A&P in the Flirty Thirties

The 1930’s were the setting of a notable paradox in American life. On the one hand, there was the Great Depression, which spanned the entire decade and left a tremendous amount of hardship and suffering in its wake. In extreme cases, people were forced to stand in soup lines or sell apples on street corners, scenes that were captured in a plethora of haunting film clips. Though the majority of folks may not have been affected to this extent, it was the rare American family that didn’t have to squeeze every dime – hard – to make ends meet.

Consider this alongside the popular trend in civic and commercial architecture at the time – the art deco/streamline moderne school of design, with its clean lines, soaring, grandiose themes and top quality materials – granite and marble, bronze and gold leaf – and you have an incredible contrast. To look at these buildings today, without context or knowledge of those times, one would think that the 1930’s were the most prosperous time in human history, when in fact the opposite was true. By the time things got better for a sustained period of time, after ten long years of depression and four more of a world war, the architectural trends were reflecting a much more toned down look. Perhaps the soaring inspiration was no longer needed.

Granted, even during its peak years, this special type of architecture was generally not applied to humble, relatively small-scaled grocery stores. On occasion it was, however, and even staid, cautious A&P (known affectionately as “Grandma” by that time to some) had their share of deco delights. The first two photos above, from Chain Store Age, depict A&P stores from 1937 (Atlanta, with a neon “red circle” logo!) and 1935 (unknown) respectively, with storefronts faced with structural glass, the most popular brand of which was called Vitrolite. According to this website, Vitrolite hasn’t even been manufactured since 1947. One of the attributes of Vitrolite was the fact that it reflected a perfect mirror image, with zero distortion. Most significantly, it provided architects a means of creating extremely bold patterns and shapes in colors that didn’t fade or age. It was vulnerable to impact damage/cracking, of course. My mind’s eye tells me that the “marbled” portions were Emerald Agate in color, but certainly it could have been just about any color.

The interiors are from different stores from the same time period. The first interior (from Progressive Grocer), very appealing in my book, is a nice example of a “pre-self service” era store, with counter men at the ready. The location is unknown to me. The last photo shows a Kansas City A&P interior, with a nifty tile floor (from an Armstrong flooring ad, natch), a store that looks to be a transitional unit, between the counter service and dawning self-service eras.

Expanding the Publix Domain

Our final look at Publix, for now. In the nearly 30 years since Publix celebrated its golden anniversary in 1980, it has not only continued to be one of the most respected companies in the supermarket business, but also has become one of the largest. Much of this can be credited to the carefully cultivated reputation for service the company has successfully maintained through the years. Another reason would be the innovations Publix has embraced in the last three decades, especially in the area of technology – they were one of the strongest proponents for scanning technology at their checkout counters, well ahead of some much larger supermarket firms, and Publix was also an early adopter of in-store ATM’s. Still another factor was the reversal of two long-standing company policies during this period.

From the company’s founding, Publix stores were closed on Sundays. As mentioned, the company made good use of this fact in their advertising, citing the need for a regular day off for employees. According to the “Fifty Years of Pleasure” book, this wasn’t merely an advertising ploy but rather a firmly held belief. It was also a point of pride for George Jenkins, that “a Publix manager could do as good a job in six days as any of his competitors could in seven”. By 1982, however, with the influx of newer competition such as Albertsons and a more aggressive posture by a Winn-Dixie eager to stem the loss of ground to Publix, it became clear that the competitive landscape had changed. That year, the long-held policy was dropped – Publix would now operate on Sundays as well. For a while, even the famous slogan was appended – “Publix - Where Shopping is a Pleasure 7 Days a Week”.

More significant was Publix’s momentous decision to open stores outside of Florida for the very first time. For decades, Publix resisted outside overtures or internal pressure to push outside the Sunshine State’s borders, a fact that was still very much the case in 1980, as recorded in the “Fifty Years” book – “So great is Florida’s projected population growth that it is expected to support continued expansion of the chain. This would rule out what south Georgians who travel down to Tallahassee for the pleasure of shopping in Publix stores would like to see. There is no thought, (Publix real estate VP and future chairman) Charles Jenkins, Jr. and others said, of territorial expansion outside of Florida or even into the panhandle part of the state…George Jenkins gave (another) reason for staying close to home: The people of Publix thoroughly understand their Florida customers. They might not ones in other climes”.

