Old Grocery Chains (Cincinnati, Dayton, Springfield: real estate, apartments, leasing)

[tntnb]

Originally Posted by goyguy

The Albers in Carthage was replaced by Feldhaus Sporting Goods, then later by the 21st-Century Woolworth's (Family Dollar.) There was another one in Greenhills Plaza. I recall that they used a rooster's head for their logo, white on blue above the vertical "ALBERS" lettering.
Another vanished grocery-store chain is the comically-named (for Cincinnati) Liberal. They were responsible for the removal of the last houses from Mary St in Hartwell. Today there's a "furniture outlet" in the off-white-brick building, which is a successor to yet another bygone supermarket (Thriftway.) Liberal also was an anchor store at Swifton, which demonstrated that they liked locating right at a Kroger's. Yellow and green were popular store colors: green smocks for the cashiers and baggers, green lettering in yellow squares for signage, etc.

Stealing a quote from goyguy in the restaurant discussion and starting a new one about old grocery chains . . . . (I know, I know . . . who cares, right?)

Funny that you mentioned Liberal grocers, GG. I was thinking about that chain earlier this week. That's where we shopped when I was a kid. House brands: Gaylord and Food Club. Unimaginable that any store would take that name these days, at least around here . . . .

There was also a small chain called Parkview Markets, that I believe eventually morphed into IGA stores . . . I seem to remember their house brands were White Villa and Little Skipper . . . Though I also have a vague memory of White Villa Grocers scattered around the area as well . . . .

[Ohiogirl81]

I didn't like Liberal -- it was a nasty store. Of course, the only location I ever went into was the one on Third Street in downtown Dayton, and that was toward the end of the chain's existence. Liberal was in a lot of malls -- the Dayton Mall and the Salem Mall, that I recall. I always thought that was odd.

I didn't like Thriftway, either. The stores always seemed dirty. And it was more expensive than Kroger anyway, so why bother ...

[Ohioan58]

In addition to Liberal's and White Villa (which did home deliveries, which my grandmother took advantage of in the 60s), the Dayton area had at least two other "micro chains", Chmiel's and Eavey's. Chmiel's had a store in Centerville that closed around 2002 where Odd Lots is now; and Eavey's had a small Centerville store in an outlot of Elder Beerman's store on Rt 48 which closed probably in the late 1980s.

Dayton did have a few other larger regional chains... Stump's? Maybe some others? Memory fails me...

The Lebanon area used to have two locally owned IGAs called "Brocke and Paul's" both of which went out of business around 2005.

Mass consolidation seems to be the key here. I always thought that a store like IGA with reasonable prices (unlike mini markets), a full selection of common products, and really fast service - get in and out really quickly - was great to have around, and I patronized these places regularly. But apparently most sheeple want to mass at the mega huge retailers like Kroger's.

It's sad to see individuality and regionality crushed like this.

[kjbrill]

I would like to see a little more of actual history here. As I said in another thread, my research indicates Albers was the first in Cincinnati to use the term supermarket. I remember going there when my grandparents, both sides, lived in Silverton/Deer Park, and the Albers store was on Plainfield, near the winery. I only remember the Albers in Silverton because I had relatives who worked there.

Many years ago, when I lived in Madeira, I would go to the Thriftway in Kenwood, across Montgomery Rd from the original Kenwood Plaza (back then basically a strip mall). I believe Thriftway Markets was overseen by Bob Lindner, brother of Carl, during their early expansion days. I loved that store.

I don't claim to be an expert, but from what I remember of the Lindners years ago was they would build a UDF (their original vehicle), a Hunter Savings & Loan, and a Thriftway Market all in the same strip center, side-by-side. Just plain good business.

After I moved to Mason, I continued to shop at Thriftway. The original store was demolished by a tornado about 2 years before we moved here, and they rebuilt it. Again, loved that store. Don't understand some of the comments they were dirty. To me they were the premier grocery operation in the city. But all things do change. When they sold out to Winn-Dixie, the handwriting was on the wall. Didn't take very long before they all closed.

[Ohioan58]

Apparently Albers operated in Dayton in the 40s or the 50s. I never knew where they were from until this thread.

Here is a photo taken along Watervliet Ave. in the southeast neighborhood of Belmont. (The picture is from an old time photos gallery on this web site: http://www.belmontbison.com/79701.html) You can see a Kroger in the leftmost background, and I remember many weeks riding with my parents to go shopping at that store. You can also see the iconic Dayton name of Beerman Department Store in the background.

