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Non-Safeway Marina-style stores

Posted: 10 Oct 2006 11:47
by Super S
I got to wondering how many chains adapted a version of the Safeway marina-style of building. By saying that, I am referring to stores which were originally built by another chain, and not originally by Safeway. One chain that comes to mind is Albertsons. I know there are a couple of older stores in the Portland area (one on 122nd is closing soon, if not closed already) which have a rounded arch ceiling. Also, there was one on Vista Avenue in Boise, where you can clearly see the arch on the back of the building, which is now a Rite-Aid. Ironically, Albertsons moved from that location to a former marina Safeway (now demolished) down the road in the 1980s.

A couple other buildings come to mind also. Standard TV & Appliance on 82nd Avenue in Portland resembles an old marina Safeway, but not as rounded of a roof. However, a gable-roof Safeway operated a block away for many years. In Longview, Washington, there is a vacant bingo hall, which previously was a furniture store, which, like the Standard Appliance building, is like a "less rounded" marina. I know a grocery store operated there at one time, but, to the best of my knowledge, it was not Safeway.

Posted: 10 Oct 2006 15:27
by marshd1000
Here in the Seattle area, I know of 2 Albertson's marina type stores. One was the Federal Way store on Pacific Highway. In the 1970's it was remodeled into a "hidden" marina. This was also one of the first stores in the area to sport the "Ribbon A" logo. A freestanding Skaggs (later Osco then Payless) was built on the same property about the same time. The other marina type store I know of is in White Center, south of Seattle. This was store #100 and is still in use. This store for years had an independent pharmacy next door that Albertson's eventually bought. While the current logo is on the building, when it was originally expanded and remodeled,into a hidden marina, it had the blocky letters logo that existed before the current logo.

Posted: 10 Oct 2006 15:46
by TheStranger
Here's the Live Local shot of the White Center ABS with arched roof; one way to tell this isn't a former SWY site is the fact the right wing is modeled very differently from the left wing.

http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/3195 ... ternh8.jpg

And a google overhead of a similar store in Reno, at 525 Keystone Avenue (near I-80):

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/5955 ... oneos3.jpg

Posted: 10 Oct 2006 16:00
by storewanderer
Albertsons had two marina-like stores in Reno, NV and one over in Sparks. Both had the hidden front and the blue box letters out front. Both Reno ones were in shopping centers. Both dated to the 70's sometime. Not sure about Sparks. There is some store space next to it, but it isn't a formal shopping center. I always thought it was an old Safeway, even though Safeway had two different stores (one 50's and one 70's, both now closed) a mile in two directions.

The first store (store 148) was at Plumb and Lakeside. This one got an interior remodel in the late 1980's into the earthtones look with the disco style wall letters. The store was demolished in 1995. Albertsons built a new store behind it. The new store was the first of the specific prototype (layout, not decor) which they used from 1995 on to about 1997 and built about 100 stores with.

The second store (store 149) is at Keystone and I-80 in Reno and is still open. Albertsons expanded (on the sides) and completely remodeled (nothing is in its original place) this store in 1997 or so. It was very run down at the time of the remodel, and was their last store in this area to get a remodel or any sort of investment. The center of the store still has the marina ceiling.

The third store was in Sparks at the intersection of Oddie and Sullivan. This one closed long ago, after Albertsons built a new store across the street (since expanded and remodeled) in the early 1980's. This store had the marina front with poles exposed, and now operates as a Grocery Outlet.

Posted: 10 Oct 2006 16:05
by TheStranger
storewanderer wrote: The third store was in Sparks at the intersection of Oddie and Sullivan. This one closed long ago, after Albertsons built a new store across the street (since expanded and remodeled) in the early 1980's. This store had the marina front with poles exposed, and now operates as a Grocery Outlet.
Here's a shot of that particular former Albertsons:

http://www.groceryoutlets.com/Locations ... _Store=086

Re: Non-Safeway Marina-style stores

Posted: 10 Oct 2006 17:16
by Groceteria
The glass-front, arched roof design is not really peculiar to Safeway. Any number of chains and independents around the country used some form of it; it was a construction-dictated design, as it allowed a large column-free sales floor. It's not really a stretch to go from the rounded-roof pylon stores of the 1950s to this design; the only really difference is the addition of a glass facade and maybe (but not necessarily) some extensions to the sides.

Safeway can't really even be credited with introducing the design. It seems to have sprouted more or less simultaneously among several chains including Alberstons, Kohl's, Penn Fruit, Grand Union, and others. I think even Food Fair did a few stores with a similar design in Florida.

