Does anybody remember Mayfair Mkts. Discount Grocery Store?

Uh...California.

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wayne winterland jr.
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Does anybody remember Mayfair Mkts. Discount Grocery Store?

Post by wayne winterland jr. »

Does anybody remember Mayfair Markets Discount Stores in Southern California? Mayfair Markets tried to change to a discount format.
They renamed these stores A & M Discount Foods. (of course the A & M stood for Arden Mayfair). I remember them having one in Orange, Calif. where I lived and it was located at the intersection of Tustin Ave and Katella Ave. They ran some hot leader items to try and get their discount format off and running but as usual there were a lot of out of stocks and the inside of the store still looked rather dingy. The thing that I remembered most was that they tried to make their produce dept. look somewhat massive but in reality it looked as if they had been buying lower than usual quality produce so that they could advertise great discount prices. Most of the time the produce looked really bad and low quality no matter what the price was. I don't like buying bananas that are already turning dark towards the blackened color no matter how good the price is. I moved from Orange, Calif. in 1979 and at that time there were lots of grocery stores to choose from rather than going to A & M Discount Foods:
the number and names of the other grocery stores in Orange, Calif. at this particular time were as follows:

3 Alpha Beta Markets
1 Safeway Market
1 Von's Market
1 Albertson's Market
1 Stater Brother's Market
1 Market Basket Market
3 Michael's Markets
1 A & M Discount Foods

So there were lots of other grocery stores to shop at even though
A & M Discount Foods was supposed to be a discount food store.
I also recall there being another A & M Discount Foods in Santa Ana, Calif.
on South Main Street. I don't know how many of these stores they had at that time. I heard that there are still a couple of Mayfair Markets still in existance but not nearly as many as there used to be.

thanks, Wayne Winterland Jr.
jamcool
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Post by jamcool »

Mayfair ran the El Rancho chain in Phoenix and Flagstaff and Food Giant in Tucson. In the 70s, a large number of El Ranchos were converted to a discount format called "Low Cost". They weren't as nice as the El Ranchos. Just before Mayfair pulled out of AZ, they changed the Low Costs back to El Rancho
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Mayfair Markets in the Pacific Northwest

Post by marshd1000 »

Mayfair was here in the greater Seattle area in the 60's and 70's. I am not sure when they first opened here. But in the mid 1970's Mayfair sold their Seattle area operations to Lucky Stores. I also know that there were some areas in Oregon that had Mayfair. I believe that they may have been in areas from Eugene on south. I remember seeing a Mayfair product as a child that had a Eugene address on it. Also the last Mayfair that I had ever been was in Newport, OR on the Oregon Coast in 1980. Just a sidenote, Lucky left Seattle about 10 years after acquring the Mayfair Seattle operations. Lucky in Seattle was sold to Associated Grocers which sold them to its various members. Some ended up as Thriftway, Larry's Markets, Food Giant, Olson's, Johnny's, Stock Market Foods, Red Apple Markets and Gary's Markets. Incidentally, many of these stores were eventually acquired later by Seattle based QFC (now part of Kroger). One last diversion, before Lucky left Seattle, I remember seeing a shopping center in Renton, WA that contained a Lucky store right next door to a Skaggs Drug Center. Later that Skaggs became a Osco Drug. This was before American Store acquired Lucky. American stores Later sold Osco in Seattle to PayLess Drug NW.
mfricke
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Post by mfricke »

I remember Mayfair Markets! They had a store in Montclair, on Central Ave. and Benito St. They even remodeled it, but still we could never go there, because my mom thought their quality was way below Stater Bros., so I probably only went in there once or twice.

Does the Mayfair Market in Silver Lake still operate under that name, or has Gelsons finally changed it, like they did to the one in West Hollywood?
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steps
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Post by steps »

There is only one Mayfair market left to my understanding and it is off of Fraklin ave in hollywood...its a decent size store and its up scale like Gelsons...i didn't even know mayfair was a "discount store" at one point! amazing looking at it now how expensive it is! but it works for the area...!
Pavilions, the new, the unusal, the BEST of everything!
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runchadrun
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Re: Does anybody remember Mayfair Mkts. Discount Grocery Store?

Post by runchadrun »

Adding on to this long-dormant thread, here's a picture of the West Hollywood store at Santa Monica and Sweetzer from 1960. This store has been completely remodeled inside and out (not necessarily for the better) and is now a Gelson's.
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics51/00075431.jpg

This was a Mayfair location in Redondo Beach on Hermosa Ave, but I can't find the actual address.
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics47/00043296.jpg
klkla
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Re: Does anybody remember Mayfair Mkts. Discount Grocery Store?

