Masons' Red Owl store, Green Bay WI
Posted: 12 May 2009 12:22
I'm a bit late in discussing this (as I've had the pictures uploaded for about a month), but I finally paid a visit to Mason Brothers' Red Owl store in Green Bay, Wisconsin...supposedly the second-to-last grocery store in existence still bearing the Red Owl name.
Red Owl was for much of the 20th century one of the most prominent grocery chains in the upper midwest; supplying independent operators working under a franchise system. The assets of Red Owl (including their Green Bay, WI distribution facility, located nearby) were acquired by Supervalu in 1988, and most stores closed or were converted to other concepts shortly thereafter.
(Here are a couple additional pictures, inside and outside the store.)
This store was a downright amazing artifact, dating to the 1940s and featuring all of two checkout lines inside. (According to their website Masons' Red Owl has been around as such only since 1969, so it was probably a different Red Owl franchise or a different supermarket before then.)
I had never been inside a supermarket quite as small...or as charming...as this one before. The exterior has gone through some modest modifications (the corner entrance was walled off to provide an atrium, a shingled mansard was tacked on, and most of the floor-to-ceiling window space was bricked up), but it was obvious what the place had once looked like. The interior also reeked of history, with details like an original muzak speaker and incandescent exit sign (visible in the picture above); although the flooring looked more likely to be from the 1970s; give or take.
Red Owl was for much of the 20th century one of the most prominent grocery chains in the upper midwest; supplying independent operators working under a franchise system. The assets of Red Owl (including their Green Bay, WI distribution facility, located nearby) were acquired by Supervalu in 1988, and most stores closed or were converted to other concepts shortly thereafter.
(Here are a couple additional pictures, inside and outside the store.)
This store was a downright amazing artifact, dating to the 1940s and featuring all of two checkout lines inside. (According to their website Masons' Red Owl has been around as such only since 1969, so it was probably a different Red Owl franchise or a different supermarket before then.)
I had never been inside a supermarket quite as small...or as charming...as this one before. The exterior has gone through some modest modifications (the corner entrance was walled off to provide an atrium, a shingled mansard was tacked on, and most of the floor-to-ceiling window space was bricked up), but it was obvious what the place had once looked like. The interior also reeked of history, with details like an original muzak speaker and incandescent exit sign (visible in the picture above); although the flooring looked more likely to be from the 1970s; give or take.