Posted: 10 Oct 2006 17:16
by Jeff
I was just noticing on the Grocery Outlet website that the store in Lancaster looks like an ex-safeway, and so does the one in victorville (or is it in hemet - both have the same picture)

Posted: 10 Oct 2006 17:52
by justin karimzad
The Albertson's in Eugene, OR at 1675 W. 18th ave. opened November 2, 1960. This was Eugene's first Albertson's, and the last one from the 1960s to remain in operation. From a newspaper article of the Register-Guard; "Albertson's has 23,800 square feet of merchandising area. Its exterior is contemporary in architectural designing. Front windows extend almost from the ground to rounding roof-top and the store's interior is decorated in pastel colors". This supermarket also featured an in-store bakery, and a snack bar (that I've been told was along the left of the store) which "will serve sandwiches, fountain drinks, coffee and other refreshments". At some point in the late 1980s or 1990s, the neighboring Kinney Shoe store on the left was demolished for an expansion, and the facade of the store was redone, thus removing the windows along the front. But, the arched ceiling remains on the inside of the original structure (now teal in color), featuring the plaster ceiling and the pendant fluorescent light fixtures typical of Albertsons from the 1960s. A rendering of that store as it originally looked can be found here, around the middle of the document;
http://www.hp-nw.com/images/05%20commercial.pdf

Another marina-like (former) Albertson's from about 1963 is at 2945 Liberty Rd. South in Salem, OR, and is now Office Depot, and there's one from about 1966 at 1701 Centennial Blvd. in Springfield, OR that is now an Elks Club.

As far as other chains with marina architecture, one that comes to mind is a small (two-store) chain known as Food Bowl that was in San Jose, CA. The first store opened in April 1960 at 1625 McKee Rd. This one took the Marina space-age look a step further, by having a corrugated steel ceiling. This store is still called Food Bowl, but is now an Asian supermarket. The second Food Bowl opened in March 1965 at 1179 S. De Anza Blvd, but this one instead had a "gothic-like", 30-something-ft-high gabled ceiling. This one is now Nob Hill Foods.

Posted: 10 Oct 2006 21:32
by TheStranger
Jeff wrote:I was just noticing on the Grocery Outlet website that the store in Lancaster looks like an ex-safeway, and so does the one in victorville (or is it in hemet - both have the same picture)
The Lancaster store is an ex-Safeway, you're correct - I posted a Live Local shot of it in the Los Angeles/SoCal Safeways thread:

http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtop ... 9&start=30

Image

Posted: 10 Oct 2006 23:53
by storewanderer
One must wonder just who created this design.

I think many of us associate it with Safeway since it seems Safeway had the best geographic reach of anyone who used this design.

On a side note, thinking of someone who did not copy this design: Kroger.

Posted: 11 Oct 2006 00:18
by storewanderer
I have made up a perimeter/department layout for the locations in Reno, NV. They were identical in layout. Keystone had an older decor (the one with ugly colored stripes and plain-type looking lettering, early 80's decor).

Also, both stores had the strange bread area in the front corner. This area, I am told, started as a service bakery. Also above that about 8 steps or so was a manager's office which was raised and gave a good view of the front portion of the store. I am not sure if this feature is original or was deemed more worthy than the bakery at some point.

I have serious doubts that the service deli with the strange placement on the back wall was original.

I have attempted for years now to find a still operaitng store with this layout, with no luck. Very disappointing. The Dublin Ralphs was most similar as the layouf for the back wall and meat being on the side were identical. Bakery/deli, liquor, and customer service center placement were different. Dublin Ralphs also closed with the same decor as this store had when it was demolished in 1995.

I have a few photos from Dublin here. Looking at the plants photo, you can see the doorway to the back room on the left, and also to the left you can barely see how they extended produce to go into the back corner of the "expanded" area. http://www.flickr.com/photos/85812748@N00/page7/

The two breaks in the line in the back of the store were entrances to the warehouse.

Note, you are viewing my drawing at your own risk.

Image

Posted: 12 Oct 2006 01:21
by marshd1000
It should be noted in the picture of the White Center ABS, that the right wing of the store was originally the independently owned Van De Vord Pharmacy. I am guessing that it was probably built after Albertsons was built. There were also no interior connections between the two stores, unlike some food and drug stores that had a inside connection in front of the checkstands. However, I should also note that the left side of the building is not all original either. When the "marina' arch was hidden and the store remodeled in the mid '70s, the store was expanded to the left of the picture. Also, where the windows to the store are now, were the supports to the arch. Each metal support had the old white blocks with red letters that spelled out A L B E R T S O N S. Behind that support was the sidewalk in front of the store. That is now where the walkway in front of the check stands are.

Posted: 13 Oct 2006 11:39
by Groceteria
I've split off the posts about converted Safeway pylon stores into a new topic here:

http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=672

Feel free to continue along with the original topic here.

Posted: 13 Oct 2006 23:54
by Super S
Did any chains, including Safeway, ever use a marina-style store where the arches ran across the side, instead of the front of the store?

Posted: 14 Oct 2006 09:03
by Groceteria
Super S wrote:Did any chains, including Safeway, ever use a marina-style store where the arches ran across the side, instead of the front of the store?
Yes. McDonald's.

Just kidding.

I think French's in Tennessee had a prototype with decorative (but probably not structural) arches on all four sides of the building.