Thrifty Drug in the Northwest

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justin karimzad
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Thrifty Drug in the Northwest

Post by justin karimzad »

Thrifty Drug had by far the best coverage in their home state of California, but I know that they also had stores in Oregon, albeit very few. There were two stores in Eugene, and a newspaper article about the opening of the second store mentioned that Thrifty was "a Los Angeles firm with more than 400 stores in nine western states. The Eugene stores are the only Thrifty outlets in Oregon". The stores were;
-194 W. Broadway: Opened October 15, 1959, closed 1979, since gutted out and subdivided
-1560 Coburg Rd: Opened July 18, 1974. Thrifty left around 1987, and Payless moved in, and expanded the store slightly on the left. Rite Aid currently occupies the space. Ironically, when Rite Aid redecorated the store, they downsized it back to its original size, by placing a shelf that blocked the expanded part that has a lower ceiling.

I know that Thrifty was in California, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico at one point, but I thought they were also in Washington, and maybe Idaho and Montana. Does anyone know of any Thrifty Drug locations in the Northwest, their date of opening, and/or their current status?
Thanks.
Last edited by justin karimzad on 02 Feb 2007 20:44, edited 2 times in total.
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Daniel
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Post by Daniel »

Thrifty was in Washington through their purchase of Pay N' Save. I seem to recall they had a sprinkling of Thrifty outlets there prior to that, but they were rebranded to Pay N' Save when they bought that chain. Thrifty also owned Big 5 Sporting Goods at one time. I had a good friend that worked at Thrifty in the 90's, but I forgot half of the information I knew about the chain over time...
Super S
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Post by Super S »

Thrifty operated a store in Kelso's Riverway Plaza in the 80s. I moved to the area in 1988, and remember about 1990 or maybe 1991, it became a Pay 'N Save. The store changed again when PayLess bought Pay 'N Save, then again when Rite Aid bought PayLess. I have been told this particular location was Giant T Drug before Thrifty bought it. When Thrifty was there, there was an ice cream counter at the front of the store, which went away when Pay'N Save took over. The interior has not changed much over the years, the pharmacy is still in the back center of the store, and as recently as a month ago, still has the PayLess pink stripes with white lettering on the walls. It curently is open as Rite Aid.

I am not sure if Thrifty operated anywhere else in Southwest Washington or Portland, Oregon.

Thrifty had at least one store in Idaho, at Overland and Orchard in Boise, in the Hillcrest shopping center. I want to say it closed in the mid to late 80s. An interesting note: Next door (to the west) was a Buttrey-Osco store, where Osco did not have a pharmacy. That store (Buttrey-Osco) became Albertsons, after Thrifty had closed. At one time, there was an open walkway between Thrifty and Buttrey at the front.

I want to say there was a Thrifty or two as you got closer to Seattle, but do not vividly remember where or in what town.
marshd1000
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Post by marshd1000 »

I didn't see many Thrifty stores here in the Seattle area. But I am wondering if Giant T was actually a part of Thrifty throughout the life of that banner? But the Thrifty/Giant T stores that I saw in the Seattle/Tacoma area were in the following locations:

Five Corners Shopping Center in Burien, WA
Canyon Road in the Summit area near Tacoma and Puyallup, WA
Century City Shopping Center (now Ross Plaza) in Federal Way, WA
NE 145th St in Seattle

The Five Corners store became Burien's second Pay 'n Save store then a Payless. It never became a Rite Aid as Payless left when the shopping center was redeveloped.

Canyon Road became Payless then Rite Aid, then relocated.

Century City (Ross Plaza), bacame Pay 'n Save then Payless. I could be wrong, but because Federal Way had 2 other Payless stores in a few blocks distance, I think it closed. Eventually the other Payless stores became Rite Aids then closed and relocated to a different space at Ross Plaza.

NE 145th became a Pay 'n Save then Payless then Rite Aid. Then Rite Aid moved to a new drive thru store which closed after about a year. The original spot is now a dollar store.
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Post by tkaye »

I believe that Thrifty Drugs was a name used by many Rexall-affiliated independent drugstores in the Puget Sound area during the '50s and '60s. It's my impression that these stores had no connection with the actual Thrifty chain based in California that later merged with PayLess -- correct me if I'm wrong.
justin karimzad
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Post by justin karimzad »

tkaye wrote:I believe that Thrifty Drugs was a name used by many Rexall-affiliated independent drugstores in the Puget Sound area during the '50s and '60s. It's my impression that these stores had no connection with the actual Thrifty chain based in California that later merged with PayLess -- correct me if I'm wrong.
I've done some research on Thrifty's coverage in the northwest. Regarding the Rexall Thrifty chain, yes that was the primary chain in Washington of the 1950s and 1960s with the Thrifty name, and one of them was right next to the University Place Safeway in Tacoma that opened in 1961, and was posted on the Safeways in Oregon and Washington thread here a while back. In fact, even in 1964, the only stores that the Los Angeles Thrifty Drug firm had outside of California were 12 stores spread between Idaho, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. However, as of September 15, 1972, The Los Angeles Thrifty Drug had at least one store in Washington. By 1974, two more states were added to that roster, which I believe were New Mexico and Wyoming, since those were states that Thrifty later pulled out of, along with all of the others ultimately. Also, a third Thrifty may have existed somewhere in Oregon and lasted until the early 1990s, though I haven't confirmed this or determined where it was or when it opened.
Last edited by justin karimzad on 08 Apr 2007 00:06, edited 1 time in total.
Dean
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Post by Dean »

When RiteAid acquired THRIFTY...the Southern California THRIFTY ice cream plant was maintained as a unit of RiteAid. The site is off the 10 fwy...I believe that area is considered El Monte.

