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With the recent demise of Lucky's Market, were there any stores in your area that didn't last very long at all? In my hometown, a Weingarten (owned by Grand Union at the time) only lasted for two months, and I know there were a small handful of Albertsons around 2001-2002 that lasted for 2 years or less.

We had (in the Albany, NY area) the very last Grand Union opened and (as far as I know) the only one of it's type ever completed (there was at least one other near Marist College in the Poughkeepsie area that was being built but never opened).
The one that did open had about 6 months from Grand Opening to not so Grand Closing :)

Here in SoCal the king of short-lived grocery stores would have to be Haggen, which lasted about 6 months from first store opening in March 0f 2015 until August 2015 when it started closing stores. IIRC all stores were closed by December.

Lucky's Memco chain (the eastern version of Gemco) was in and out of central NC (Greensboro and Winston-Salem) in the space of about two years from 1980-1982.

klkla wrote: ↑12 Feb 2020 21:06 Here in SoCal the king of short-lived grocery stores would have to be Haggen, which lasted about 6 months from first store opening in March 0f 2015 until August 2015 when it started closing stores. IIRC all stores were closed by December.

Haggen is cheating a little since they were previously grocery stores before (all former Vons, Pavilions, or Albertsons). What's more interesting is new-build grocery stores that were opened and then closed just as quickly, like the ACME in Freehold, NJ, then either seen sporadic use as a grocery store, if ever again.

pseudo3d wrote: ↑13 Feb 2020 12:26 What's more interesting is new-build grocery stores that were opened and then closed just as quickly, like the ACME in Freehold, NJ, then either seen sporadic use as a grocery store, if ever again.

And the Top Tomato mentioned in that Acme Style post is apparently also gone after a not too long time. There are still stores by that name on Staten Island, but none listed in NJ any longer (they had a couple others as well, which also didn't last long, apparently).

BillyGr wrote: ↑12 Feb 2020 17:59 We had (in the Albany, NY area) the very last Grand Union opened and (as far as I know) the only one of it's type ever completed (there was at least one other near Marist College in the Poughkeepsie area that was being built but never opened).
The one that did open had about 6 months from Grand Opening to not so Grand Closing :)

Was that their "Mega-Save" concept? And speaking of Grand Union, there was also their discount operation Hot Dot Foods with the only one in my immediate area which they opened in a converted GU in Palatine Bridge. While the concept may have lasted longer, the local store lasted maybe a year give or take.

TW-Upstate NY wrote: ↑13 Feb 2020 17:41

BillyGr wrote: ↑12 Feb 2020 17:59 We had (in the Albany, NY area) the very last Grand Union opened and (as far as I know) the only one of it's type ever completed (there was at least one other near Marist College in the Poughkeepsie area that was being built but never opened).
The one that did open had about 6 months from Grand Opening to not so Grand Closing :)

Was that their "Mega-Save" concept? And speaking of Grand Union, there was also their discount operation Hot Dot Foods with the only one in my immediate area which they opened in a converted GU in Palatine Bridge. While the concept may have lasted longer, the local store lasted maybe a year give or take.

Yes that was the Mega Save. The one near Marist that was never completed (finally) became an Ocean State a couple years ago.

Forgot about that Hot Dot concept - the one I remember was in the Schenectady/Rotterdam area. I think I only made it there once or twice, but not sure just how long it actually stayed. Seemed to be at the time a way to try to use older stores that weren't (perhaps) doing well to try to get better volumes, but no idea if it was ever used more than a couple spots.

The one that sticks out to me is a store called Food World at 136th & Mill Plain in Vancouver, WA. This was an attempt by Zupan's to operate a discount store format, and was a new-build. It made it about a year before it closed, Safeway took over the location. I think one other Food World store existed somewhere in Oregon but am not sure.

Hamady Complete Food Center, a 74,000 square feet store located in Flint, MI (in a former Kroger closed in 2014) managed to be in and out in three months back in 2018.

https://www.abc12.com/content/news/Hama ... 59842.html

I just came across this on Reddit via Facebook, of a no frills supermarket that Kmart had open for less than a month: https://www.reddit.com/r/Michigan/comme ... photo_and/

Auchan comes to mind here in the Chicago area.

Marsh also unsuccessfully tried to open a circular store in Naperville in suburban Chicago, way out of their home market of Indianapolis, the store lasted six months.

Omni Superstore only lasted 10 years but was extremely successful in Chicago.

Jewel Oscos short lived Florida stores.

Byerleys year long unsuccessful foray into Chicago in the 1990s.

Often they were stores that came at the end of a chain's life or the end of one of it's operating units.

Kroger opened some greenhouse stores in NE Ohio (Madison was one) and in western PA shortly before they exited the Cleveland/Western PA market.

Giant Eagle opened and closed one of its Toledo stores (either Sylvania or Rossford) within a year of opening, when they exited that market.

National Tea opened a huge, uniquely laid out store in Boardman, Ohio near Youngstown shortly befoire they closed the Younsgtown/Pittsburgh division in the 70s.

Thorofare came to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area in the early 80s. They lasted a year or so.


Interesting side note: over a decade later, I bought a box of Thorofare tall kitchen trash bags at Big Lots in Cincinnati. I wonder how long they had been sitting in a warehouse before Big Lots got them.

Ohio Man wrote: ↑04 Apr 2020 21:40 Thorofare came to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area in the early 80s. They lasted a year or so.

Interesting side note: over a decade later, a bought a box of Thorofare tall kitchen trash bags at Big Lots in Cincinnati. I wonder how long they had been sitting in a warehouse before Big Lots got them.

Good question - depends on how much longer the chain operated in other areas. They might have been still making them for a time and only been around a bit or could be as old as that decade (since something like that doesn't really have an "expiration" date).