Just over ten years down the road, with 435 stores in Florida, Publix was now willing to give those “other climes” a shot. In 1991, the company opened their first store in Savannah, Georgia. Four years later, by late 1995, there were 46 Publix stores in the state of Georgia, 28 of those in the greater Atlanta area, pulling a 17% share of the market in that remarkably short time. Their enviable reputation preceding them, the company had no trouble drumming up interest on the part of developers, as one attested in a 1995 Restaurant News article - "Publix attracts a lot of attention…They're great for us developers and for the retail business in general. They're upscale, well-run, and about 25,000-35,000 people pass through each week." The article goes on to say that “although the company always seeks equally successful vendors to include in its shopping centers, Publix is generally ‘the bell cow that draws the customers in’”. In 1996, Publix entered Alabama and soon after that, South Carolina as well. In 2002, Publix got a jumpstart in another new market - Nashville, Tennessee, when Albertsons sold off their seven stores in the area. Most of the Albertsons units had originally opened in the 1990’s as Foodmax stores, a division of Birmingham-based Bruno’s. Soon Publix would begin building new stores from scratch in the area. (We were living in Nashville at the time, and of course we moved away a year and half after Publix moved in. I miss them. They had the best stores! And they had the best help…wait, I’ve gone into all of that before, haven’t I?)

In early 1990, ill health forced Publix founder George Jenkins to step down as head of the company, turning over the reins to his son Howard, a company veteran himself. On April 8, 1996, at the age of 89, George Jenkins passed away, leaving a legacy that is still widely remembered and respected today. In 2000, Howard Jenkins resigned as CEO, staying on as board chairman, and his cousin Charles Jenkins, Jr. (son of Charles Jenkins Sr., longtime Publix chairman, who passed away in 2005) took over. In March 2008, Ed Crenshaw assumed the CEO position upon Charles Jenkins, Jr.’s retirement. Crenshaw is George Jenkins’ grandson by his adopted daughter. In these respects Publix has proven somewhat unique, not only because the second generation of leadership has demonstrated the ability to drive the company to exciting new heights, but also as an example of an uncommonly harmonious series of leadership transfers between branches of the family. These things are far from a given in most high-profile businesses.

In today’s daunting retail world, where Wal-Mart has become the nation’s dominant grocer and most traditional supermarket chains are beside themselves trying to compete (and in more than a few cases, just to stay alive), Publix’s service approach and efforts to serve important niche markets have combined to produce a rare winning formula. In the last five years, the company has opened four “Publix Sabor” stores – deluxe supermarkets specifically designed to appeal to Hispanic customers – three are located in the greater Miami area and one is in Kissimmee, Florida, near Orlando. Another initiative has been the “Publix Greenwise Markets”, specializing in organic food and appealing to environmentally-minded customers. As you might expect, these three stores are located in upscale areas- Boca Raton, Palm Beach Gardens (near West Palm Beach) and the historic Hyde Park section of Tampa. In 2002, Publix invested in Crispers, a soup and sandwich chain with locations in many Publix shopping centers. There are also some gas station/convenience stores called “Pix”, but here Publix’s approach has been fairly tentative, with only 13 units in place as of now. Also, a couple of innovations inside the stores have helped immensely – the “Apron’s” take home meal departments, and Publix’s robust private label program, a winner of many awards and subject of its own fansite (albeit apparently no longer updated), and most importantly, excellent sales and customer loyalty.

With 1,010 stores (according to their latest website statistics) and a mind-boggling 40% share of their largest market, Florida, it looks like there’s no end in sight to Publix’s brand of shopping pleasure. And “When are we getting Publix?” continues to work its way up the list of most asked questions. If anyone’s keeping a list, that is.

All but one of these photos are 1983 Publix publicity shots. The first two photos feature very sharp-looking exteriors, showing some of the fine diversity of design the company has used since the early 1980’s. It wouldn’t be surprising to see stores like this built today, although the words “Food-Pharmacy” generally appear underneath the store name. (Like most major chains today, Publix feels the need to emphasize the obvious. Maybe they just don’t want to appear presumptuous.) The third and fourth photo, when viewed together, make a very interesting contrast to the 1972 pic from the first post in this series. The terrazzo floor is the one consistent feature. The wide shot of the interior, viewed large, shows some wonderful attention to detail on the walls. The rest of the photos show various departments. Note the frozen food cases in the last department - at that time, many supermarkets were still equipped with “reach-in” open top freezers where the chilled air was held in via “air lock”. Today, nearly all major chains use glass door-enclosed cases just like those pictured here. The view of the soft drink department is a GCC Beverages photo. A division of General Cinema Corporation, they were Florida’s largest soft drink bottler at that time, and Sunkist soda was actually a GCC proprietary brand. It’s interesting to note how the brand images and packaging have changed!

