Treasury Department Stores

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dth1971
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Post by dth1971 »

Remember the Treasury jingle: "We have gone out of our way, to make everyone say, every day is a saving day at the Treasury"?
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Groceteria
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Post by Groceteria »

Some messages from a different topic which should really be here instead:

From 12/1/05:
krogerclerk wrote: Another interesting store in Cobb was Treasure Island on Cobb Parkway at Terrll Mill, later Zayre and lastly Value City. I was pre-teen, so memories of it are vague, but I believe it was JC Penney's version of a discount center/supercenter with the grocery area operated by Colonial or Big Apple/Food Giant-the close proximity of the Richway leads me to think the latter. I imagine there were other Atlanta area Treasure Islands, but this is the only on I recall.

From 12/2/05:

Groceteria wrote: Could this have been called "The Treasury" instead? I think that's the name JC Penney used on these stores; there were some on the San Francisco area too. Never went to one; I've just heard of them...

I have a photo that I snagged from this site:

Image
parkave231 wrote:No, I don't think The Treasury is the same thing. I can confirm that it was Treasure Island, and the site was then used as the first (or next to first) Home Depot, which has since relocated as well. But I have no clue what Treasure Island was myself...

And it is funny how Grand Union-ish that Big Star at Merchant's Fesitval was, complete with red dots everywhere! We went there all the time. One of the things that stands out the most in my memories is those talking cash registers that would say the price each time an item was scanned. I've always wondered why that particular location has never amounted to anything -- there have been 4 grocery stores there, and the site is vacant today. I'm thinking access may be to blame. I think if there had been a stoplight on the Roswell Road side, it may have done better. The cut-through to Providence helps, but still, one has to turn left on Providence with no stoplight to get to Roswell Road. But I digress...

As far as the Richway/Big Star on Cobb Parkway, sorry...no help there. We never went to that store since we had one from us down Sandy Plains (sans grocery store, though). But I can say with reasonable certainty that the original Parkaire Kroger store was a supercenter.

Matt
Steve Landry wrote:Treasury Food & Drugs or The Treasury were in many places. They were in Florida too. They were very large stores and very modern. They had conveyor belts to deliver your groceries, curb side. Our family shopped there for a bit.

My Mom used to work for Penneys and told me all about it. I am pretty sure Treasure Island was a prototype that led to Pennys' roll out of Treasury Food & Drugs (The Treasury). My Mom used to let me read the employee newsletters.

Anyway, I will not swear to this, but I think that is what I remember reading about Treasure Island.

:)

From 1/12/06:

Atlswan wrote:You also asked about Treasure Island. There was a Treasure Island up in Forest Park in Clayton County. My parents bought my sister a banana seat bicycle at that store. We used to shop there a lot. There was also a Richway (Target) nearby. The Treasure Island is now a place where they hold dog shows, car shows, etc. I actually went to a dog show there back in 2002. It brought back a lot of memories of shopping there.

Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane!
danielh_512 wrote:There was a Treasure Island discount store chain in Oakland, MD and Moorefield, WV, but I never saw them again. The Moorefield, WV store was in a former Heck's, and neither sold food. They closed around 2000, I believe. Are they the same?

Treasury was Thrift Drug's storebrand, which Thrift was owned by JCPenney, a Pittsburgh-based drug store, still dominant there under the Eckerd name.

As for the Giant Food sign, it's creepy, considering that font isn't too far off from that other Giant Food...Giant/MD. Of course, Giant/MD never had stores that looked like that.
From 2/12/07:
buckhead wrote: After being referred to this thread, I had to bump it although the discussion is a bit old.

Yes, the store in question was DEFINITELY Treasure Island. It was a discount department store a few notches above KMart. more akin to Richway and Gold Circle. They had grocery operations. The exteriors were generally white with a serpentine roofline. In fact, in the advertising they bill themselves as "the place with the squiggly roof." Several years prior to exiting the stores, JCPenney subdivided them and freed up floor space by dropping the grocery or some other operations. This newly available space provided the first two locations for The Home Depot. As stated previously by parkave231 The Home Depot indeed had one of its first few stores in the location off Terrell Mill Road at Cobb Parkway.

The distinctive architecture of the stores makes them easy to spot. The Terrell Mill store has had many stores that came and went, including PharMor, Lil Bucks, The Home Depot, and others. Another location that is still getting good use is the one on Buford Highway just a couple of blocks north of I-285, currently home to The Burord Highway Farmers Market and an office supply store. I think there were intially 3 or 4 locations, but I don't recall the locations of these other early stores.
scanman2
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Treasury in Montclair on Central Ave.

