Groceteria.com

runchadrun wrote: As for the Montebello store on Beverly, it opened in March 1961 and was the 59th store in the chain. It was 31,000 sq ft when it opened. A 1977 article says that the major stores were Thrifitmart, JC Penney, Woolworth, and Thrifty.

Yep. The flat top on the roof was where the big T was.

Another note about the Burbank store that's now a Smart and Final:

According to the LA Times archive it opened on April 19, 1951. There were 10 stories in the Times on that day about the opening! One was about the "streamlined checkout systems," another about selling Van de Kamp's items, another about self service meats. You get the idea.

Whenever I look at stories like this it amazes me about what consitutued news 50 years ago, let alone something that required 10 stories. The fact that there were 3 full pages of ads from Thriftimart had nothing to do with that, I'm sure :)

J-Mac wrote:
These I am sure about:
Los Alamitos Blvd at Farquhar, Los Alamitos - Vons, with a new front.

J-Mac

I once worked [about 4 yrs] at the Los Alamitos store #62 up until the over night hand over ... Safeway have it before Vons took it over ...

Odd thing that all the T-mart stores that Safeway took over, just about all of the former T-mart employees got laid-off ... due to the fact that Safeway had such a back log of their own former employees for re-hire [from the previous time they tried to move into the southern California market] :(

wayne winterland jr. wrote:The only Thriftimart that I remember in Anaheim before I moved from Calif. in 1979 was located at the intersection of Lincoln and State College Blvd.
Is this the same location as a previous post said was across from the bus station in Anaheim? This shopping center also had a Sav-on Drugstore in it at the far end of the center near Lincoln.

There was another T-mart in Anaheim ... store #9 was down the street from Disneyland, northwest corner of Harbor Blvd. and Orangewood ... I think it might have been the very last one to close :( seems like a lot of inventory from other stores was sent to that store right up to the end ...

I worked there for about 4 yrs also ... started out as the janitor, moved up the rank from boxboy, to checker with the big ol' National registers [before the scanners came into style] then onto the night crew stocking the shelves ... lots of fond memories, one large happy family :)

Remember once going to a retirement party for someone back then, late 70's that seemed like a family reunion to many co-workers :)

The Hacienda Heights store had a BIG "T" as pictured in the 1959 photo linked earlier except the T was in front of the store near the openings I believe and from a little kids perception I remember it much bigger. I wish I could find a picture of that store.

There was not much in L.A. at the time so anything happening was exciting and I remember the Van de Camp Bakery, had a blue dainish windmill.

teresaslo wrote:The Hacienda Heights store had a BIG "T" as pictured in the 1959 photo linked earlier except the T was in front of the store near the openings I believe and from a little kids perception I remember it much bigger. I wish I could find a picture of that store.

At this location...I remember the T being on the roof on the right hand end of the store.

The La Puente/West Covina location (Sunset @ Francisquito) had the same.

teresaslo wrote:The Hacienda Heights store had a BIG "T" as pictured in the 1959 photo linked earlier except the T was in front of the store near the openings I believe and from a little kids perception I remember it much bigger. I wish I could find a picture of that store.

There was not much in L.A. at the time so anything happening was exciting and I remember the Van de Camp Bakery, had a blue dainish windmill.

yes to a kid the big red T was really huge !

back about 1963/4 my family had moved to a brand new tract of homes in Cypress, south of Cerritos between Valley View and Holder [on Elm Ave.] and at night we could see the big T and/or at least the red glow of it clear down Valley View at Chapman in Garden Grove :) there was practically nothing between us and that store, except for the strawberry / corn fields ... I think that was store #67 .... it became a Lucky's in the sell off ... there was an Alpha Beta directly across the street from them on the northeast corner ...

I didn't see any mention of a Thriftimart that opened in Simi Valley on Los Angeles Ave and Sycamore St in '64 according to a photo I have seen online. Apparently it is now a Ralphs with a facelifted facade.

Jeff wrote:There was a Thriftimart in Montebello on Montebello and Beverly that later became a Safeway, then almost immediately a Vons.

For the longest time, you could see T H R I F T I M A R T underneath VONS. Then they painted the store.

Jeff, today, the LA TIMES has an ad for this VONS, as a grand opening. Did they completely gut and remodel the site?

I also checked the VONS website...as ad...GRAND OPENING is 12/7.

Did you have a thread on this one?! Pix?! :)

Dean wrote:

Jeff wrote:There was a Thriftimart in Montebello on Montebello and Beverly that later became a Safeway, then almost immediately a Vons.

For the longest time, you could see T H R I F T I M A R T underneath VONS. Then they painted the store.

Jeff, today, the LA TIMES has an ad for this VONS, as a grand opening. Did they completely gut and remodel the site?

I also checked the VONS website...as ad...GRAND OPENING is 12/7.

Did you have a thread on this one?! Pix?! :)

Yes, they completely gutted this store and upgraded it with a lifestyle remodel. Its only the 2nd time since Vons took over the store they did a remodel (the first was the blank white walls with red script. bland and uninteresting).

They actually gutted the entire store, removed old rooms they dont use, and extened the store from wall to wall, and even back. Its a very nice looking store too on the outside. This store will not have a Starbucks, since there is a starbucks in the center already, but will have a Signature Cafe.....whatever that is. The store however is the same square footage as the old Thriftimart, as the center would not allow them to take over the old Cloth World / Kragen store which is now a Shoe Pavillion.

