Safeway Stores in NY and PA

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Transit Road
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Old Safeway in Middletown, NY

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I believe this is the former Safeway on Dolson Ave in Middletown, NY http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q ... =h&iwloc=A

The location was a stand alone store. The photos that were pulled up in an earlier post in this thread are the former Playtogs discount store (only one location that I knew of) and of the plaza across the street that is home to a Shop Rite supermarket

I have not been back to the area in close to 20 years, but I am pretty sure this is the location.

Here is the current business' web site. Give them a call and ask about the history of the site, if you like.
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Safeway - Middletown, NY - part 2

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Here is the website for the current business - Broadloom City http://www.broadloomcity.com/index.html
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Post by TheStranger »

Looking at the overhead, I can see a possible double-element marina roof there...probably would be much easier to judge of course from a front-level shot.
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Re: New York area: Waldbaums (Safeway?)

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Edric Floyd wrote: There is a Waldbaum's market at Francis Lewis Blvd and Long Island Expy that looks like the popular Marina Safeway buildings. I always wondered if Safeway built one in NY. The Francis Lewis Blvd store is the only one I can recall like that in the NY area.
Here's the Live Local link for that store, which does have a very marina-like roof:

http://local.live.com/?v=2&sp=Point.qsq ... b_Waldbaum___

The building is a little bit too long from front to back to be a Safeway marina design though...
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Post by TheStranger »

webcookie wrote:Sorry to bump an old thread but I live in Middletown, NY and I saw you guys were talking about it.

My mom says that Broadloom City was indeed a Safeway.
Does she know how long that store lasted as a Safeway? I think what'd be intriguing is trying to figure out what division this fit under, with Safeway having left NYC in the mid-1960s...

When I was checking out the archives for the Remembering Retail yahoo mailing list, there was some talk of a Pennsylvania division from years ago. Not sure if this fits that, or the NYC division (which would be most logical).
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Post by webcookie »

TheStranger wrote:Does she know how long that store lasted as a Safeway? I think what'd be intriguing is trying to figure out what division this fit under, with Safeway having left NYC in the mid-1960s...

When I was checking out the archives for the Remembering Retail yahoo mailing list, there was some talk of a Pennsylvania division from years ago. Not sure if this fits that, or the NYC division (which would be most logical).
Well we're about an hour north of NYC but only about 30 minutes from Pennsylvania, so.

I'll ask her if she remembers anything about it.
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Post by TheStranger »

webcookie wrote:
TheStranger wrote:Does she know how long that store lasted as a Safeway? I think what'd be intriguing is trying to figure out what division this fit under, with Safeway having left NYC in the mid-1960s...

When I was checking out the archives for the Remembering Retail yahoo mailing list, there was some talk of a Pennsylvania division from years ago. Not sure if this fits that, or the NYC division (which would be most logical).
Well we're about an hour north of NYC but only about 30 minutes from Pennsylvania, so.

I'll ask her if she remembers anything about it.
I recall the Pennsylvania division being located somewhere in the southern part of that state, though...

Hey, I wonder if you, being in the area, could get a photo or two of the place at some point...no rush of course, but it'd be cool to see if this really is a marina (it would be the easternmost one in North America if so).
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Post by webcookie »

I'll try to take some pictures tomorrow. :)
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Post by Transit Road »

Safeway's Pennsylvania Division most likely included the South Central PA area - Harrisburg, Lancaster, and York. York is about 50 miles north of Baltimore, MD and still has former Safeway outlets. One I recall is now an "Ollie Bargain Outlet" on Queen St.