Post by scanman2 »

Hi Jeff, I live in Montclair and have lived in the area since 1979 and have no idea where this Treasury dept. store was located. Could you give an address or cross street? There is no empty store front I can think of on Central in Montclair. The only empty store front for any length of time was the old K-Mart just south of the 10 fwy at Central. It is now a Costco. There was a vacant Montgomery Wards at Central and Moreno but that was torn down and is now a Target that replaced the closed Target on Mountain and the 10 fwy in Ontario (next freeway exit down).
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Post by Jeff »

I had made the mistake, and it was a Treasure Chest on Central where the UA 6, and Silo used to be.,
scanman2
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Treasury in Montclair

Post by scanman2 »

OK I know what you are talking about now. It was called Treasure Hunt, kind of a $1 dollar store. That old building was one of the last newer Mayfair Markets to open when the shopping center was built in the early 80's. The theatre is now a church. Wow I couldn't remember the name of that electronics store Silo. It was originally a Federated Electronics (remember Fred and Freda Rated? lol!) It is now a 24 hours fitness. thanks for the information.
scanman2
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Treasury Dept Stores

Post by scanman2 »

David, I saw you posted a picture of a Treasury store and this is my memory of their sign so I think that is the same chain. The one near me when I lived in Anaheim was in Buena Park I think. I forwarded the picture to my mom who used to take me there alot so she may know better than me.
mike t. whittier ca
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Treasury stores

Post by mike t. whittier ca »

There was a Treasury store in the city of garden grove/ orange on the border. it was located on garden grove blvd. after it closed it stayed empty. then it was razed and now its office and a hotel. it was a good store to go to. they had a great music department.
javelin
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Re: Treasury Dept Stores

Post by javelin »

scanman2 wrote:David, I saw you posted a picture of a Treasury store and this is my memory of their sign so I think that is the same chain. The one near me when I lived in Anaheim was in Buena Park I think. I forwarded the picture to my mom who used to take me there alot so she may know better than me.
That's the same store I remember. It became a racketball club shortly after it closed, then sat empty for a long time. I was in town a few years ago and planned to take pictures of the old building but it had already been torn down to make way for a new Target.
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Post by marshd1000 »

I am curious if any of The Treasury stores were old White Fronts? Looking at the sign in the photo reminds me of some of the White Front signs I had seen here in the Seattle area.
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Re: Treasury Department Stores

Post by Dean »

Recently came across an OLD article of clothing...the label is the TREASURY brand.

Would have assumed that JCPenney would've simply had their private labeled products there.

How many sites of the Treasury existed?
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Re: Treasury Department Stores

Post by Dean »

rmalum

Re: Pleasant Hill, CA

Post by rmalum »

J-Man wrote:There was a Treasury store on Contra Costa Blvd. in Pleasant Hill, just north of Sun Valley Mall, on the west side of the street. It was originally a White Front, and is now a Target.

I also remember several in the San Jose area when I lived there in the mid-70s, but I can't remember any specific locations.

I used to work in the store in Pleasant Hill in 1979 through 1981. It closed shortly thereafter. My main position was at the front registers but I also held many positions there, and was in "Display and Advertising" toward the end.
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RXSQ
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Re: Treasury Department Stores

Post by RXSQ »

Spotted this uncovered "squiggly roof" from the former Riverside, CA location for 'The Treasury' (which was most recently a Mervyn's):

Image

The Riverside location (3520 Tyler St.) opened around 1972 and closed in 1982 or early 1983. As most already know, The Treasury was the discount division for JCPenney (which still has a regular department store located at the Galleria at Tyler mall across the street).

In early 1983, the 100,000+ sq. ft. building was split for use as both a Target and Mervyn's, with Mervyn's opening in July 1983. The Target still exists while the Mervyn's closed in early 2009 (and is currently being renovated for an incoming Kohl's).

See more images here.
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Re: Treasury Department Stores

Post by Dean »

thanks for the shot!

What was throwing me off was I clearly don't remember The Treasury front as a Mervyn's. As the further shots mentioned, Mervyn's had a "false front" over The Treasury's.

Let's see if Kohl's returns to The Treasury's...or eliminates it for good!
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RXSQ
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Re: Treasury Department Stores

Post by RXSQ »

Dean wrote:Thanks for the shot!

What was throwing me off was I clearly don't remember The Treasury front as a Mervyn's. As the further shots mentioned, Mervyn's had a "false front" over The Treasury's.

Let's see if Kohl's returns to The Treasury's...or eliminates it for good!
Yes, we should have better noted that Treasury's squiggly roofline had been hidden behind a false-front since 1983 when Mervyn's moved into that portion of the building. And indeed, the recent renovation for the incoming Kohl's uncovered the old zig-zags.

As for Kohl's keeping the unique roofline, we can only hope! (Of course they won't, but ...)
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