QFI

Uh...California.

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TheStranger
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QFI

Post by TheStranger »

A little bit of background here: The QFI store in South San Francisco, at El Camino and Westborough, was the first supermarket I ever went to as a kid, and one that my family would go to quite often in my early childhood. Alas, the old QFI/Cala paper bags that were in my family's garage are long gone (though I think we still, somewhere, have kept a 1980s Gemco plastic bag...)

I have a few shots of the currently closed store here: http://dtcwrt.earlracing.com/stores/ssf.htm

Anyway, Yucaipa killed the QFI name in favor of Bell Markets around 1992-1993, and the SSF store suffered, even through Ralphs/Kroger ownership. (my family started going to Pak 'n Save on Gellert instead, as well as Safeway on Chestnut once in a while) After the years of decline, the unit finally closed down in 2004.

So during my long look at the back issues of Chain Store Age magazine, imagine my amazement to see that very store profiled quite nicely in a 1965 edition. Also, in the June 1959 edition (page 10c), is a photo of the store only a few months after it had opened:

Image

From the October 1959 issue of CSA, pages 168 and 171, is a quick blurb on the new store:
The newest Quality Foods supermarket, a 35,000-square-foot unit in South San Francisco, divides its wines into four sections on a 35-foot, 4-shelf gondola and has signs overhead to recommend when each type should be served. White dinner wines are suggested with chicken, veal, ham, and sea foods; red dinner wines with beef roasts, steaks, other red meats and Italian dishes; dessert wines for after-dinner drinks, punches and parties; dry and medium sherries for cocktails, appetizers, mixes and cooking; and cream sherries for desserts. A section adjoining the main gondola is used to show specialty wines, such as vermouths, champagnes, and Kosher lines.
And the accompanying photo from page 171 of that October edition:
http://dtcwrt.earlracing.com/stores/csa ... -oct59.jpg

Here's all four pages of the July 1965 CSA (pages 38-41) profile of the South San Francisco unit - a story which notes that QFI had seven locations at the time:

http://dtcwrt.earlracing.com/stores/csa/65qfi1.jpg
http://dtcwrt.earlracing.com/stores/csa/65qfi2.jpg
http://dtcwrt.earlracing.com/stores/csa/65qfi3.jpg
http://dtcwrt.earlracing.com/stores/csa/65qfi4.jpg

A shot of a canned ham display in the San Mateo location, from the December 1964 Chain Store Age issue (page 12):

http://dtcwrt.earlracing.com/stores/csa/smqfi-dec64.jpg

I know that this site has a few shots of a San Francisco unit: http://www.groceteria.com/stores/qfi.html

I also know of one other QFI location from the same era (and for that matter, design) as the SSF unit, now an Office Depot at Millbrae Square - across the lot from a remodeled Safeway marina in the same center- a few miles south on El Camino Real. Office Depot has its signage up on the old QFI/Bell pylon.
Last edited by TheStranger on 18 Dec 2006 04:25, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by justin karimzad »

As fooling as it is, the Millbrae location was something else originally, Broadway Market;
http://sflib1.sfpl.org:82/search/Xbroad ... D&1%2C1%2C
What month and year did the South San Francisco QFI open?
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Post by TheStranger »

justin karimzad wrote:As fooling as it is, the Millbrae location was something else originally, Broadway Market;
http://sflib1.sfpl.org:82/search/Xbroad ... D&1%2C1%2C
What month and year did the South San Francisco QFI open?
Wow, thanks for the shot! I would have never honestly guessed that that store was anything but original QFI. (Or was Broadway Market the QFI franchisee, like Lick Super was in SF?)

