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Store #1

Posted: 16 Jan 2006 12:17
by parkave231
Hey gang,

Which chains have their first store still open? Or where were the first stores, if they're no longer with us?

I've never been there, but Food Lion #1 is still open in Salisbury, NC. Granted, I don't know if it's the original store or a new store with the same number...but...

I would think that Kroger and Publix don't have their first stores anymore...just because they've been around longer.

Matt

Posted: 16 Jan 2006 14:51
by Groceteria
The original Food Lion #1 was torn down several years ago. It was in the shopping center that used to be a few hundred feet from I-85 off US 52 in Salisbury NC.

I've also heard rumors that Publix #1 is still standing but now belongs to someone else.

FIrst stores........

Posted: 16 Jan 2006 18:59
by wnetmacman
The first Wal-Mart is still standing in Rogers, AR. While it's no longer a Wal-Mart, there is some mention on the site of its beginnings. WMT #1 has been replaced twice, once in 1974 (also still standing across the street) and in the mid to early 90s (a few blocks up) which has been added to and remodeled to a Supercenter.

Posted: 17 Jan 2006 00:46
by Super S
The first Albertsons was located at 16th and State Streets in Boise. The original store was replaced at the same location sometime in the early 80s and has since been remodeled. The shopping center nearby is also called Albertsons Market Place. There is a sign outside marking the location of the original store, and inside there used to be some information on the wall as well.

As recently as 1991 (last time I was there), the original JCPenney store in Kemmerer, Wyoming was still open, not sure if it still is.

Posted: 17 Jan 2006 12:53
by runchadrun
Hughes Market store #1 is still in operation as a Ralphs Fresh Fare format. It's located at the corner of Ventura and Coldwater Canyon in Studio City. I don't believe that it's the original structure, though.

Food Lion

Posted: 18 Jan 2006 00:51
by storeliker
Wow surprised Food Lion started in my birth town. Too bad I was only there for a few weeks afterward and never have been back to that area of NC even though I lived through some fall out in 1995 for a year in far western part but my car wasnt running to well to see what place looked like. Food Lion wasnt the one in the big expose Dateline NBC had on a few years back with all the hidden cameras was it?

Posted: 18 Jan 2006 04:58
by danielh_512
It was Primetime Live on ABC, not Dateline, but it was Food Lion, and it ended their Texas and Oklahoma expansion plans, and tarnished the chain's reputation to this day, as they are seen as a low-class, low-quality operation. Food Lion was originally called Food Town, and changed their name to avoid competition problems in expanding markets.

The first Weis Pure Foods was in Sunbury, PA, and I believe is still standing. The store was replaced in the 1950's by a modern Weis Markets for the time, and is still operating in their corporate hometown. The first Giant Food store was on Georgia Ave. in Washington, and opened in the 1930's. I believe it's still standing too, and the first Giant-PA food opened in Carlisle, PA in 1920 as the Carlisle Meat Market. Their first actual supermarket I'm not sure where it was located.

There are no firsts of any chain I can think of operating in the Mid-Atlantic. All the chains have very long histories, and have since updated stores. I do know of a Kroger I believe in McConnellsburg, OH that I've been told dates to the 1940's/50's.

Posted: 18 Jan 2006 17:08
by rich
I once found the original National Tea store which was on Belmont Avenue, W of the "L" probably in the 1200 or 1300 block. It was a nondescript storefront being used by a retail business.

Store #1 can be semi-misleading. The Pick-n-Pay grocery chain in Cleveland (later Finast, now Tops) grew out of a dairy store operation (Cottage Creamery). Their first supermarket (on East 185th St. near LaSalle in Cleveland, later relacated to E 185 & Neff Road) was not Pick-n-Pay #1. That number, for some reason, went to a store on Coventry Road in Cleveland Heights, which may have been a replacement for an earlier Cottage Creamery store, although it looked like a late 30s/40s construction. Both buildings still exist. The E 185 store was a Gale's Bi-Rite for many years, expanded & remodeled beyond recognition. It now houses other businesses. The Coventry store was a Medic drug store until very recently and only minimally remodeled on the outside.

