Former supermarket, Elyria, Ohio

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Daniel
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Re: Former supermarket, Elyria, Ohio

Post by Daniel »

Ah... you cleared up another mystery for me! I had been looking for the Ridge View shopping center! I found an old aircheck of WKYC/1110 and they were advertising a nightclub in that shopping center. I was curious about this place so I was trying to find buildings they had inhabited to get some idea of what it was. One location was given as 16110 Lorain, which is now the parking lot of Ganley Ford. Apparently I'll never see how big the slot was in the Ridge View shopping center, either!!
rich
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Re: Former supermarket, Elyria, Ohio

Post by rich »

FWIW, the back of Ridgeview used to be visible from the Ohio Turnpike--one of the many landmarks I used to use to "mark time". I think there was an illuminated sign for Pick-n-Pay that faced the turnpike. If you figure out where Lorain is close to the turnpike, you'd be able to guess the approximate location. BTW--WKYC was 1100. Before 1965 it was KYW.
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Daniel
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Re: Former supermarket, Elyria, Ohio

Post by Daniel »

Google Maps still lists the Ridge View on the map... but when you look at the satellite view... dirt lot! Sorry I missed out on it, though, as I'd love to track down the former Pick N Pays and see what they are now. (I meant 1100 for 'KY... I was listening to jingles from 1110/WBT as I was typing) I'll stop before I carry this way off topic and get a spanking from the mod. :)
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Re: Former supermarket, Elyria, Ohio

Post by rich »

The former Pick-n-Pays should be easy to track down. One of the oldest is still functioning as retail. That one is on Coventry Road in Cleveland heights. Used to be Medic Drug, now another drug store, but with groceries, opposite the interscetion with Hampshire, I believe. That was store #1, although their actual first supermarket was on E 185th St. I think #1 probably replaced a Cottage Cremery location--Cottage was Pick-n-Pay's predecessor. Probably dates from the late 30s. The E 185th store has been altered beyond recognition but used to have a black ceramic tile front with "Pick-n-Pay" in white and dated to the 1930s; it may have been Cleveland's first super. It was Gale's Bi-Rite for decades and much enlarged over time, with a plain brick front. I forget what's there now. It's on E 185 about a block N of the LaSalle theatre, same side of the street as the LaSalle. That store was replaced by the one on Neff Road & E 185th in the 60s which Tops proposed enlarging or replacing right around the time they left Cleveland. that was one of the last stores to keep the "Pick-n-Pay" name.

Another real oldie was demolished and now has a Walgreen's on the site. It was on Lake Shore Blvd in Euclid, next to a large BP station between E 222nd and E 225th. That store dated from the 40s and had a pylon unlike anything they subsequently used. P-n-P extended the front forward in the late 60s into what previously had been parking and the interior had several remodels, but the pylon was never altered and the store lasted well into the 80s. It was replaced by a Tops almost directly across Lake Shore, which replaced the long closed Shore theatre, the long running Northeast Appliance flagship and some other smaller stores.

A number of other old stores have been demolished: Willo Plaza in Willoughby (c 1957; it would have been a few store fronts up from the current Rite-Aid), Shoregate in Willowick (c. 1959; demolished in the last couple years as part of the shrinking/redevelopment of the center), but some oldies are still functioning as some sort of retail, though difficult to recognize such as the stores at Eastgate (c. 1954, originally a Foodtown toward the S end of the main strip), Golden Gate (c. 1959, toward the N end of the strip), and Euclid-Richmond Plaza (early 50s) in Euclid (a few storefronts down from the drug store). The Harvard-Lee store (c. 1949, on Harvard) still exists but has either been replaced or greatly expanded. The Chagrin-Lee store in Shaker was either demolished or incorporated into the Blaushild car dealerships that are now repurposed as adult day care and other businesses. They had a store at Green Light Plaza on Euclid Ave opp the end of Green Road in Cleveland (c. 1950). That store and one in the Shaw-Hayden business district in East Cleveland were among the first to close--back in the late 60s or early 70s. The store on Euclid Ave in E Cleveland that you posted awhile ago came after them and was the survivor of the three. I haven't looked at Green Light in years--it had a Kroger that relocated to Five Points in the 60s (still functioning as a super--St Clair & E 152nd) . The Green-Light Kroger was demolished and replaced by a Fazio's. The Pick-n-Pay was converted to a one-off discount format by Fisher/Fazio; Toby has posted about it. There also was a Woolworth in the plaza. The zigzag store had at least three siblings--Detroit & Warren in Lakewood, Buckeye Road E of 116th that may be the Sav-Alot that's there now, and Hough & E 79th--that store was sold to a group of African-American investors after the 1966 Hough riots. It had several owners--I don't know what it is now.