[goyguy]

Yes! The original Kroger's in Hartwell had that exact same sign in front. It was on a free-standing black metal post at the entrance to the parking lot rather than affixed to the store building.
I wonder what that Albers store had been originally, b/c I doubt the exterior was done up all that fancy-like for a food market. But the big picture windows were standard-issue well into the '60s. Referencing the Hartwell Kroger's again: the store in its first years had 'em clear across the front (toward Vine St) as well as on the side facing Mary St, which was behind the cash-register lanes. It was forgotten before long just how terrified urban citizens were during all the riots in '67 and '68. Lots of normally clear-thinking people were convinced that one spark could set off widespread mayhem in the streets, with looting sure to follow. A consequence of that was that the entire wall of windows on the east side of the Hartwell Kroger's was bricked over, later to have signs of that erased when the building was remodeled. Sometime down the line the wall on the north (Mary St) side was covered up too.
But the electric doors at the northeast corner of the store stayed in place, and are there to this day. They were something new n' different when I was a kid. At times the sibs and I had to be dragged away from jumping on the rubber mats which activated them, lol.
Hartwell also had a Parkview Market, which operated as Scheff's and stood perpendicular to the east side of Vine St just north of Compton Rd. IGA's departure was lamented when it vacated what was originally KMart Foods on the Wyoming/Woodlawn border (later to become a Big Lots, eventually demolished in favor of a residential subdivision.) One continues to hang on in Reading, and another anchors a strip mall in St Bernard.
Oranges for 2 cents apiece, imagine that!

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by kjbrill

After I moved to Mason, I continued to shop at Thriftway. The original store was demolished by a tornado about 2 years before we moved here, and they rebuilt it. Again, loved that store. Don't understand some of the comments they were dirty. To me they were the premier grocery operation in the city. But all things do change. When they sold out to Winn-Dixie, the handwriting was on the wall. Didn't take very long before they all closed.

They were not dirty until Winn-Dixie took over.

I was in the Anderson store about two months before they pulled out of the market. The deli was closed down as were a couple of other departments. The WORST thing that I saw was a bag of Husman's potato chips that was SIX MONTH out of date. I was wondering why there were hockey ads on a potato chip bag in August.

[Wilson513]

Originally Posted by jlawrence01

They were not dirty until Winn-Dixie took over.

I was in the Anderson store about two months before they pulled out of the market. The deli was closed down as were a couple of other departments. The WORST thing that I saw was a bag of Husman's potato chips that was SIX MONTH out of date. I was wondering why there were hockey ads on a potato chip bag in August.

Its been a long time since store employees have re-stocked potato chip racks. Blame Husman's.

HP had three groceries in the 50's: ALbers on Madison, Krogers where West Shell is on the Square and King Duffy the White Villa (franchisee?).

[kjbrill]

Even though this thread is about chains, mention needs to be made about all of the independent groceries which used to exist. Years ago, my parent's dealt with a family owned Witte grocery on Ohio Ave. in Deer Park. Even after we moved to Madeira, my mother would phone in her order to Witte's on Friday and my father would pick it up on his way home from work. What I distinctly remember is they would use the boxes their inventory came in rather than bags. My parents continued to patronize them until they closed. There was a sense of loyalty back then which just does not exist today.

[goyguy]

Now that the topic's been broadened, let me give a shout for Westendorf's. They occupied an off-pink-painted brick building with offices/apartments upstairs on Springfield Pike in the northern reaches of Wyoming. There were maybe three aisles at most in the place, with plenty of space taken up by candy + gum + chips etc for the loyal kid customers who flocked there by foot or bike. A small meat/deli counter was at the back of the store. Being a shrewd businessman, George Westendorf's keen instincts told him two things toward the start of the '70s. One was that the King Kwik which had opened a block up the road was not good news for his grocery store. The other was that he was sitting on some valuable real estate. He made a pretty penny by closing the market and leasing the space to LaRosa's, which during the intervening years went from occupying the old storefront to anchoring a mini-strip-mall at the same intersection.
Another, larger, Westendorf's remained as a landmark - easily visible from southbound I-75 - along West Forrer St in Lockland all the way until about 2007.
Once upon a time in Wyoming there was also Sansone's, a full service and old-fashioned (complete with pressed-tin ceilings) grocer at the central intersection of Springfield Pike and Wyoming Ave. The brick building was painted white, with the store name in blue block letters on the concrete panels above the entrance. (Only appropriate, since those are the WHS colors.) Mr Sansone cashed out circa 1972 in favor of the Kwik Brothers (lol) and the building was sandblasted. Nowadays Wyoming's ladies and men who lunch nibble their salads in the same space at the Half Day Cafe.
Haller's Grocery near the railroad tracks on Wyoming Ave also went out with the '60s when the owners retired, but food is still purveyed from that space as it's now the Wyoming Meat Market. Hats off to this business - they still do everything the old-school way except for not having sawdust on the floor. You can even stop by in warmer weather and enjoy a hot burger or mettwurst or whatever fresh off the Weber grills they keep smoking on the sidewalk outside. (Funny, small-towny, story about that one: A few years ago, Yours Truly witnessed a Metro bus screeching to the curb in front of the meat market. No passengers wanted to disembark there; the driver was hankering for a cheeseburger. And they weren't continuing into Lockland 'til that man had his sandwich.)