NEW: Shreveport, 1925-2020
Posted: 01 Oct 2023 15:56
This one turned out more interesting than I expected:
https://www.groceteria.com/place/us-lou ... hreveport/
https://www.groceteria.com/place/us-lou ... hreveport/
History and Commercial Archaeology of Chain Supermarkets and Other Retailers
https://www.groceteria.ca/board/
Were these ever spun off from Kroger?wnetmacman wrote: ↑03 Oct 2023 15:08 Here's a location list for Big Chain Cafeterias for 1961. This would be before Shreve City, so I would guess that there were at least 6 cafeterias.
Big Chain Cafeteria List 1961
Kroger never bought the cafeterias. They continued as Big Chain for a while, then were bought by Brookshire's, who ran them until 1990-1991.BatteryMill wrote: ↑03 Oct 2023 16:19Were these ever spun off from Kroger?wnetmacman wrote: ↑03 Oct 2023 15:08 Here's a location list for Big Chain Cafeterias for 1961. This would be before Shreve City, so I would guess that there were at least 6 cafeterias.
Big Chain Cafeteria List 1961
Interesting, though what's confounding is how some of the Big Chain cafeterias were opened adjacent to Big Chain supermarkets after the Kroger acquisition.wnetmacman wrote: ↑03 Oct 2023 16:22 Kroger never bought the cafeterias. They continued as Big Chain for a while, then were bought by Brookshire's, who ran them until 1990-1991.
Big Chain retained ownership in the property after the Kroger purchase.BatteryMill wrote: ↑03 Oct 2023 18:24Interesting, though what's confounding is how some of the Big Chain cafeterias were opened adjacent to Big Chain supermarkets after the Kroger acquisition.wnetmacman wrote: ↑03 Oct 2023 16:22 Kroger never bought the cafeterias. They continued as Big Chain for a while, then were bought by Brookshire's, who ran them until 1990-1991.
This is great and incredibly helpful. Thanks! I have added notes in the list.wnetmacman wrote: ↑02 Oct 2023 11:17Whew. That's a lot. If I think of anything else, I'll add a comment here.
Actually, I'm almost certain I ran into a newspaper ad for the cafeterias that listed them as a division of Kroger. I'll see if I can find one and post it.wnetmacman wrote: ↑03 Oct 2023 16:22Kroger never bought the cafeterias. They continued as Big Chain for a while, then were bought by Brookshire's, who ran them until 1990-1991.
I missed the Kroger part in that ad. I'm fairly sure that Brookshire's had more than Shreve City. I remember when I worked for them in 1990 that it was the only one left.Groceteria wrote: ↑04 Oct 2023 17:37Actually, I'm almost certain I ran into a newspaper ad for the cafeterias that listed them as a division of Kroger. I'll see if I can find one and post it.wnetmacman wrote: ↑03 Oct 2023 16:22Kroger never bought the cafeterias. They continued as Big Chain for a while, then were bought by Brookshire's, who ran them until 1990-1991.
Update: Newspaper articles pretty consistently refer to Kroger as owning the cafeterias at least into the early 1970s (and Kroger ads included mentions of specials at the cafeterias). They still operated under the Big Chain name and closed in 1978 after apparently failing to find a buyer. Brookshire's stepped in a few months later and reopened Shreve City (and others?) with the new name.
606 Common is in Downtown Shreveport, and retail in general left that area for dead in the early 80's.Andrew T. wrote: ↑05 Oct 2023 10:06 Here's a bit of trivia about Shreveport: It's the city where the founders of Id Software started their career at locally-based Softdisk, and where the first Commander Keen game was written on evenings and weekends.
So where were Tom Hall, John Romero, and company buying their groceries in 1990? According to this site, Softdisk's headquarters were located at 606 Common St...and the closest chain supermarkets were Brookshire's in a former 1970s Safeway at 510 Kings Highway (still open today!), and the off-model Kroger at 801 Benton Road. Neither were within walking distance.
The Id crew's other development location was a "lake house," vaguely defined near South Lakeshore Drive. The nearest grocery options were Brookshire's at 3730 Lakeshore Drive, and a 1950s-era Cotten's (still open!) at 3656...and again, neither were exactly close by.