NEW: Spokane WA, 1925-1960

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NEW: Spokane WA, 1925-1960

Post by Groceteria »

For your amusement. I'm really anxious to see later years form Spokane at some point when I can access more data.

http://www.groceteria.com/place/us-washington/spokane/

For the record, there are lots of great original Pay'n Takit stores still standing in Spokane.
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Re: NEW: Spokane WA, 1925-1960

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Spokane is now updated through 2015, which proved much more interesting than I expected:

https://www.groceteria.com/place/us-washington/spokane/
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Re: NEW: Spokane WA, 1925-1960

Post by Andrew T. »

Thank you for this. Albertsons seems to have swept into Spokane like a storm over the last three decades!

It's bittersweet to see that the 1950s Safeway at 1617 W 3rd Ave lasted close to half a century in operation, only to close after 2006. It's still in operation as a supermarket, however, and it still has an intact exterior with a bit of labelscar and the "portal" for the circle-S symbol still visible. It's actually a fairly unusual store by Safeway standards, with the curvature of the roof being perpendicular to the front...not sure if it's a pylon store that got a 1960s makeover or not.

5707 N Freya St is actually a Safeway distribution centre, not a store.

933 E Mission Ave is old enough to hail from the late circle-S era, and it remains in operation. Unfortunately, the exterior has been renovated. The 1970s store at 830 E 29th Ave (which closed as Safeway by 1990) looks even worse.

2310 N. Monroe St. is a Marina with a new facade added on that actually highlights the original window curvature instead of covering it over. Imagine that!

The flat-roofed building at 11712 E Sprague Ave. now houses a post office, and doesn't seem to have been modified too badly. The architecture is a bit puzzling, though: It's a generic "shoebox" store, yet it opened by 1964 in the middle of the Marina era.
"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."
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Re: NEW: Spokane WA, 1925-1960

Post by Groceteria »

Andrew T. wrote: 27 Apr 2019 20:525707 N Freya St is actually a Safeway distribution centre, not a store.
Noted. Thanks. I hadn't had time to go through all the locations yet.
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Re: NEW: Spokane WA, 1925-1960

Post by Groceteria »

I'd also like to have seen what remained of the store at 2501 W. Wellesley that seems to have been torn down between 2001 and 2006. The original building there would have been pre-1960 as well.
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Re: NEW: Spokane WA, 1925-1960

Post by Groceteria »

Thanks to the very helpful librarians at the Spokane Public Library, the Safeway locations from 1965 and 1970 are now cleared up.
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Re: NEW: Spokane WA, 1925-1960

Post by explorersea »

I have a list of Spokane stores in 1994, hope this is informational:

Store 221 2501 West Wellesley Avenue
Store 226 1617 West Third Avenue
Store 244 4511 North Division Street
Store 248 902 West Francis Avenue
Store 255 933 East Mission Avenue
Store 342 1616 West Northwest Boulevard
Store 1161 4512 North Market Street
Store 1242 2509 East 29th Street
Store 1273 1441 North Argonne Road
Store 1299 10100 North Newport Highway
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Re: NEW: Spokane WA, 1925-1960

Post by Groceteria »

explorersea wrote: 19 May 2019 20:05 I have a list of Spokane stores in 1994, hope this is informational:
Most definitely. Thanks!
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Re: NEW: Spokane WA, 1925-1960

Post by explorersea »

Andrew T. wrote: 27 Apr 2019 20:52 Thank you for this. Albertsons seems to have swept into Spokane like a storm over the last three decades!

It's bittersweet to see that the 1950s Safeway at 1617 W 3rd Ave lasted close to half a century in operation, only to close after 2006. It's still in operation as a supermarket, however, and it still has an intact exterior with a bit of labelscar and the "portal" for the circle-S symbol still visible. It's actually a fairly unusual store by Safeway standards, with the curvature of the roof being perpendicular to the front...not sure if it's a pylon store that got a 1960s makeover or not.

5707 N Freya St is actually a Safeway distribution centre, not a store.

933 E Mission Ave is old enough to hail from the late circle-S era, and it remains in operation. Unfortunately, the exterior has been renovated. The 1970s store at 830 E 29th Ave (which closed as Safeway by 1990) looks even worse.

2310 N. Monroe St. is a Marina with a new facade added on that actually highlights the original window curvature instead of covering it over. Imagine that!

The flat-roofed building at 11712 E Sprague Ave. now houses a post office, and doesn't seem to have been modified too badly. The architecture is a bit puzzling, though: It's a generic "shoebox" store, yet it opened by 1964 in the middle of the Marina era.
Hi Andrew, a few comments

Store 226 (1617 West Third) was an interesting store, I would say it opened in the 1940s, maybe 1950s, the area was a bit sketchy, a woman should watch her purse, a woman tried to steal my work tool bag, but in the 1990s they did the most beer/wine business than any other Spokane store, alas the store was really small and old, the area would not support a new store, so it closed.

