Interiors at Fletchers Grocery in Parkland. Photos ordered by the Jack Frost Co. Packs of cigarettes, cigars and chewing tobacco line the shelves behind the checkers. As the woman checker enters the prices in the cash register, two bag boys box the groceries. Signs indicate that this is the store's Grand Opening. Numerals indicate different areas of the aisles. The aisles are wide enough for carts and well stocked with canned and boxed goods.
ca. 1925. In 1925, McKinley Hill had a thriving business community, with locally owned shops and stores lining its sidewalks. Pictured left to right at 3504 McKinley Ave. are Porter's Barber Shop (owned by Ollie B. Porter), Central Shoes (A. Don Soper) and "Gents Furnishings" (Chester & Olsen). 3502B McKinley appears to be vacant and on the right, at 3502 A McKinley, is the Piggly Wiggly grocery store. In 1928, Mr. Porter, the barber, had the Porter Apartments constructed at this location. Although the newspaper doesn't specify this, it appears that the two stories of apartments were built on top of this commercial space. E. Taylor Gardner, of 3618 E "L", was the architect and contractor for the Porter Apartments. (WSHS)
Washington State Apple Advertising Commission display at Franklin Food Store. Apple crates stacked on a slope and on floor, signs hanging overhead and around boxes.
Franklin Food Stores (Tacoma); Advertisements--Tacoma; Advertising--Tacoma; Publicity; Apples;
American Wholesale Grocers. Interiors of new IGA Foodtown store located at Park Ave. and Airport Way. A large self serve cooler offers chilled six-packs of Bireley's, Dad's, White Rock and Quench. The right hand side of the cooler offers single bottles of soft drinks and mixers. The new grocery store would have its Grand Opening for 4 days beginning August 17, 1955. (TNT 8/16/1955, pg. 7-10)
Carbonated beverages; IGA Foodtown (Parkland); Grocery stores--1950-1960; Supermarkets;
American Wholesale Grocers. Exterior of new IGA Foodtown store located at Park Ave. and Airport Way. A planter box, including two trees that extend through the roof line, and flagstone paving lead to the entrance of the store. The Van de Camps bakery windmill logo can be seen on the neon sign to the right. Parking fans out around the building. Fluorescent tube lighting illuminates the inside and outside of the store. The 20,000 square foot concrete block and Roman brick building has large plate glass windows across the north side. (TNT 8/16/1955, pg. 7-10)
IGA Foodtown (Parkland); Grocery stores--1950-1960; Supermarkets;
American Wholesale Grocers. Interiors of new IGA Foodtown store located at Park Ave. and Airport Way. The modern supermarket no longer just offered food, it also offered varieties- items to be used around the home. The Foodtown Varieties section has thread, yarn, sewing supplies, brooms, nylons, sunglasses, pictures, "bun baskets" and glassware. The variety portion was self service with shoppers using the same check out counters as the grocery store. (TNT 8/16/1955, pg. 7-10)
IGA Foodtown (Parkland); Grocery stores--1950-1960; Supermarkets;
American Wholesale Grocers. Nighttime view of exterior of new IGA Foodtown store located at Park Ave. and Airport Way. The supermarket shares the same strip mall with Devereaux Realty, Ruth's Cafe, a beauty and barber shop and a drycleaning plant. The entrance to the grocery store is to the right. The variety section may have had its own entrance to the left of the brick wall. Each IGA was independently owned and operated, but affiliated with IGA, the second largest retail food outlet in the country. (TNT 8/16/1955, pg. 7-10)
IGA Foodtown (Parkland); Grocery stores--1950-1960; Supermarkets;
This was how the new IGA Foodtown store located at Park Avenue and Airport Way in Parkland appeared on the evening of August 16, 1955. One of the earliest strip malls in Pierce County, the complex contained the supermarket, bakery, variety store, cafe, beauty and barber shops, real estate office and dry cleaning plant.The entrance to the grocery store is to the right. Checkout registers and baskets can be seen behind the glass entrance. The variety section may have had its own entrance to the left of the brick wall. The store had the new feature of automatic doors and ample self service; 66 feet of self service meat, self service Van de Kamps bakery and large self service variety store. The parking lot provided space for 150 cars. Photograph ordered by American Wholesale Grocers. (TNT 8/16/1955, pg. 7-10)
IGA Foodtown (Parkland); Grocery stores--1950-1960; Supermarkets;
