Pon Honor Nickel Splitters-1920s Oakland Area Chain

Uh...California.

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Jason B.
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Pon Honor Nickel Splitters-1920s Oakland Area Chain

Post by Jason B. »

"Pon Honor Nickel Splitters" apparently was an Oakland, California area grocery store chain in the late 1920s.
See:
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10 ... 2317663659

Here is a location map in the Oakland/Berkeley/Richmond area circa 1926:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... 135&type=3
The chain then had around 30 locations.

Here is a "Local Wiki" page about the "Pon Honor" chain: https://localwiki.org/oakland/Pon_Honor_Stores

Thank you to the late journalist and historian Chris Treadway for bringing this information to light in his "Lost Mastheads" Facebook forum. See his obituary:
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2021/11/22 ... ies-at-66/

I can't figure out what became of the Pon Honor chain and its store locations.
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Groceteria
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Re: Pon Honor Nickel Splitters-1920s Oakland Area Chain

Post by Groceteria »

Fist ads and mention of them in the Oakland Tribune were in 1920, and the final ad appeared on 15 June 1934. Nothing after that. By 1935, they were also no longer listed in the city directory. When I have more time, I'll see what became of some of their addresses. Also, by 1929, they seemed to have some relationship with Public Food, another big chain in the Bay Area, because some (but not all) ads mentioned "Pon Honor Public Food" stores, though the two were still listed separately in the city directories (this squares with the info on the Local Wiki page, which states that Public bought the chain in 1928).

I'll dive into all of this a bit more when I have a little extra time. I've held off posting East bay locations because there's such a big gap in data. No city directories were published between 1943 and 1967, so I'm pulling together what I can.
Oakland_Tribune_Thu__May_16__1929_.jpg
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Groceteria
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Re: Pon Honor Nickel Splitters-1920s Oakland Area Chain

Post by Groceteria »

After Public Food imploded in 1935, most of its locations ended up going to Safeway.

By 1940, these were operating as Safeway stores in Oakland, Berkeley, and Alameda:

Alameda - 1511 Webster St
Berkeley - 2963 College Av (former Pon Honor)
Berkeley - 1481 Shattuck Av
Berkeley - 2804 Telegraph Av (former Pon Honor)
Berkeley - 1615 University Av (former Pon Honor)
Oakland - 6651 Bancroft Av (was Beck Street)
Oakland - 5634 College Av
Oakland - 7421 MacArthur Blvd (was Foothill Boulevard)
Oakland - 80 Grand Av
Oakland - 3846 Grand Av
Oakland - 5401 Martin Luther King Jr Way (former Pon Honor, was Grove Street)
Oakland - 3608 Park Blvd
Oakland - 5844 San Pablo Av
Oakland - 3120 Seminary Av
Oakland - 2401 Telegraph Av
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