The P-n-P in the Skateland Plaza (9300 Euclid) has been discussed previously--I think the plaza has either been replaced or the store is something else. That one dates to somewhere in the late 50s, but the original skating rink strurcture was older. Another oldie would be at Painesville Shopping Center on Rt 20 in Painesville township. That store dated to about 1956 and was in the middle of the main strip. There also was a Kroger, which lasted into the 80s, further West. They had a store at Van Aken Center (the strip that backs up to Warrensville, c. early 50s) that was replaced by a store at Pavillion (current Giant Eagle, but i don't think it's the original location there). The Van Aken store is probably part of the foot print for the upscale grocery that's there now. The plaza also had a Fisher and a Woolworth.

Pick-n-Pay started out on the East Side, so most of the classic oldies are in inner ring East Side suburbs or the edge of the of Cleveland proper, with a few exceptions. They expanded through the purchase of stores from Foodtown in 1959 (some redundant stores spun-off to A&P or independents) and a steady pace of their own store building through the 50s and 60s. Their burst of store building ended in the late 60s with a number of infill locations in the inner city, mostly on the West Side. The chain built few new stores until their "Food Palace" superstore opened in Southgate in the mid 70s, although did do quite a bit of remodeling during the intervening years. Willo Plaza and Euclid-Richmond were other early "Food Palaces", converted around 1977. That took place when a group of investors lead by Julie Kravitz took over the chain from Cook United.
MarkW78
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Re: Former supermarket, Elyria, Ohio

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Toby Radloff wrote:Thanks for the clarifications. I think both Big Lots and Save A Lot took over that same Kroger building (correct me if I'm wrong...I think Big Lots is in the front and Save A Lot is in the rear.
The building that I am referring is (at present) only Big Lots. It may have been a Save A Lot at some point before Big Lots, I don't recall what was in there. The Save A Lot in this area is at Cleveland Street and Gulf Road, near the Elyria Post Office, Ridge Tool, and a Walgreens. That Save A Lot was a Dave's, but I have no idea what was there before that. The Kroger/Big Lots building is between Route 57 and South Abbe Road, just north of Broad Street. It shares a parking lot with a store that I remember being a Clarkins at one point in time. The next store I remember in this Clarkins building was a home improvement center (not Builder's Square, but I can't think of the name of it). There was a video store in a small portion of this building for a number of years with the remainder being empty until someone turned it into a flea market several years ago. That all ended when heavy rains and clogged roof drains ended in the rear wall of the building collapsing along with a small portion of the roof. That was repaired, but I don't believe the flea market ever reopened. Last I knew, Lorain County bought the building to use for offices.
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Daniel
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Re: Former supermarket, Elyria, Ohio

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I made a return trip to the area, and made a stop in at the "Superstore" prototype Kroger that replaced the location that is now home to Goodwill. The exterior is unaltered, but the interior has been heavily modified. Even the floor was replaced.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67661849@N00/4323638360/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67661849@N ... otostream/

The building across the parking lot MarkW was referring to is still there, the home improvement store he was thinking of was DIY Home Warehouse. The signs for the closed swap meet thing were still up -- the sign visible from the main street can be seen in one of my shots of the Kroger building.
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Re: Former supermarket, Elyria, Ohio

Post by danielh_512 »

Kroger's lifespan in Lorain County appears to have lasted much longer than in the Cleveland area. While people have mentioned the superstore that's now Big Lots, Kroger did build a greenhouse at the Sheffield/Elyria line at the intersection of Abbe Rd. and Rt. 254. This is still pretty visible, and is home to a Discount Drug Mart. If the Abbe Rd. site with the other Discount Drug Mart is correct, and it wasn't Fazio's, then this greenhouse probably replaced it, being a short distance away.

It seems the Cleveland chains of the early years didn't have as strong a hold in Lorain County, which shows to this day. While Kroger left Cuyahoga County with their namesake in the late 70's as previously discussed, the Lorain County store probably lasted until the mid-80's at least. Considering the closer proximity of Lorain County to Sandusky (Only 35-40 miles West of Elyria), this store could have been combined into that market area.

That area had another Kroger superstore on the Elyria/Lorain line right along Rt. 57. That's now a Save-a-Lot/Dollar General unit, I believe. Another superstore was right on Rt. 20 in Norwalk which appears to have been under UFCW 880 and separate from the still-open Sandusky store. Apples took this one over, and it's now closed.
Sdorulla
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Re: Former supermarket, Elyria, Ohio

Post by Sdorulla »

The dime store at Ridgeview was G.C. Murphy. They also had a store in Kamms Plaza (Lorain Ave. and Rocky River Drive) in Cleveland. These are the only Murphy's in the Cleveland area that I know of.
rich
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Re: Former supermarket, Elyria, Ohio

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@daniel512: Fisher Foods (Fazio's predecessor) had stores in Lorain County going back to the 40s, including downtown Elyria, Oberlin and at least one 50s shopping center store in Lorain. Fisher was the dominant chain in the grocery store and early supermarket era. Pick-n-Pay had a store at Sheffield Plaza, which I think was late 50s/early 60s, as well as Ridegview, but didn't expand much. Foodtown was never there, as far as I know. the demographics would never have drawn Heinen's or the Stop-n-Shop co-op. The other co-ops either focused on inner-city and near suburbs (Square Deal, Sav-Mor, Eagle) or had a funny collection of stores (Bi-Rite).