American Wholesale Grocers. Interiors of new IGA Foodtown store located at Park Ave. and Airport Way. The end cap is a display of ABC fig bars. The cookies sell for $.49. The sign shows the "world's largest fig bar" and proclaims when better fig bars are made, ABC will make them. The Grand Opening of the store would begin August 17 and continue for 4 days. During that time, free coffee and cake would be served, every lady shopper would receive a free gift and an orchid and a Shetland pony with saddle and bridle would be one prize of many given away. (TNT 8/16/1955, pg. 7-10)
IGA Foodtown (Parkland); Grocery stores--1950-1960; Supermarkets;
American Wholesale Grocers. Exterior of new IGA Foodtown store located at Park Ave. and Airport Way. A planter box and flagstone paving lead to the entrance of the store. The 20,000 square foot building was built of concrete block and roman brick with large plate glass windows across the north side. A large modernistic marquee extended over the northwest corner and a raised planting area with flowering and evergreen shrubs included two oriental trees that extended through the roof. (TNT 8/16/1955, pg. 7-10)
IGA Foodtown (Parkland); Grocery stores--1950-1960; Supermarkets;
Interior of Groff's Natural Foods. Groff's, in downtown Tacoma, stressed the importance of eating right, using "natural" foods and vitamins to keep a person healthy. Whole grain flour and cereals, a selection of salt-free foods, Vitamin A-packed carrot juice, 100% pure honey, and even mineralized cookies were offered to discerning customers. Jugs of papaya juice, surely not a standard on the 1950's breakfast tables, were also available for purchase. Groff's was to celebrate its grand reopening on October 28, 1955. The store had been in the same location in the Crystal Palace Shopping Center at 11th & Market Sts. for the past fifteen years. Owner Virgil Groff claimed his store had the largest supply of vitamins in Tacoma. Photograph ordered by Groff's Natural Foods. (TNT 10-27-55, A-8)
The Park 'N Shop Supermarket. The Park 'N Shop was owned by John Bussanich and Otto Marth. It had a distinctive dome style roof, a corner entrance and lots of parking. A refrigerated trailer outside holds ice. A delivery truck for Archway cookies is parked outside. At the forefront of one stop shopping, the store offered drugs, dry goods, groceries, meat, vegetables and prescriptions. This aided the busy housewife whose stops in earlier times would have included the butcher, green grocer and pharmacy.
Food Giant Supermarket. Numerous cars are parked at the Food Giant supermarket which was conveniently open 9 am to 9 pm in 1956. The location of this particular supermarket was not provided. The 1956 and 1957 City Directories did not list a Food Giant.
The Thriftway Park 'N Shop, formerly the Park 'N Shop, self serve meat department. The white aproned butcher holds a Carsten's fully cooked smoked ham in one hand and a Lynden turkey in the other. The signs on the display coolers advertise this week's special, steaks and pot roasts for 49 cents a pound. Mirrors reflect the containers of pre-packaged meats waiting for the shopping homemaker to take home.
The Patty Ann Bakery at the Thriftway Park 'N Shop, formerly the Park 'N Shop. Two bakery assistants in clean white uniforms pose, one holding freshly baked bread. The lighted glass display cabinets hold luscious looking cakes, doughnuts, cookies and pastries. Smiling jack o' lantern cutouts decorate the shelves, along with a palm tree look alike coming out of the planter box behind one woman's head.
Washington Co-op Farmers Association "Co-op Eggs" streamlined delivery van parked in front of Safeway Store at Puyallup Avenue and Bay Street. Man unloading crates of eggs is believed to be the driver, Harry Stearns.
Grocery stores--Tacoma--1940-1950; Trucks--Tacoma--1940-1950; Poultry industry--Washington--1940-1950; Washington Cooperative Farmers Association (Tacoma);
A trio of checkers, dressed in "old-timey" clothing, sashay for the camera to advertise Safeway's Country Carnival Days. Adorned in ruffles and bonnets, the women are posed next to a cartoon cutout of a carnival barker. This June 30, 1958, photograph may have been taken at the Safeway store at 1102 South "M". Photograph ordered by Retail Clerks Union.
Safeway Stores, Inc. (Tacoma); Supermarkets--Tacoma--1950-1960; Signs (Notices);
The staff of this Safeway store probably had a lot of fun dressing up for the supermarket's "Country Carnival Days" promotion on June 30, 1958. The men wore bow ties and striped vests topped off with jaunty derbys while the women checkers, in bonnets, wore "buttons and bows." There is even an old-fashioned policeman with truncheon handy to keep order. Photograph ordered by the Retail Clerks Union.