The month for the SSF store isn't given, but I am thinking 1959. I can't confirm it, but that article from October 1959 did say it was the newest in the chain.
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Post by justin karimzad »

If not 1959, then almost definetly 1958. I once inquired about when this store opened in the South San Francisco library history room, and the librarian that looked it up in city directories said it was 1958. I don't know if that means it was listed as far back as the 1958 or the 1959 directory.
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Post by TheStranger »

justin karimzad wrote:If not 1959, then almost definetly 1958. I once inquired about when this store opened in the South San Francisco library history room, and the librarian that looked it up in city directories said it was 1958. I don't know if that means it was listed as far back as the 1958 or the 1959 directory.
OT, but curious: What retail history-related resources does the SSF library have? Since I grew up near there, it might be worth a peek at some point...
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Post by justin karimzad »

It's actually in the Grand Ave. branch, and it might be by appointment only now, I'm not sure. Here's the webpage that describes the history room;
http://www.ssf.net/news/displaynews.asp?NewsID=313
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Post by rich »

FWIW, the "newest" car in the lot appears to be a '58 Chevy
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Post by Groceteria »

Moved to Commercial Archaeology, since it's about this specifuc location rather than the chain as a whole.
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Post by TheStranger »

So does anyone know when the Millbrae location changed from "Broadway" to QFI?

The store does front Broadway but the entrance is closer to El Camino Real, if I remember it correctly. I also have the feeling the rest of Millbrae Square (and the Safeway) came in in the 1960s...
Last edited by TheStranger on 18 Dec 2006 04:26, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by justin karimzad »

Yes Millbrae Square came in the 1960s; the Walgreens definetely opened in 1964, and the Safeway opened between May 1962 and April 1963.
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Post by TheStranger »

justin karimzad wrote:Yes Millbrae Square came in the 1960s; the Walgreens definetely opened in 1964, and the Safeway opened between May 1962 and April 1963.
I do wonder how QFI was unable to get a "noncompete" clause to prevent Safeway from being located that close...though that store (as QFI and later Bell) certainly coexisted with Safeway for about four decades.

---

Going back to the original premise of the topic, what were those 7 QFI locations in 1965, and the 14 the chain ultimately had as a whole?

Millbrae, SSF, Stonestown SF (future Petrini's, now Border's) and San Mateo (not sure where) are the four locations I know at the moment, plus Lick Super. Also, from the SF spreadsheet on this site, the Pacific Super on Alemany was also ex-QFI, so that's five...
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Post by justin karimzad »

Well, the San Mateo store that opened in the early 1960s was at the southwest intersection of highway 92 and El Camino Real, and closed around 1988. It was demolished, and the shopping center that houses JoAnn Fabrics is in its place.
I think my parents told me that the QFI in Redwood City was in the shopping center where Longs Drugs and FoodsCo is now at 1401 Broadway. I guess that could make it a 1970s build. My dad remembers it being a state of the art store that had a live seafood aquarium.
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Post by hushpuppy212 »

Loved the photo of the Broadway Market store! I grew up in Millbrae (1964-1977) and only knew of it as a QFI. Judging from the photos, I would guess it opened in the early 1950's. I also fondly remember the SSF store with its cool slanty-overhang entrances.

There was a new QFI in the new Serramonte Shopping Center (Daly City) when it opened in 1968. It's now the New York & Company clothing store.

There was a QFI market on Alemany Blvd in San Francisco, next to the USE Discount store
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Post by TheStranger »

hushpuppy212 wrote:Loved the photo of the Broadway Market store! I grew up in Millbrae (1964-1977) and only knew of it as a QFI. Judging from the photos, I would guess it opened in the early 1950's. I also fondly remember the SSF store with its cool slanty-overhang entrances.
I do wonder if QFI remodeled the Millbrae store to look much more like the South San Francisco one, because the pylon styles and the front awning would be similar up to the end of their run as Bell Markets.
hushpuppy212 wrote:
There was a new QFI in the new Serramonte Shopping Center (Daly City) when it opened in 1968. It's now the New York & Company clothing store.
I think part of that is also the Longs Drugs.
hushpuppy212 wrote:
There was a QFI market on Alemany Blvd in San Francisco, next to the USE Discount store
It's that odd gable-shaped Pacific Super now.
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Post by justin karimzad »

hushpuppy212 wrote:
There was a new QFI in the new Serramonte Shopping Center (Daly City) when it opened in 1968. It's now the New York & Company clothing store.
TheStranger wrote:
I think part of that is also the Longs Drugs.
Actually, the Longs (was) across the mall walkway from New York & Co. Longs Drugs was one of Serramonte's original tenants, before it closed this month.
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