Waldbaums, Queens NY (Corrected and added Photos)

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Edric Floyd
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Waldbaums, Queens NY (Corrected and added Photos)

Post by Edric Floyd »

I finally made a visit to New York since I discovered Groceteria and while in New York I snapped as many photos as possible during my runaround in the area. I lived in New York in the early 1980's and had relatives there while growing up.

This post is for WALDBAUMS, a former supermarket chain of its own that is now part of A&P. Most A&P operations within New York City are Waldbaums locations while the suburbs use the A&P name.

Fresh Meadows Queens:
I meantioned this store in a previous thread asking if it were a former Safeway because of the arched roof design. After seeing this, I wonder if it were a Penn Fruit instead.

http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=585

Corner of Hollis Court Blvd, Francis Lewis Blvd and Horace Harding/Long Island Expressway. Small shopping center also has a Duane Reade Drug store.

Front http://edricfloyd.com/027.JPG

New sinage added in recent years. Former sinage had individual letters across the length of the arch.

Side
http://edricfloyd.com/026.JPG

Rear:
http://edricfloyd.com/029.JPG

Interior
http://edricfloyd.com/Waldinterior.jpg


Other (past and present) Waldbaums locations photographed.........................

Francis Lewis Blvd and 46th Ave: FORMER A&P renamed Waldbaum's

http://edricfloyd.com/030.JPG

http://edricfloyd.com/031.JPG

http://edricfloyd.com/032.JPG

There was another Waldbaums location on Francis Lewis Blvd but I did not get there.

FORMER Waldbaums, Kissena Blvd, Flushing Queens NY until mid 1980's. Was a C-Town supermarket for over a decade. Now a Food Plus.

http://edricfloyd.com/072.JPG

The building was white with light blue trim, the basic colors of the Waldbaum's logo until the 1990's. the lettering was spread across the front of the building and on the high roof sinage, the letters were in individual boxes across the frame of the long thin sign at the top of this building.
Look along the front and you'll still see the hooks where the original lettering was placed. When this was a C-Town and the building was still white, you saw the faded paint spots where the letters for Waldbaums were.

http://edricfloyd.com/094.JPG

The building has a parking lot in the rear with a separate entrance.

Another Former Waldbaums in Flushing is on Northern Blvd.
http://edricfloyd.com/WaldbaumsNorthernBlvd.JPG


It closed in the mid 1980's and is one of several Asian food markets in the area. Other Asian markets on Northern Blvd take former King Kullen, Acme and Key Food locations.

Current Waldbaums, 31st Avenue in Jackson Heights Queens NY.
THIS WAS A FORMER PANTRY PRIDE until the 1970's. Later, this store became a SHOPWELL supermarket. Then it was called a Shopwell Value Center. Most of the Daitch-Shopwell stores were converted to Waldbaums or A&P stores by 1990

http://edricfloyd.com/JackWald1.JPG
http://edricfloyd.com/JackWald2.JPG


This store has a very small corner entrance but the actual store size was the industry standard for the 1960's and 1970's. The entrance used to be brick with gray or stainless steel awning. The Pantry Pride sinage was individual lettering in the font of their logo across the top of the awning. The Shopwell sinage used to be on a board that rose above the roof. The current Waldbaum's sinage dates back to the early 1990's. the entire awning was backlit.

Also, notice the beverage deposit redemption center on the side of the entrance to the store.
http://edricfloyd.com/JackWald3.JPG
http://edricfloyd.com/JackWald4.JPG
Last edited by Edric Floyd on 21 Oct 2007 22:09, edited 2 times in total.
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Groceteria
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Re: Waldbaums, Queens New York

Post by Groceteria »

Edric Floyd wrote:I meantioned this store in a previous thread asking if it were a former Safeway because of the arched roof design. After seeing this, I wonder if it were a Penn Fruit instead.

http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=585

Corner of Hollis Court Blvd, Francis Lewis Blvd and Horace Harding/Long Island Expressway. Small shopping center also has a Duane Reade Drug store.

Front http://edricfloyd.com/027.JPG

New sinage added in recent years. Former sinage had individual letters across the length of the arch.
I'd say that Penn Fruit was almost a given in this case (see photo below for comparison). It's definitely not a Safeway, but it's quite beautiful.

Great photos. Thanks!

Image
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Re: Waldbaums, Queens NY (Corrected and added Photos)

Post by Groceteria »

Having visited that store today, I'm pretty convinced it was a Penn Fruit, unless maybe Waldbaum's had a similar prototype. But several former PFs I've seen had a similar perpendicular orientation to the centers they were in.
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Re: Waldbaums, Queens NY (Corrected and added Photos)

Post by Groceteria »

Just found an article that identfied this store as having been a Hill's in the mid-1960s, which pretty much guarantees it started as a Penn Fruit. Hill's bough the NYC-area Penn Fruits in the mid-1960s.
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Re: Waldbaums, Queens NY (Corrected and added Photos)

Post by Steve Landry »

Would it follow that Food Fair/Pantry Pride was next inline to occupy these stores, since they bought Hills soon after?
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Re: Waldbaums, Queens NY (Corrected and added Photos)

Post by Groceteria »

Steve Landry wrote:Would it follow that Food Fair/Pantry Pride was next inline to occupy these stores, since they bought Hills soon after?
Could be. Apparently, that deal was completed around 1977, which would have given this store several years to sport a FF/PP banner.
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Re: Waldbaums, Queens NY (Corrected and added Photos)

Post by RobJC »

It could have been a Hills, but according my 1979 Queens phonebook, it was a Waldbaums (at least at that time). I don't know prior to that.
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Re: Waldbaums, Queens NY (Corrected and added Photos)(Hill's)

Post by RobJC »

Hills' last store was in Douglaston, Queens. In my 1979-80 phone book it's listed, but the existing Waldbaums isn't. I know Waldbaums replaced Hills b/c I worked at that store briefly in '84. (yikes)
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Re: Waldbaums, Queens NY (Corrected and added Photos)

Post by RobJC »

Groceteria wrote:Having visited that store today, I'm pretty convinced it was a Penn Fruit, unless maybe Waldbaum's had a similar prototype. But several former PFs I've seen had a similar perpendicular orientation to the centers they were in.
It's confirmed by an expert (my 85year old Mom) it was a Penn Fruit.
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Re: Waldbaums, Queens NY (Corrected and added Photos)

Post by Jeffrey55 »

I can double confirm that store was a Penn Fruit. I lived on Junction Blvd. across from Lefrak City from 1963 to the mid-70's, and when we first moved there, there was a Penn Fruit on the ground floor of the Lefrak City apartment building on Junction Blvd. Within about a year it became a Hill's. When we drove out to visit a cousin who lived in Bayside, I saw that round-roofed Penn Fruit...and later, saw that it, too, was a Hill's.

But even more relevant to this thread, at the other end of Lefrak City, across 57th Avenue, there was a Waldbaum's. It sported a faux-stone facade and an elongated sign that stretched the length of the building. It must have been fairly new in 1963; at that point most of the Lefrak complex was not yet even built, though there were other apartment buildings on the adjacent streets that were about 5 years old at that point.
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Re: Waldbaums, Queens NY (Corrected and added Photos)

Post by RobJC »

Wow, interesting post. I worked in that Waldbaums on 57th Ave. for a couple of years as a bookkeeper. I loved the Fred Flinstone facade. Of all the stores I was shuffled around to, those customers were the nicest I ever dealt with. I grew up on the other side of the expressway, surrounded by (5) Waldbaums' and (3) Bohack's. Now they're all independents. I also remember when Queens Center Mall first opened.
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