Gemco Locations

Uh...California.

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TheStranger
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Post by TheStranger »

Here's one mentioned in Walnut Creek with an intriguing sign history:

http://flickr.com/photos/soozieq/29282900/

Apparently the old sign was 94 feet high - is that bigger than the 1950s Safeway sign at the flagship marina on Market Street in SF? I wonder if that ever got photographed...
Chris Sampang
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J-Mac
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Post by J-Mac »

I have another set of Gemco photos to share... these were taken last weekend:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7591905@N0 ... 039445811/

This is 7212 Edinger Ave (at Golden West), Huntington Beach, CA. The front of this former Gemco looks fairly intact, even though the site was split between Lucky and Toys-R-Us. The ABS interior is the standard Lucky Green/Red.
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J-Mac
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Post by J-Mac »

I have, yet again, made a trek to a former Gemco store... although this time all I took with me was the camera on my cellphone. Still, for what its worth, I like the results (and the ease of using said camera right in employee's presence.)

Anyway, the subject property is Target, formerly Gemco at 1050 Huntington Drive, Duarte, CA. I believe this was "the last Gemco ever opened" right before the chains demise in late 1986. This was one of the larger stores (the plan for stores that were to be opened in 1987 was said to be 120k sqft.)

And here it is:
Image
more, including pictures of the current Target interior can be found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7591905@N0 ... 478592233/
Jeff
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Post by Jeff »

Nice. I beleive this store and Rowland Heights were opened about the same time, not long before the chain closed. the Rowland Heights store had the same exterior design and the same setup inside. The Rowland Hts store has since been remodeled beyond recognition.
surfingdude
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Post by surfingdude »

Durate was the last Gemco opened. As I recall, it was opened within days of the announcement made 10/9/86 that the division would be liquidated and closed.
Rowland Heights #819/Lucky #675
Encinitas #820/Lucky (Food Basket) #235
Duarte #821/Lucky #676
The 1985 Lucky Stores annual report has a few interior shots of Rowland Heights. I can try to scan/post if anyone is interested.
Anyone have any exterior photos of Encinitas?
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J-Mac
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Post by J-Mac »

I'd be very interested to see what the interior of these stores looked like. Target has remodeled Duarte's interior beyond recognition, the only holdover (I think) is the lower ceiling height in the front of the store.
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Daniel
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Post by Daniel »

The first Target that opened in the Fresno market was the old Gemco at First & Shields. Last year they totally remodeled the exterior and interior, removing the Gemco facade once and for all. However, the bathrooms are still vintage Gemco, and the brickwork on the sides of the building is original Gemco. As has been mentioned here before, interesting how many of these Ex-Gemcos are still doing very well for Target.
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Post by Jeff »

The San Gabriel Gemco and Target was a very successful and busy store. Target wanted to expand the store but the landlords didn't want to expand it.

Target left this site in the late 90's after a dispute with the landlords, who had raised rents so high that Target wasn't willing to pay it, therefore they closed the store even though it was a very busy store. The area had no Target till about 2003 when Target moved into Rosemead's former Montgomery Wards.

Apparently the landlord wanted Target out to have an asian super mall move in, which they did around 2000.
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Gemco Anaheim

Post by scanman2 »

Drove by the old location of the first Gemco in Anaheim with my dad the other day and he claims that the current Target on the north side of Lincoln is where Gemco was. I remember that building as Fedmart as a kid and Gemco was on the south side of Lincoln. Any help from anybody?
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Post by surfingdude »

Gemco Anaheim (#501/Lucky #422) was located at 2300 W. Lincoln, Anaheim.
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Re: Gemco Anaheim

Post by J-Mac »

scanman2 wrote:Drove by the old location of the first Gemco in Anaheim with my dad the other day and he claims that the current Target on the north side of Lincoln is where Gemco was. I remember that building as Fedmart as a kid and Gemco was on the south side of Lincoln. Any help from anybody?
You are correct, the current Target was a FedMart location, while the Gemco location is no longer there -- it was torn down a couple years ago and the land used for a residential development. Some looking at local.live.com may show the old building at 2300 W. Lincoln.
storeadventures
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1985 Gemco Interior

Post by storeadventures »

Just getting caught back up reading this thread -- The cupertino Target store on Stevens Creek Blvd had the peachy beige walled and /blue-white squared floored interior, mostly complete, when the stores where told to liquidate.

The food section was the final area to be remodeled and was about half-way done when the announcement came. The exterior was being renovated to match the look of Duarte and Rowland Heights as much as possible. At the time of liquidation, the exterior was complete except for the blue tile tower.

As all of this had been approved with permits, and perhaps materials bought -- here is great irony -- AFTER the Gemco closed, the exterior remodel was completed by TARGET and as a result, the store opened a year or a little bit less later, with the complete GEMCO look on the outside!

This look lasted for years and years. In the mid 90s, Target renovated the tower over the front doors to look more Target like.

The tower got yet another redo last year and the original Gemco garden area was removed and became what is now a huge food department and sporting goods area. It would appear this store has more food and a larger pharmacy than just about any other Target in the area -- a fitting tribute to Gemco.
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Post by OldBlueValiant »

I wonder if the Target store on Cochran St in Simi Valley, CA was a GEMCO originally? The building architecture looks similar to some of the ex GEMCO Targets in the pics on the links provided on this thread. By the way, I have some NOS USA made GE Christmas light bulbs with the GEMCO price tags on them!
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Post by runchadrun »

OldBlueValiant wrote:I wonder if the Target store on Cochran St in Simi Valley, CA was a GEMCO originally? The building architecture looks similar to some of the ex GEMCO Targets in the pics on the links provided on this thread.
The Gemco was at 1855 Cochran and opened in 1975 and is now a Vons. According to a 10/11/86 LA Times story about Gemco stores becoming Targets, "the Gemco in Simi Valley was not bought by Dayton Hudson...It was not purchased by Target because the company is building a store that is scheduled to open in that city in February...No plans for the Gemco there were announced by Lucky."
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Post by klkla »

runchadrun wrote:
OldBlueValiant wrote:The Gemco was at 1855 Cochran and opened in 1975 and is now a Vons. "
You are correct. This location is interesting because it was the first store Vons opened in response to Smith's coming to back to Southern California in the early 90's. The store is over 80,000 sq. ft, much bigger than the typical Vons of the day which was around 50,000 sq. ft.

As it turned out Smiths failed and only lasted a couple years and sold their stores individually (this was the second time Smiths left the market). Vons only built a couple of these large format stores (the other one I can think of is in Inglewood) and then reverted to building stores between 50-55,000 sq. ft.
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