Lorain County was considered rather separate from "Greater Cleveland" until fairly recently and Elyria and Lorain had very different identities--Elyria was the county seat, while Lorain was more of a factory town (steel, shipbuilding) and had a more varied ethnic mix. Both towns were less affluent than the nearest towns that were considered Cleveland suburbs, including well-off places like Bay Village From the 70s onward, the only substantial growth in Lorain County has been the outward expansion of suburban Cleveland. "Greater Cleveland" historically has meant Cuyahoga County and, perhaps, western Lake County and now parts of Geauga and northern Summit County. Culturally, Cleveland is one of several places where the East meets the Midwest and the areas West of Cleveland feel much less pull than those to the East. That all starts on the West Side of Cleveland---it's not unlike the MD/VA split in the DC area and, in fact, East Side Clevelanders gravitate toward MD and DC, while West Siders go to VA.

Back to areas W of Cleveland--except for Lorain and Elyria, most of those markets didn't grow very much after WWII. The Sandusky/Port Clinton area was a draw for Clevelanders and for Cleveland businesses like Pick-n-Pay, but that area also has been a long-time draw for Mansfield (just down 250), Columbus, Toledo, and even southern Ohio. Fisher had an old 40s/50s store in Norwalk, but never expanded further West. they did expand South to Mansfield and to Warren.

Kroger kept one of their stores in Lake County (Painesville), as well as the ones in Lorain County, in addition to Akron-Canton and Warren/Youngstown after they left Cleveland. One of the Lake County stores was turned into Horne's (Great Lakes Mall) and may have been taken by the mall, rather than being one they wanted to close. The Willowick store would have been more integral to the Cleveland operation. They continued to advertise on Cleveland tv, but not in Cleveland newspapers.
MarkW78
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Re: Former supermarket, Elyria, Ohio

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danielh_512 wrote:Another superstore was right on Rt. 20 in Norwalk which appears to have been under UFCW 880 and separate from the still-open Sandusky store. Apples took this one over, and it's now closed.
I think you mean Route 250 in Norwalk. The company that I work for owns the Apples name from Lorain County west and the Norwalk store was ours. I can't remember exactly how long that Apples was open (I believe it was around 20 years). We closed it in December 2008 and moved all useful equipment and fixtures to storage or our other stores. This was shortly before we opened our newest store in Sheffield Lake in a store that Giant Eagle had vacated about the same time we closed Norwalk. I'm not sure who built this Sheffield Lake store - it is in a plaza off of Lake Road (address is actually 4100 Ivanhoe Drive).

I believe the Kroger/Big Lots location remained a Kroger into the mid-1980s. I remember Kroger signs on the building when I was younger and we were going to my aunt's house. I seem to remember a Rini Rego store in this building before Big Lots. Not sure if there were other tenants between Kroger and Big Lots.
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Daniel
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Re: Former supermarket, Elyria, Ohio

Post by Daniel »

Ah, if you work for Apples, then maybe you would know what, if anything, the Abbe Rd. store originally was. I went in there after I photographed the Kroger Big Lots to pick up some Mello Yello. (Which you can't buy in Cuyahoga County!) I love your well-preserved ex-Tops out in Sheffield. I'd love to photograph that interior! :) (Most store employees don't understand someone being a supermarket hobbyist, LOL)
MarkW78
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Re: Former supermarket, Elyria, Ohio

Post by MarkW78 »

It took me a few days to track down, but I did find out the history of the Abbe Road store. It was built by A&P. I don't know when or how long their store was in business. The company I work for opened the present Apples store in 1979.

If you pm me your contact information, I will talk to the store manager at Sheffield Center and see if I can get you in to photograph the store.
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Toby Radloff
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Re: Former supermarket, Elyria, Ohio

Post by Toby Radloff »

Last time I was in Elyria, the former superstore Kroger on Abbe Road is now a Save A Lot. I would like to guess that the supermarket where the Discount Drug Mart and Goodwill are could be either Meyer Goldberg (a Lorain County grocery chain that went out of business in the late 1970's) or an independent (Sparkle, Apple's, or IGA?) I think Elyria's Fazio's was closer to the mall. Other possibilities could be a 1950's/1960's Kroger that preceded the Abbe Road superstore, or Loblaws. I know that Loblaws had stores in Berea, Sandusky, and possibly Toledo; they may have been in Lorain/Elyria as well. Next time I'm in Elyria I do plan to check out that Goodwill store.

I do stand corrected. Kroger had two superstores in Elyria. The Abbe Road store is Big Lots now. Another superstore building is on the Lorain-Elyria border, north of Midway Mall...that is now Save-A-Lot. I got the two buildings confused since they are within a few miles of each other.
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