The Middletown, NY store was most likely part of the NYC Division and was probably one of the last stores that they built. Middletown, at that time, was considered "out in the boonies" for residents of the NYC Metro Area. Due to the geography of the area, Middletown was a regional trading area for the mostly rural surrounding area including Sullivan County and Southern Orange County, NY, plus Pike County, PA. NY 17, the main route from NYC to the Catskill Resort area, was being built from the intersection of i-87, NY 32, NY 17, and US 6 westward toward MIddletown in 1960, so it became easier at that time to move goods from NYC to Middletown, NY. Previously, delivery trucks would have to move ove narrow two-lane roads to make the trip from NYC to Middletown. I would guess that this would be about the time the Safeway would have been opened

When I lived in the area, we would either drive 20 miles west to Middletown just to go to Sears, J.C. Penney, or Sullivan's at the Orange Plaza Mall. or 30 minuets south to Paramus, NJ for Bamberger's, Gimbel's, and all of the other shops at the Garden State Plaza or Paramus Park Mall. Newburgh, NY was the other retail hub, but was also 20 miles away and offered even less than Middletown, plus it was dicier if you went into the wrong part of town. Newburgh had a Penney's store withe the 1960's Penny's logo up to the mid 80's at least.

There was not much choice in retail then, but the area has become bedroom communities of NYC and the retail to serve those consumers has followed the commuters.

Just look at the intersection of NY 17, NY 32, US 6, and I-87 (The New York State Thruway) The US Military Academy at West Point, NY is 9 miles away separated by Bear Mountain State Park At this intersection in 1987, there was only a recently built n Exxon station, an American Budget Inn, a local sewage treatment plant, and the Nepera Chemical plant surrounded by acres and acres of vacant land.. Now there is the Woodbury Common Outlet Center (the biggest outlet center in the US), Super Wal-Mart, Target, Sam's Club\, BJ's Wholesale Club, and a host of other retail operations in an area of maybe 20,000 people (The Town of Monroe and the Town of Woodbury (not the Woodbury on LI))

.My faher always said he would like to build a Dairy Queen at this intersection - I beleve that if he did, that store would have made a fortune from the people that travel through this intersection on a daily basis.
Last edited by Transit Road on 31 Oct 2006 23:37, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by TheStranger »

Transit Road wrote:Safeway's Pennsylvania Division most likely included the South Central PA area - Harrisburg, Lancaster, and York. York is about 50 miles north of Baltimore, MD and still has former Safeway outlets. One I recall is now an "Ollie Bargain Outlet" on Queen St.
Checking the Ollie website, that location isn't listed...do you have an address or intersection for it? Live Local has birdseye shots of that area so we'd be able to see the building.
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Post by webcookie »

I keep forgetting to take pictures of the store. :(

I think we're still out in the boonies ;)
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Post by webcookie »

I went and took some pictures tonight before it got dark:

Image

Image

Image
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Post by TheStranger »

Thanks for the shots, webcookie!

While the building is clearly not a "marina" per se, the second photo of yours shows what might be the top edge of the old Circle S logo!

MBZ: I think what we're trying to see through this thread is more Safeway stores with the Safeway name in PA, which were gone years ago...Genuardi's has been discused at this forum in the past.
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Post by webcookie »

TheStranger wrote:While the building is clearly not a "marina" per se, the second photo of yours shows what might be the top edge of the old Circle S logo!
My mom says she definately remembers the S logos on both ends of the buildings, now covered by signs.

I think you guys might be interested in the old ShopRite/Rickel's building on 211. It has a half-circle roof. And speaking of ShopRite, the store next to the Big-V headquarters in Florida, NY has been torn down.
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webcookie wrote:
TheStranger wrote:While the building is clearly not a "marina" per se, the second photo of yours shows what might be the top edge of the old Circle S logo!
My mom says she definately remembers the S logos on both ends of the buildings, now covered by signs.
I wonder if the sign on the right side is metal or plastic...if it is plastic, the circle S might be visible underneath if the plastic was translucent enough, but I doubt it.
webcookie wrote:
I think you guys might be interested in the old ShopRite/Rickel's building on 211. It has a half-circle roof. And speaking of ShopRite, the store next to the Big-V headquarters in Florida, NY has been torn down.
Hmm...how far is that from there? I wonder if the store looks like the marina protoype, or more like say the Penn Fruit motif (with the much larger arch) or the Wegman's half-circle roof near I-495.
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