Groceteria.com

We had one near me too, which only was open for a little while. It became an Arby's and then a dentist's office. I'll have to get you a picture, because they never changed the outside of the building much - it still sports a faux half-timbered "Tudor" look that was original to the Arthur T...

I've got a couple of tips for using city directories that may be helpful. Typically, a city directory is laid out in sections by name (of business or person), by street address, and with a classified section (by business type), plus by telephone number in later directories. The classified section is...

I'm trying to find out a little more about Grand Union other than "began in the late 1800's". Anyone know of a timeline?

I'm trying to find out what their geographic reach was before the 1960's; especially in the period from 1900 to 1930. Were they national like A&P? Thanks.

Similarly, when I was in college a Trader Joe's opened immediately adjacent to an existing Albertsons. Albertsons had in their lease that no other stores in the center could sell alcohol... There's an example of an exclusive clause that didn't work out. You'd think that Albertson's exclusive would ...

I was looking at some microfilm the other day of the Richmond (Virginia) Times-Dispatch from 1957. Besides ads for Colonial, Safeway, Giant ("Now with 36 Stores!") and a couple of independents, there were ads from "Garden Food Stores" and "Southern Food Stores" - both w...

Here's one from June, 1957 (Richmond, Virginia):

"Safeway's your best place to save!"

"Slim Price" sounds like the name of a singing cowboy...

... and in the middle is a parallelogram-shaped box with the words McDonald's HAMBURGERS -- OVER (XX) BILLION SERVED (where XX means the total amount of hamburgers sold, this would change to a higher number accordingly).... I remember that before they got to a billion, the signs just said "Mil...

If it's the same place I'm thinking about, it's an old salt mine(s) that's been outfitted to serve as a warehouse/logistics operation for multiple businesses.

The DC Grocery site has a couple of Shakey's pictures. There were two in Richmond; at least one of the buildings is still standing and looks about the same, though it's now occupied by a contractor who's made some modifications for warehouse purposes. I had a teacher in summer school who moonlighted...

I read a theory once that after a nuclear holocaust that the only thing left on earth would be a fused layer of melted Coca-Cola bottle caps. I believe that the corrugated metal facades of old Colonial Stores will be there right with the bottle caps. It intrigues me that although most of the ones I'...

Ukrop's is now closing their oldest store (1971) in June. It's at 7803 Midlothian Turnpike in Richmond. It was opened as a replacement for the second store in the chain and was the sixth Ukrop's store. It's been remodeled a lot over the years but still has a very much older feel and is pretty tiny b...

Matt, I'm not the one to do a comprehensive history, but I had a weird experirence yesterday at my local Ukrop's. I've been buying the Ukrop's brand dry spaghetti. Now, for whatever reason (probably cost cutting), alot of the Ukrop's store brands are disappearing and are being replaced by Topco bran...

It seems to me that the Giant has an unusually small parking lot, even for Arlington.

There was a King's Discount Department Store in South Richmond, VA from the 1960's until the early 1980's. I don't know if it was part of the same outfit. The grocery store adjacent was operated by Farm Fresh out of Norfolk.