Albertsons - Before and After

This Albertsons store, located in Lewiston, Idaho, opened in 1950 and sported architecture typical of many supermarkets of the era. In 1962, the store was expanded and remodeled in order to accomodate increased business and a growing selection of non-food items. The original store's arch-trussed roof (and a portion of the original facade) is still clearly visible behind the new facade. The "

Their Own Private Idaho

Long before Albertsons became a national name in grocery retailing, it was a powerhouse in the Pacific Northwest. The history of Albertsons started in Boise, Idaho in 1939 when former Safeway manager Joe Albertson formed a partnership with L.S. Skaggs (of Safeway founding family fame) and accountant Tom Cuthbert. Though the partnership would not last long, Albertson would build his company at a

Another Miami Publix

This photo from 1960, with "louvered" wings on the facade - a variation that's unique, to my knowledge. This store was/is located at 12850 Biscayne Blvd. in Miami.

Publix Panache

Publix, founded by George Jenkins in 1930, has been a supermarket trendsetter from its earliest years. Instead of a low-price approach, Jenkins emphasized high-style, opulent surroundings and a high level of service in the company’s stores. This strategy resulted in great success and fueled explosive growth for the chain through the second half of the 20th century. Publix was responsible for many

Winn-Dixie Produce Aisle, early 60's

Winn-Dixie started in Florida in 1925 with the purchase of a single Miami grocery store by William Davis. With Mr. Davis' passing several years later, control of the company passed to his four sons, who over the years would achieve legendary status in the annals of Southern business. By 1965, through a series of acquisitions and an aggressive building program, the chain covered the entire

Winn-Dixie - Here IT IS!

Thought I'd take a break from all the Chicago-based stuff and look at some chains from the Sunny South.For starters, here's a 1960 photo of a Winn-Dixie store featuring a nice subtle sign. What's not to love about this?

Jewel's Downstate Cousin

In 1957 Jewel acquired Eisner Food Stores, a 43-store chain of supermarkets with operations in downstate Illinois (primarily Champaign and Springfield) and Western Indiana. Within a few years, the Eisner stores began to closely resemble Jewel in both appearance and marketing strategies, although Eisner continued to be managed from Champaign.By the early 60's, the company realized that Eisner's

Jewel - The New Sheriff In Town

Jewel Tea Company, as it was known from its 1899 founding until the 1960's, was strictly a door-to-door home shopping service for the first thirty years of its existence. In 1932, the company purchased all of the Chicago area grocery stores from Loblaw Groceterias, firmly establishing Jewel in the retail store business as well. To use modern terms, we would call it "adding a brick-and-mortar

Dominick's '56

The other dominant traditional (i.e.: not Wal-Mart) supermarket chain in the Chicago area is, of course, Dominick's Finer Foods. Started by Dominick DiMatteo with a single store in 1918 and the addition of a second in the 1930's, the company consisted of a very small group of stores until the mid-1960's. As late as 1963, the chain had less than ten stores. The chain grew through acquisition in

Indy-National

National entered the Indianapolis market in a major way in September 1947 with the purchase of the 48-store Standard Grocery Company. This photo dates from 1953.

Serving You Better....Saving You More

Time for a tip of the hat to another major Chicago-based grocery chain - the late, great National Tea Company. Through the first half of the twentieth century, National was one of the largest Chicago-area chains, but gradually lost its market dominance to Jewel (and later to Dominick's) through the 50's and 60's. In its heyday, National was a force in many key Midwestern markets - Chicago,

Jewel's Stores Within Stores

Jewel was one of the early proponents of the "store within a store" concept. Starting around 1960, they implemented this new form of departmentalized shopping in all of their new stores and retrofitted the concept in their existing higher volume stores. The departments all had a theme designed to convey the feel of an individual storefront. The initial "stores within stores" were "Jewel Pastries"

Jewel Food Stores - Windy City Winter

This circa-1962 shot of a Jewel Store has "Chicago Winter" written all over it. By the following year, most new Jewel stores would feature an Osco Drug section (Osco Drug Co. was acquired by Jewel in 1961), but for a few years the company continued to build new stand-alone Jewels as well.

Welcome To The Past!

Our best memories often arise from life's simplest events - going with family or friends to the donut shop, to Denny's, to Baskin-Robbins and on and on. More often than not, the settings for these memories were in the most routine of places, including... the local grocery store. My name is Dave, and I grew up in the Chicago suburbs in the 1960's and 1970's. Quite a few of the suburbs, in fact, as