Target Supermarkets....Not Super Target

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terryinokc
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Target Supermarkets....Not Super Target

Post by terryinokc »

Our first Target stores in Oklahoma City opened in approximately 1972. There were four locations....all of the were built in the late 1960's as Arlans Stores.....Arlans had adjoining grocery stores called Arlans Foods......same concept at KMart and KMart Foods......after Arlans locations closed, and the stores were remodeled briefly, Target opened with Target Supermarket along side.

Anyone know about the Target Supermarket chain? It had a separate entrance and separate check out....and I remember a few Target brand items.....namely potato chips, bread and ice cream.....there may have been more. I don't remember if they had a house or controlled brand...anyone else know what the house brand might have been? I know if wasn't from Fleming or Scrivner.....so it wasn't TV or Bestyet......and it wasn't Food Club either......I know the Arlans Supermarkets were supplied by Allied Supermarkets....the same company that owned all the Humpty Dumpty stores here in Oklahoma....but I don't think the Allied brands.....Camelot and Meadowdale....were at the Target Supermarket.

I guess my questions are this: Who was their wholesaler, what were their house or store brands...and were they located in other Target stores in other parts of the country? A couple of years before Target was in OKC they had built new ground-up stores in Tulsa and Dallas.....I know those stores also had Target Supermarkets.

How long did they last? They were not here for more than five years at the most....other grocery stores moved into a couple of locations....but that didn't last long...Currently there are two stores that opened as Target that are still open.....Target has expanded into the space of one of them....and there is an Ace Hardware in the other one. When they were doing the remodel on the Target that expanded into the former grocery space.....the Target Supermarket letters were still mostly attached to the front of the building...but had been covered up for years by an awning from a furniture store that had been in the space. I have pictures.


Any info anyone has would be great.

On a sde note....the Venture stores we had here in OKC were in former Woolco stores.....with no grocery attached. I have seen older Venture stores in Missouri had the same KMart/KMart Foods arrangement.....were those grocery departments called Venture Foods or something originally? The grocery stores with Venture that I knew anything about were Milgram from Kansas City.[b][/b]
krogerclerk
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Re: Target Supermarkets....Not Super Target

Post by krogerclerk »

In the Twin Cities, Target Supermarkets were operated by Applebaum's, who also expanded the concept to St. Louis. It's very likely that Applebaum's operated the OKC Target Supermarkets. I'm not sure who supplied Applebaum's/Target but in the mid-70's, the Target Supermarket concept was abandoned and Applebaum's was acquired by National, who would later divest the Applebaum operation back to local ownership.
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Andrew T.
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Re: Target Supermarkets....Not Super Target

Post by Andrew T. »

From Milwaukee, 1970:

Image

And yes, Target potato chips do get a mention.
"The pale pastels which have been featured in most food stores during the past 20 years are no longer in tune with the mood of the 1970s."
Andrew Turnbull
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