Grocery Stores No Longer Around!

[Music] grocery stores have been a part of American daily life for more than a century most people live within a few minutes of a supermarket no matter if it is a chain store or an independent one the business of selling groceries is not for the week over the years there have been many different grocery stores that have come and gone in this video we will have a look back at some of the Forgotten grocery store chains thank you A and P or the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company was one of the best known defunct grocery store chains they began in 1859 as a mail order tea business in New York City in 1912 they opened their first small grocery store and eventually they grew in to be one of the top grocery stores in the country after managing to survive for more than 100 years as a grocery store things went bad for the supermarket Giant in 2015. the chain was unable to evolve with the times and they filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy which forced the closure of all stores [Music] Cash and Carry was a staple in Florida they began in Tampa by selling fruits and vegetables on the streets in the 1960s Cash and Carry had nine stores that they operated and the chain thrived on providing Quick Service to customers if there were more than three people in the lane they would quickly open a new checkout laying even today that's something that's almost unheard of in 1979 Lucky stores purchased cash and carry and at its height they had 117 stores however the chain fell victim to growing too fast and too much competition the last Cash and Carry closed in 2007. the alpha beta grocery store chain began in 1910 and lasted until about 1995. the store started in California but eventually expanded throughout most of the country most of the locations were in suburbs and during the 1950s people referred to Alpha Beta as the country club because it became the place to meet all your friends in 1979 Alpha Beta began a slow Decline and they were purchased by Ralph's grocery store in 1994. all of the remaining stores were then converted to Ralphs Dominic's was once a well-known Chicago chain that began in 1918 and grew to around 72 stores this chain fell victim to Discount Stores such as Walmart and Target as well as higher end competitors such as Mariano's and Whole Foods another challenge they faced was a steep cost of unionized Labor as time would have it customers slowly stopped shopping there and the chain closed [Music] when most people think of polls they think of the department store that is all over the place however there was a time when they sold groceries it all began with a Polish immigrant named Maxwell Cole in Milwaukee in 1927. over the next several years Cole expanded and his stores became the largest supermarket chain in Milwaukee in fact he was somewhat ahead of the game his stores were the epitome of the modern Supermarket with drugstores liquor stores and more eventually Cole sold a controlling interest in its stores to a subsidiary of the British American Tobacco Company in 2003 the grocery stores were shuttered by the owner A and P food fair started in Harrisburg Pennsylvania during the 1920s they would eventually grow to around 500 stores in the U.S and become among the top five grocery stores they were primarily in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic but they also had stores in Florida and California by the 1980s the stores had disappeared when they were rebranded as Pantry Pride Grand Union was a big fixture in the New York grocery store landscape at one point they operated 222 supermarkets in Six States including Vermont New Jersey Connecticut New Hampshire and Pennsylvania the stores were designed to meet the needs of each area including a variety of brand name and private label groceries some locations also included cafes and pharmacies in 2001 the company filed for bankruptcy and they were purchased by CNS Wholesale grocers who then sold it to Tops Friendly Markets a year later the new owner brought an end to the Grand Union brand Ultra Foods became known for their steep discounts which were anywhere from 25 to 30 percent off regular grocery store prices during the 1980s they operated about 16 locations that were primarily in Northern Indiana and Chicago Ultra Foods then came up against steep competition themselves in 2017 the last Ultra Foods became part of the popular indiana-based chain Strack and Van teal National tea was one of the earlier grocery stores in the United States and by 1920 they had more than 1600 locations nationwide and sales were around 90 million dollars annually unfortunately that Great Depression hit the stores hard and many locations had to close however national team still managed to remain one of the largest grocery store chains in the country until the 1970s when it was sold to ANP in 1976. Jitney jungle became a well-known store throughout the South they began in Mississippi in 1919 and expanded all across the southeast they were originally a self-service design in the 1920s and became part of the rising supermarkets of the 1930s during the 1970s they changed once again to become part of the discount Mega markets surprisingly throughout all of these changes Jitney jungle remained a private family-owned grocery store chain until 1996. by the year 2000 its run was over and the chain was taken over by Winn Dixie who rebranded the stores Pantry Pride got its start in the 1960s and became well known throughout Florida the store came about when food fair purchased a competitor known as best markets which had a private label brand called Pantry Pride the best Market's name became a thing of the past but the private label was then given the honor of becoming the store's new name by the 1980s Pantry Pride saw some hard times and began sliding Into Obscurity at its peak there were more than 440 supermarkets in seven states on the east coast and in the Bahamas Fresh and Easy was launched by the uk-based Tesco in an attempt to break into the U.S market however the company had to file for bankruptcy twice and the second time in 2015 brought an end to the chain they were plagued with a variety of