Post by klkla »

runchadrun wrote:Adding on to this long-dormant thread, here's a picture of the West Hollywood store at Santa Monica and Sweetzer from 1960. This store has been completely remodeled inside and out (not necessarily for the better) and is now a Gelson's.
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics51/00075431.jpg
I think the photo in this picture is not of the West Hollywood store. This could only be the West Hollywood store if Kings Road was added after 1960, which is unlikely. The parking lot is much larger than the store at Santa Monica & Kings Road (there is no no Mayfair/Gelson's on Sweetzer). Also the I believe (but could be mistaken) that the West Hollywood store had a metal awning over the entrance and was acquired by Mayfair from another operator in late 1960's.
Jeff
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Re: Does anybody remember Mayfair Mkts. Discount Grocery Store?

Post by Jeff »

Nice catch!

I whipped out an old Los Angeles map from 1964, and Kings Road does go through to Santa Monica. Thus, this store is not that location.


Or was it? Could they have moved the store to the west? Could this be a newer than 1960's store that replaced this original store?
klkla
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Re: Does anybody remember Mayfair Mkts. Discount Grocery Store?

Post by klkla »

Jeff wrote:Or was it? Could they have moved the store to the west? Could this be a newer than 1960's store that replaced this original store?
No, it's definitely not the West Hollywood store. The slope of the parking lot is different and the current store would have been built around the same time so it wouldn't make sense to replace it with a smaller store in such short a period of time.

They had a store at the corner of Western & 5th in Los Angeles that looked exactly like this store (same layout and signage) that is now an Asian market, but it is not that location either because it doesn't have as much parking in the front as the store in the photo. I honestly have no idea where that store is if it's in Los Angeles.
Jeff
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Re: Does anybody remember Mayfair Mkts. Discount Grocery Store?

Post by Jeff »

Do we have a list of these locations?
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romleys
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Re: Does anybody remember Mayfair Mkts. Discount Grocery Store?

Post by romleys »

Here is a partial list of known Mayfair locations spanning between 1956 and 1973...
2030 West First St. Santa Ana,CA
134 West Commonwealth Fullerton,CA
4128 East South St. Lakewood,CA
1131 East Wardlow Long Beach,CA
2309 Pacific Coast Hwy. Signal Hill,CA
330 South Main St. Orange,CA
1812 South Main St. Santa Ana,CA
16930 Parthenia St. Sepulveda,CA
3325 North Glenoaks Burbank,CA
12511 Magnolia Blvd. North Hollywood,CA
11753 East South St. Artesia,CA
6672 Westminster Ave. Westminster,CA
9892 Westminster Ave. Garden Grove,CA
3430 West Ball Rd. Anaheim,CA
929 South Euclid Anaheim,CA
450 South Western Ave. Los Angeles,CA
2725 Hyperion Ave. Los Angeles,CA
1435 Glendale Blvd. Los Angeles,CA
2924 Beverly Blvd. Montebello,CA
1808 Wilshire Blvd. Santa Monica,CA
12832 Rosecrans Ave. Norwalk,CA
6305 York Ave. Highland Park,CA
8300 West Santa Monica Blvd. Los Angeles,CA
8837 South Sepulveda Blvd. Los Angeles,CA
1234 North La Brea Ave. Los Angeles,CA
2245 Yosemite Dr. Eagle Rock,CA
230 North Market St. Inglewood,CA
10151 Reseda Blvd. Northridge,CA
5587 South Sepulveda Blvd. Culver City,CA
15424 Sunset Blvd. Pacific Palisades,CA
220 East Grand Ave. El Segundo,CA
29211 Heathercliff Rd. Malibu,CA
23765 West Malibu Rd. Malibu,CA
5877 Franklin Blvd. West Hollywood,CA
Charles H:)
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Re: Does anybody remember Mayfair Mkts. Discount Grocery Store?

Post by PonytailBob »

I remember a Mayfair/ Foodfair in Santa Fe Springs Ca, just can't recall which one was first. My mother worked there from its openning early 50's until just after it changed to Prices Market.
Store was located at the intersection of Florence and Orr and Day Road right next to the Santa Ana (5 ) freeway
Jeff
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Re: Does anybody remember Mayfair Mkts. Discount Grocery Store?

Post by Jeff »

runchadrun wrote:Adding on to this long-dormant thread, here's a picture of the West Hollywood store at Santa Monica and Sweetzer from 1960. This store has been completely remodeled inside and out (not necessarily for the better) and is now a Gelson's.
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics51/00075431.jpg
The LAPL mislabeled this location. I have identified it!

6305 York Ave. Highland Park,CA

Look at the houses in the background, they are still there today, along with the palm trees, the building on the right, and the store. The lights are also the same and the lot has that slant in it:

Here is that store today, a Rite Aid
wayne winterland jr.
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Re: Does anybody remember Mayfair Mkts. Discount Grocery Sto

Post by wayne winterland jr. »

In a previous post I mentioned that Mayfair Markets had a location in Orange, California. That location was at the on the east side of Katella Ave. at the intersection of North Tustin Ave and Katella Ave.
Later on Mayfair Markets changed the market to being one of their A. & M. Discount Foods stores.
Before Mayfair Markets bought the store was that same location ever a Pattons Market?
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