Posted: 28 Jan 2006 21:04
by Lenny
danielh_512 wrote: The first Weis Pure Foods was in Sunbury, PA, and I believe is still standing. The store was replaced in the 1950's by a modern Weis Markets for the time, and is still operating in their corporate hometown.
You are right. The original Weis Pure Foods store is only about a block away from the current #26 store in Sunbury. The #26 is still in excellent shape for a store of it's age, and is certainly worth the trip for anybody who is in the area- the same goes for Weis' other stores in the area of that age. The oldest Weis stores that are still running from the 1950's are in Montgomery (#24), Renovo (#15), Sunbury (#26), York (#27 and #12), and Catawissa (#28). The first Weis store is now either a shoe store or a furniture store with apartments on the second and third floors. All of these stores are featured on the Weis Project.

BTW, I heard at one time that Weis never had a store #1 or a store #13. These numbers were intentionally skipped. In all the years I worked there, I never heard a single reference to stores with either of these numbers.

Posted: 29 Jan 2006 01:20
by Groceteria
Lenny wrote:All of these stores are featured on the Weis Project.
The Weis Project:
http://www.weisproject.com/

Posted: 29 Jan 2006 16:18
by tesg
We have a local chain called Dahl's whose number 1 and number 2 "supermarket" format stores are still in operation. The first is in the Beaverdale neighborhood. It opened in 1948. The second is on Ingersoll. It opened in 1952. Both have remodeled over the years and are modern stores.

Dahl's had been in business since 1931 with more typical small (1,000 square-foot) grocery stores. The 12-store chain has traditionally used Supervalu distribution, and still do for at least some non-perishable items. Their general offices are on the second floor of the Merle Hay store. They HAVE closed or relocated stores over the years, but I'd say roughly half their locations are 30 or more years old.

I think they're to the point where each store currently has one of two interiors...their current interior or the one just previous...except for one store which Dahls moved into last year. That is an old Albertson's which had its recent "Marketplace" interior. Dahl's kept it. (Albertson's came into the market about three years ago with three stores and left maybe a year later.)

Albertson's actually negotiated to purchase Dahl's when they originally considered entering the market, but it was said Dahl's wanted too much money. Kroger also has been known to be in negotiations to purchase Dahl's, but supposedly didn't for the same reason.

Their website has some interesting history information as well as pictures. There's a great historical picture of the Beaverdale store on the "Locations" page.

http://www.dahlsfoods.com

Posted: 29 Jan 2006 21:47
by runchadrun
I was in Des Moines 2 years ago for the Iowa Caucuses and stopped in the Fleur Drive Dahl's. According to Dahl's web site, that location's claim to fame is that it was the first grocery store in the country to accept debit cards for payment.

Posted: 30 Jan 2006 01:48
by danielh_512
Iowa as many of the Plains states are a mystery to me as to what chains operate there. It's usually smaller chains (ones we know nothing of out here in the Mid-Atlantic)....but Iowa, Des Moines specifically, Dahl's, Hy-Vee and Wal-Mart?

Posted: 30 Jan 2006 14:36
by rrr
Do any of y'all know 1st Supervalu or Cubs where? I assume somewhere in Mpls...

Posted: 30 Jan 2006 15:05
by Dave
r wrote:Do any of y'all know 1st Supervalu or Cubs where? I assume somewhere in Mpls...
Thecub.com website has "Cubfacts Trivia" as follows:

Where was the first Cub store located? Fridley, Minnesota.

What does Cub actually stand for? Consumers United for Buying.

When was the first Cub Foods store built? 1968.

What Stillwater-based family market started Cub Foods? Hooley's Supermarkets, Inc.