problems including not investing money to attract customers failing to communicate the store's Mission and distribution snags that turned customers off at their Peak they had more than 150 stores in operation their early Vision was to become a chain of healthy convenience stores Victory supermarkets was founded by Two Brothers James and Louis de Geronimo in 1923 and was based in Massachusetts the name of the store came from the American war effort in World War One the chain grew to around 20 stores and employed more than 2 600 workers during its 81-year run however it was sold to the Hannaford Brothers company in 2004 bringing Victory grocery stores to an end was a store that operated primarily in New York but eventually expanded into New Jersey and Connecticut they managed to stay in business for 115 years before they were purchased by ANP in 1986. this grocery store officially ceased operations alongside of its parent company in 2015. Marsh supermarkets was a grocery store that began in 1931 and flourished in Indiana and Ohio opening dozens of stores in 2017 they filed for bankruptcy after a long and slow decline from the ownership of a private Equity Firm who did not understand how to operate grocery stores Eagle food centers operated in the Midwest and they were loved by many people however pressure from other grocery store chains and super center retailers eventually got them the company owned and operated 61 supermarkets in Iowa and Illinois in 2000 Eagle food centers filed for bankruptcy and by 2003 all of its locations had completely gone out of business wine Gardens was launched by a Polish man named Joseph Weingarten in Houston Texas in 1901. a second store was open in 1920 and the business eventually grew to 70 locations by 1980 the grocery store was sold to Grand Union they in turn began selling former wine garden stores to Randalls and Safeway putting an end to the wine Gardens foreign supermarkets began in Omaha Nebraska in 1925. they competed for business against a similarly named Supermarket Piggly Wiggly in order to stand out they implemented Innovations such as the automatic doors and checkout counters they even placed ATM like machines inside some of its stores allowing customers to get cash quickly in 1972 they were acquired by column and all of their success began to decline by 1985 Cullum sold the remaining locations and they were sold again in 2000. hinky dinky stores didn't stick around much longer and today there are none left the Dell Champs grocery store opened in Mobile Alabama during the 1920s it became super popular because of its self-service format by 1929 they had six locations around mobile and by the end of the century Dale Champs had more than 100 stores in the south in 1996 the city of mobile made the original delchamp store an official Historic Site however this honor did not save them in 1997 Dale Champs was acquired by the Jitney jungle for 213 million dollars the previous year Jitney jungle had been purchased for 400 million dollars stores of both Brands face trouble until they were phased out completely from the purchase by Winn-Dixie for 85 million dollars Minyard food stores began in 1932 by E.W Minyard who was a postal employee he purchased a store in East Dallas to provide jobs for his two younger brothers and this was smack dab in the Great Depression the stores remained in the family and by 1987 they operated 62 Minyard food stores and 10 sack and Save stores by 1997 the company had become the third largest in the Dallas Fort Worth area behind Tom Thumb and Albertsons during that time they also got into gas stations which they had acquired 12 by 1999. in 2004 after 72 years in business the Minyard family sold Minyard food stores to the acquisition vehicle Texas to LLC they continue to operate under the same names but they were slowly closing stores due to the pressure from super centers in 2011 they were acquired by the RLS supermarkets and there were only 10 stores remaining under the Minyard's name the last Vineyard store closed for Good in 2017 bringing an official in to the menu name in the grocery business [Music] Big Bear was a chain of grocery stores in the Ohio area the first store was opened in 1934 during the Great Depression but right across from Ohio State University the owner Wayne Brown came up with a genius idea of having a real live bear in the store right up front in a special cage no one could enter the store without catching a glimpse of it in 1942 the bear outgrew his cage and he was given a new home at the Columbus Zoo however other Bears followed even if it was just for grand openings of other stores the supermarket chain grew to almost 90 stores and bears were always a crowd favorite Mr Brown was much more than a creative marketer he focused on volume buying and thin margins and this allowed him to beat other stores prices eventually other larger grocery stores began putting pressure on Big Bear with even lower prices than they could ever go this forced to buy out of the weekend company in 1989. Big Bear stores closed for Good in 2004 leaving behind many fond memories of a grocery store that wasn't afraid to be different [Music] one thing is certain we all need food over the years how we have gotten our food has definitely changed grocery stores have evolved in order to stay in business and they will have to continue to do so I hope you enjoyed our little walk down the grocery aisle what were some of the grocery stores you used to shop at let us know in the comments below thanks for watching [Music] thank you

Channel: Rhetty for History

Views: 258,937

Keywords: grocery stores no longer around, defunct grocery stores, forgotten grocery stores, grocery stores that went out of business, rhetty for history, remembering the past, stores that dont exist anymore, grocery stores that no longer exist, childhood memories, nostalgia, nostalgic, yesteryear, forgotten stores, defunct stores, old stores, old stores that no longer exist, stores no longer in business, dead retail, remembering old stores, stores no longer around, nostalgic memories, old

Id: mnE7zGn_w9Y

Length: 14min 42sec (882 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 03 2023