Store 1161 (N Market street) so that block has had 3 stores, the two older stores 1950s built, and 1983 built, were demolished, the area had its share of low income customers, but the forecast must have been favorable because a new store was built. I worked in a 1983 era store for many years, this is when money was tight and the company looked for ways to reduce costs (concrete slabs instead of cinder blocks), smaller back rooms and freezers, one entry/exit in front of the checkstands to help thwart shoplifting.
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Re: NEW: Spokane WA, 1925-1960

Post by Andrew T. »

explorersea wrote: 16 Jun 2019 09:37 I worked in a 1983 era store for many years, this is when money was tight and the company looked for ways to reduce costs (concrete slabs instead of cinder blocks), smaller back rooms and freezers, one entry/exit in front of the checkstands to help thwart shoplifting.
You persuaded me to look up 4410-4512 Market Street on Google Street View's 2007-era imagery...and wow, what a scene! An intact 1950s street sign with Safeway lettering plainly visible; an intact 1950s barrel-roofed building in the background, and the added bonus of this 1980s store! Quite a site to see. Too bad there's nothing there but an empty field now...

Were the Safeway store numbers assigned in sequential order? They seem to be. Cross-referencing the '94 list with the data table, we see that 221-226 opened by 1960, 244-248 by 1970, 255 by 1980, 1616 by 1986, 1242 by 1995, and 1273-1299 by 1990.

The size and physical appearance of 1617 W. 3rd Ave. seem appropriate for a mid-1950s store...it's clearly been expanded on the north side, and that would explain the 1960s non-marina facade. It would be good if we could put precise opening dates on this and other Safeway artifacts...but the only way to do that in Spokane would probably be by scouring the local newspaper archives, and those haven't been digitized online.
"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."
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Re: NEW: Spokane WA, 1925-1960

Post by explorersea »

Andrew, I'm impressed you were able to find that Google cam shot, I remember the barrel roof store well, it was used for storage and for some store computer training in the early 1990s when all stores were converted to IBM 4680. The barrel roof store was converted to office space for a while (local/state/govt). The classic pylon sign stood for at least 50 years. The owner of the property (not Safeway) must have determined the land was worth more cleared and had the buildings demolished.

Regarding store numbering, in the old days divisions could select their own unique sequence which would become problematic when Safeway became a true North American run operation, so a store in Washington state could have the same number as a California or Wash DC store. Note: Spokane was a separate division until the 1980s when they were merged with the Seattle Division.

When Safeway deployed SIMS (Single Image Solution) in the mid 1990s for all store computer systems each store required a unique number, many stores received a new modified number, so 540 became 3540 for example. Sometime in the late 80s, early 90s Corporate began assigning new store numbers, and I remember CEO Steve Burd made a commitment of personally approving all new stores on going so that no new under peforming stores were opened (there were some new stores that only operated 1-2 years and closed).
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Re: NEW: Spokane WA, 1925-1960

Post by explorersea »

explorersea wrote: 16 Jun 2019 12:28 Andrew, I'm impressed you were able to find that Google cam shot, I remember the barrel roof store well, it was used for storage and for some store computer training in the early 1990s when all stores were converted to IBM 4680. The barrel roof store was converted to office space for a while (local/state/govt). The classic pylon sign stood for at least 50 years. The owner of the property (not Safeway) must have determined the land was worth more cleared and had the buildings demolished.

Regarding store numbering, in the old days divisions could select their own unique sequence which would become problematic when Safeway became a true North American run operation, so a store in Washington state could have the same number as a California or Wash DC store. Note: Spokane was a separate division until the 1980s when they were merged with the Seattle Division.

When Safeway deployed SIMS (Single Image Solution) in the mid 1990s for all store computer systems each store required a unique number, many stores received a new modified number, so 540 became 3540 for example. Sometime in the late 80s, early 90s Corporate began assigning new store numbers, and I remember CEO Steve Burd made a commitment of personally approving all new stores on going so that no new under performing stores were opened even if it meant flying to the area and checking out the futurn new store site (there were some new stores that only operated 1-2 years and closed).
Of interest, well into the 2000s Albertsons was still opening new stores that were not profitable and were closed in a few years.
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Re: NEW: Spokane WA, 1925-1960

Post by klkla »

Groceteria wrote: 27 Apr 2019 12:23 Spokane is now updated through 2015, which proved much more interesting than I expected:

https://www.groceteria.com/place/us-washington/spokane/
For 1304 N Liberty Lake Rd you put Albertsons? for 2010 and Safeway? for 2015. This photo definitely indicates the store was converted to a Safeway:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Safew ... 17.1036349
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Re: NEW: Spokane WA, 1925-1960

Post by explorersea »

Hey Kikla, the Liberty Lake was after my time, I left Safeway in 99, my gut would tell me this is a converted Albertsons from the google cam shot of the front of the building
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Re: NEW: Spokane WA, 1925-1960

Post by Groceteria »

klkla wrote: 16 Jun 2019 21:43For 1304 N Liberty Lake Rd you put Albertsons? for 2010 and Safeway? for 2015. This photo definitely indicates the store was converted to a Safeway
The question marks were there because the location was not listed in the 2010 and 2015 city directories, so it was clear that it HAD been converted, but it was not clear WHEN that actually happened.
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