My FIRST job ever was working @ Thrifty...scooping ice cream! single=15 cents, double=30 cents and triple=45 cents. Made $3.60/yr...and thought this was great...since minimum wage was $3.35. Yet, I had to pay union dues...so this brought it back down to minimum wage! Ultimately worked in the pharmacy area...when the stores FIRST transitioned their prescriptions to computers.
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Post by jamcool »

Dean wrote:When RiteAid acquired THRIFTY...the Southern California THRIFTY ice cream plant was maintained as a unit of RiteAid. The site is off the 10 fwy...I believe that area is considered El Monte.

My FIRST job ever was working @ Thrifty...scooping ice cream! single=15 cents, double=30 cents and triple=45 cents. Made $3.60/yr...and thought this was great...since minimum wage was $3.35. Yet, I had to pay union dues...so this brought it back down to minimum wage! Ultimately worked in the pharmacy area...when the stores FIRST transitioned their prescriptions to computers.
I remember the ice cream stand at Thrifty's..with those cylinder-shaped scoops!

Thrifty Ice Cream is still popular in Phoenix even after the last Thrifty left here in the 90s - sold through independent stores, mostly water-and-ice stores (Phoenix has no RiteAids)
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Post by Dean »

jamcool wrote:
Dean wrote:When RiteAid acquired THRIFTY...the Southern California THRIFTY ice cream plant was maintained as a unit of RiteAid. The site is off the 10 fwy...I believe that area is considered El Monte.

My FIRST job ever was working @ Thrifty...scooping ice cream! single=15 cents, double=30 cents and triple=45 cents. Made $3.60/yr...and thought this was great...since minimum wage was $3.35. Yet, I had to pay union dues...so this brought it back down to minimum wage! Ultimately worked in the pharmacy area...when the stores FIRST transitioned their prescriptions to computers.
I remember the ice cream stand at Thrifty's..with those cylinder-shaped scoops!

Thrifty Ice Cream is still popular in Phoenix even after the last Thrifty left here in the 90s - sold through independent stores, mostly water-and-ice stores (Phoenix has no RiteAids)
Oh yes...the scoops! When they raised the price of the cones...they actually enlarged the cylinder scoop. Remember those little sinks that the scoop sat in?!

I have seen Thrifty Ice Cream Shops in the Mexicali town of Mexico. It is right over the border of CA...hence the name MexiCALi. Not sure how far these shops strench into Mexico.
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Post by TheStranger »

Several years ago, Thrifty Ice Cream in Mexico had a website up, with tons of photos, but I don't have the url anymore.

Here's a photo of the Mexican operation's logo, though:

http://www.chapala.com/business/thrifty ... y-logo.gif
Chris Sampang
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Post by Dean »

TheStranger wrote:Several years ago, Thrifty Ice Cream in Mexico had a website up, with tons of photos, but I don't have the url anymore.

Here's a photo of the Mexican operation's logo, though:

http://www.chapala.com/business/thrifty ... y-logo.gif
Wow! thanks so much! I know I was not seeing things when I have been over there!

I also remember when Thrifty transitioned from THRIFTY CUT RATE to THRIFTY DRUG & DISCOUNT STORES.

I believe that these bolded words were in the "loop" of the y...as HELADOS is in the listed logo.
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Post by lvkewlkid »

yet Thrifty trucks says the ice cream can only be found at Rite Aid...interesting. Are those Mexican Thrifty's owned by Rite-Aid?
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Post by storewanderer »

That logo is a Ralphs shaped oval. Thrifty oval was more rounded and not as pointed on the sides.
Photobucket now allows for comments on each photo! http://s196.photobucket.com/albums/aa113/StoreWest/
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Daniel
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Post by Daniel »

Only a dedicated retail enthusiast could tell the difference between a Thrifty, Ralphs or Alpha Beta oval. :)
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Thrifty Drugs

Post by timbabcock »

Giant T was Thrify Drugs. The name was used in Washington State up unitl 1984 just before they took over Pay & Save they dropped the Giant T name and switched them to Thrifty.

The reason why they didn't use the name was because Thrifty Drugs was being used by another drugstore chain (when Rexall was around).

It's the same reason why Payless in Pierce, Thurston, and Kitsap Counties in Washington State went by the names House of Values (acquired when they took over Gov Mart as well in 1973) and Value Giant. There was a Payless of Tacoma (seperate from the Oregon based chain) which went bankrupt in 1990 which Thrifty ended up with their stores in the end as well.
Last edited by timbabcock on 19 Mar 2007 00:40, edited 1 time in total.
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