So, I went to the center today, and the Vons was open for business!

It was a nice remodel. Since the footprint is small, the store is awfully small. It has no bakery area! But does have fresh breads and pastries, but no cakes or such! But a large cafe area. They also moved produce from the east end of the store to the west end, where the liquor department, and check cashing window used to be. You can also tell here where they cut out the back room area, as its a weird shape. Aisles were narrow too, and the Butcher Area is only 1/4 the size of the new Albertsons.

Serving Montebello since 1961. Obviously this is when the Thriftimart must have opened, since Safeway took over in the 80s and Vons in 87.

This market is going to have an uphill battle with the new Albertsons, which I prefer only due to the fact you can walk through it with wide aisles and more of a selection, with a full bakery (and better parking!). This Vons will survive though since its been in the community a lot longer than the Albertsons.

Some rememberances of the Thriftimart in Valley Plaza--as I lived in North Hollywood between 1957 and 1977.

The Thriftimart was at the southern end of the group of stores between Archwood & Kittridge on Laurel Canyon, where the Smart & Final is today. Note: this Thriftimart did not immediately become the S&F--there was a considerable gap between the two businesses.

First, the Thriftimart had a great progressive neon sign. The pylon was an inverted triangle that started up the side of the building, and then widened out to a squarish/rectangular shape above the roofline. The triangular base of the sign was lined with pairs of green neon tubing that lit up in succession until reaching the top. Then the T would light, followed by the word Thriftimart. In the late 1960's or early 1970's the sign was altered, the green chaser neon was removed. The top of the sign was lopped off near the roofline, replaced by the Big T. I think the Big T was probably internally lit plastc, and I was saddened by the loss of the neon.

The store had an unusual layout inside. Like the Thrifty's and McDaniel's/Hughes/Ralphs in the same block, there were front and rear entrances as there are parking lots on both sides. There was also somewhat of a shopping arcade inside, with a group of enclosed stores on the southern (Kittridge Street) wall. Don't remember too much about what stores these were (something keeps nagging at me that one might have been an S&H Green Stamp redemption center--but I really don't know). I believe there was a shoe repair shop, too (possibly a Zinke's). There was a third entrance to Thriftimart through the arcade onto Kittridge. And for some reason, I'm remembering that from the front entrance, you actually ramped down somewhat after entering, although the topography of the surrounding area is quite flat.

From this point, there's quite a gap in my knowledge, because for some reason my mother HATED Thriftimart. We never shopped there--ever. To this day I don't know why. I can honestly say that from 1957 to the mid 1970's, I was in that store less than a couple of dozen times. So I don't remember much more about store layout.

In the mid 1970's, I started going to a barber shop (Pat & Mike's) that was one of the few arcade stores still open in Thriftimart. It had an entrance onto Kittridge, and another into the store. The original passageway in the Arcade to Kittridge had been blocked off by then.

Fairly soon came the day that the sign went up announcing that Thriftimart was leaving, to be replaced by a Builder's Emporium. "Thriftimart is leaving, but we're staying" and listed a few businesses including Pat & Mike's. The store was emptied, and remodeled--and finally all the other businesses except one were closed, as the remodeling continued.

The only business to remain was "Your Chef" a kind of grubby looking hot deli that was in the southeast corner of the building. After new doors were installed for the BE store more toward the center of the building, access to Your Chef was through the old Thriftimart "Magic Doors", but the Magic part was disabled and you had to open those doors manually. They were very out of scale with the tiny Your Chef! No remodeling to Your Chef was done at all; it still had the remains of the Thriftimart floor, ceiling tiles and light fixtures, and from inside the BE appeared as a walled-off corner.

I moved to Northern California not too long after the BE opened, although I visit North Hollywood from time to time. So I don't know exactly when the S&F went in, or the Radio Shack that is now in the old Your Chef location or if there were intervening businesses after the BE. The old Thriftimart building was quite recognizable after the conversion to the BE, but the current Radio Shack/S&F structures either show a very extensive exterior remodel, or as others have mentioned, a complete demolition of the original building and a rebuild.

Hope this jogs some memories--anyone else remember the Valley Plaza Thriftimart?

In the early 1960s, a Thriftimart grocery store (with the huge red neon 'T' on the roof) opened in a new shopping center located at 6350 Van Buren Blvd. in the Arlington area of Riverside, CA. The center also included a Thrifty Drug (w/ adjoining coffee shop), W.T. Grant and Security Pacific National Bank along with a few smaller stores.

The Thriftimart became Safeway in the early 1980s and is now a Cardenas Market. The building that housed W.T. Grant is now an A.J. Wright and the old Thrifty Drug is now Rite Aid.

Within the past few years, the entire center received an extensive makeover and no longer sports the 1960s look. Here's a "bird's eye" view of the shopping center today (with the old Thriftimart building on the right): http://tinyurl.com/mtttq4

8060 dale st. buena park calif was a t-mart then lucky's now albertsons
brookhurst and westminster garden grove calif.

Dean wrote:I remember THRIFTIMART had stores in City of Industry CA at the corner of Gale and Hacienda. It became LUCKY...and is now a 99 Cent Only Store. The THRIFTIMART in West Covina CA was off Sunset. I believe it is now MAX FOODS.

I remember going there with my mom when I was about 4 or 5 years old. At the time we lived in Rowland Heights, right up the street from the Leonards Dept. Store.