new-build store, and I think on this website I've seen photos of a Columbus Avenue store like the 7th/Cabrillo design which closed in the 80s) With the rockface wings, this is probably the most standard of the Marina-prototype stores remaining in the Bay Area with the demolition of the Millbrae example for a new-build parking-on-ground-level Safeway.
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Re: What is the oldest Safeway in operation?

Post by Groceteria »

That store opened in 1954 as a pylon store and was renovated into a Marina variation around 1965 with the addition of the drugstore.
TheQuestioner wrote:The Market St. Safeway might have been Marina-styled ages ago, but it certainly isn't now. I think it is so old, that it was built without a Marina roof, was given one when that became the chain's "signature style" and has since been expanded and remodeled beyond recognition. That location definitely has one of the oldest Safeway signs still standing, it looks to be from the late 40s/early 50s from the font used.!
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Re: What is the oldest Safeway in operation?

Post by TheStranger »

A couple of recent photos I took of the marina Safeway at 30th & Mission in San Francisco's Bernal Heights:

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Re: What is the oldest Safeway in operation?

Post by Jason B. »

The San Francisco Chronicle ran a brief profile of the legendary Marina Safeway at 15 Marina Blvd. in San Francisco in its March 31, 2013 edition (p. C4). This was part of the "Cityscape" series by John King. He wrote that it was built in 1959. Architect was Wurster, Bernardi & Emmons. Mr. King has a poetic style, "The design celebrated the interior by framing it in glass beneath a barrel-vaulted ceiling ..." He notes, "This Marina icon was the prototype for a hundred or more fine-tuned grocery stores nationwide, modernism in the service of American shoppers."
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Re: What is the oldest Safeway in operation?

Post by Super S »

pseudo3d wrote:Question posed: what is the oldest Safeway in operation? To meet this criteria, I'm looking for stores with minimal remodels, but the oldest one, total, without extensive closures and especially not being demolished and rebuilt. I know that there's many from the 1960s still in S.F., and the oldest in the (combined company) is Albertsons in Boise, where the 1939 store is (it's been expanded, obviously, but it looks like the old building is one and the same), and I don't believe anymore stores from the 1930s exist anywhere anymore (the 1930 A&P in New Orleans was sold to Rouses in 2007 after a 77-year run).
The original 1939 Albertsons store was demolished many years ago. The current location sits just north of the original, and started life as a Grand Central store, and was remodeled into an Albertsons in the early 1980s. This location is the present day Albertsons.
The oldest Albertsons in Boise was the Broadway store, which closed this past April and was recently demolished for a new store being built at the same site. The old Broadway store dated to the 1950s.
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Re: What is the oldest Safeway in operation?

Post by OCRedCub »

The tiny little Vons in Avalon CA (Catalina Island) has been replaced.
https://www.latimes.com/local/californi ... story.html
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Re: What is the oldest Safeway in operation?

Post by Andrew T. »

OCRedCub wrote: 04 Jun 2019 16:55 The tiny little Vons in Avalon CA (Catalina Island) has been replaced.
*sigh*

The perfect 1940s Safeway at 4865 MacArthur Boulevard NW in DC also closed this year, which is even more of a blow.

With the two leading contenders for the title no longer in the running, it's time once again to ponder the question: What is the oldest operational Safeway store?
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Re: What is the oldest Safeway in operation?

Post by Bluelightspecial »

Since Catalina and the D.C. store are gone or replaced I would think that the Market St. Safeway in San Francisco might be the oldest or the There is a Vons in Westchester near LAX that dates back to the early 50's but It didn't begin as a Safeway.
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