Safeway Stores, Inc. (Tacoma); Publicity photographs;
In August of 1941, the residents of the Fern Hill neighborhood welcomed the opening of Bob's Market Center at the corner of 84th and Park Ave. The modern grocery store was operated by two familiar faces, Robert Steidel (meats) and Robert Munz (groceries). Both men had previously been associated with other Fern Hill Groceries. Robert Steidel had been raised in Fern Hill and was the son of Alex Steidel, who owned the Market Center store on 72nd and Pacific. (T. Times 8/1/1941, pg. 2)
Bob's Market Center (Tacoma); Grocery stores--Tacoma--1940-1950;
On October 10, 1941, Safeway had a Grand Opening at their newest store at 608 No. Pine St., the corner of 6th and Pine. It replaced the first Safeway opened in Tacoma, opened in 1923 at 6th and Fife. This was the 7th Safeway to be opened locally since May 1st of 1941. The store was built on land partially vacated when the "jog" in the road at 6th & Pine was straightened. The store had 6500 square feet of floor space and lots of parking. (T. Times 10-09-1941 p.13; 10/16/41, pg. 13-ad)
Safeway Stores, Inc. (Tacoma); Grocery stores--Tacoma--1940-1950;
Tacoma's seventh Safeway Store opened at the corner of 6th Avenue and Pine Street on October 10, 1941 shortly before this photograph was taken. The new store, which replaced the Safeway at 2603 6th Avenue, had its own parking lot which provided 1 hour free parking for Safeway shoppers. The corner of 6th and Pine had just been re-designed to eliminate the 6th Avenue "jog", solving a problem which cause a bottleneck at that corner.
Grocery Stores--Tacoma--1940-1950; Safeway Stores, Inc. (Tacoma);
This photograph of the corner of 6th Avenue and Pine was taken in November of 1941 shortly after the street was partially straightened, eliminating a sharp jog in the road at that corner. The businesses at the corner included: Casey's Tavern at 2810 6th Ave., now Cafe dei Pani; Aplling's Hardware, 2815 6th Ave. and Winfield's Bakery, 2813 6th Ave., now both incorporated into Ricardo's restaurant; and the recently built Safeway grocery store at 608 N. Pine (partially hidden by Appling's), now Schuck's Auto Supply.
Grocery Stores--Tacoma--1940-1950; Facades--Tacoma--1940-1950; Safeway Stores, Inc. (Tacoma);
Safeway Store, new building at Sixth and Pine. Front view of modest Art Deco style concrete store. The store opened October 10, 1941, the 7th Safeway store to be opened locally since May of 1941. The modern store had 6500 square feet of floor space, indirect lighting and lots of parking. (T. Times 10/09/1941, pg. 13; 10/16/41, pg. 13- ad)
Safeway Stores, Inc. (Tacoma); Grocery stores--Tacoma--1940-1950;
Four Safeway employees surveyed newspaper food ads at the University Place Safeway store on March 13, 1961. The store was located at 7506 27th St. W. and was preparing for its grand opening in two days. This would be Safeway's 13th and newest market. Safeway shared space in a new University Place shopping center with Value Store and Thrifty Drug. From L-R: meat department manager Alvin Glasgow, store manager Leslie Carl, produce department manager Robert Arneberg and Tacoma Safety district manager, Fred Bucholtz. Safeway was running a canned food sale for seven days which included 5 cans of Del Monte green peas at $1.00, 3 cans of asparagus spears for 89 cents, 4 cans of Elberta peaches at 95 cents and 7 cans of pork & beans for $1.00. Photograph ordered by the News Tribune. (TNT 3-14-61, p. 6, 7) TPL-6171
Interior of Safeway Store on South Tacoma Way as photographed on September 28, 1942. Taken at night, two ceiling lights highlight the produce/fruit displays.
Safeway Stores, Inc. (Tacoma); Grocery stores--Tacoma--1940-1950;
Interior of Safeway Store on South K Street. Empty of customers at the time of this late September, 1942, photograph, the store was still brightly lit with hanging lamps. Safeway in the 1940s had over 15 locations in the Tacoma area.
Safeway Stores, Inc. (Tacoma); Grocery stores--Tacoma--1940-1950;