The name of this post was adapted from the title of a 1998 Progressive Grocer article, “Publix Domain”.

The Lifestyles of Winn-Dixie

Remember the early 1980’s? Big hair? Shoulder pads? Skinny ties? Huge eyeglass frames? New Wave music? Cellphones the size of cinderblocks (for the few who were lucky enough to own ‘em yet)? The smell of “Love’s Baby Soft” wafting through the air?

Well, the 80’s brought about changes in many aspects of American life, and after a couple of years had begun to make their mark on the lowly supermarket as well. The styles of the seventies, so different from what had gone before, appeared tired, grungy and long out-of-date by 1982 or so. When the time came to open new stores or revamp existing ones, major supermarket chains were opting for a very different look. Gone were the muted earth-tones, dark stained woods, Helvetica-lettered signs, and “any color as long as it’s brown” exteriors. In their place were neon, mirrors, high-gloss tile, light-colored woods, faux-metallic surfaces and “any color as long as it’s beige” exteriors. In short, it was a much brighter, shinier look, if not necessarily more tasteful.

Superficial though they might have appeared, these changes were emblematic of a cultural shift in society. This was the Reagan Era, a sharp contrast to the back-to-nature ethic and economy-induced austerity of the previous decade. The popular TV shows of the early and mid-80’s - Dynasty, Dallas, Falcon Crest, Hotel, Miami Vice and (in particular) Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous – provided a vehicle for the average American viewer to live the life of the wealthy, if only vicariously. Prosperity was “in”, whether one was experiencing it personally or not. Retail store designers, a group which seldom fails to notice trends, began to incorporate this into their new offerings. Whether they achieved “an optimistic look” or “an affluent look” is debatable, but one thing’s for sure – they poured on the glitz!

Winn-Dixie, whose conservative management style was mirrored by its conservative store designs, took a bold step into the new era with its first “Marketplace” store, a 45,000 square foot format grocery/drug combination store, which opened in Valdosta, Georgia in 1984. A number of 35,000 square foot (well above the Winn-Dixie average) “superstores” opened at same time. These new, larger stores were rife with innovations for Winn-Dixie, including vastly expanded deli and bakery departments, floral sections, new “World of Cheese” bars, Gourmet Cookery areas and “Fisherman’s Wharf” seafood departments. And of course, beef was still star of the show in the newly dubbed “Prestige Meats” section.

The décor of these new superstores was on a completely different plane from the standard-issue Winn-Dixie, where painted walls and simple cutout-lettered signage were most commonly seen. Compare the photos above with the 1977 interiors shown in the previous post. The contrast is striking.

Winn-Dixie’s sales and market position remained relatively strong through the 1980’s and early 90’s. The landscape was slowly but surely changing, however. Challenges would come from a number of corners, some uncomfortably close to home. In 1980, Sam Walton, founder and chairman of (then still strictly regional) Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., was invited to join the Winn-Dixie board of directors. For six years, Walton lent his considerable management wisdom to Winn-Dixie, while at the same time gaining a priceless education with respect to the grocery industry. In late 1986, Walton resigned from the Winn-Dixie board. Just over a year later, in March 1988, the first Wal-Mart Supercenter opened, with a full grocery department under roof. Unfortunately for Winn-Dixie, the launch of this new format coincided with a full court press by Wal-Mart into their home turf – the Deep South and Florida.

And the pressure was building from another direction as well. Lakeland, Florida-based Publix Super Markets, Inc., had long stood in the shadow of Winn-Dixie, at least where volume is concerned. Publix had a highly enviable reputation for service, elegant store design and a very loyal customer base. Through the two companies’ early history, however, Publix’s relative handful of stores compared to the giant Winn-Dixie allowed them to fly low on the official Beef People radar screen. Publix had a chainwide policy of Sunday closures until the early 1980’s, and had no stores at all outside of Florida until 1991. Over the years, the balance ever so gradually shifted as Publix’s growing store count inched closer. In early 1962, for example, Winn-Dixie had over 200 stores in Florida, nearly 400 outside of Florida, while Publix had 74 in Florida, zero outside. In 1972, Winn-Dixie had 197 stores in Florida, 562 outside to Publix’s 174 in Florida, still zero outside, and in 1982, Winn-Dixie had 405 in Florida, 817 outside. While Publix grabbed the Florida lead that year, all of their 438 stores remained safely within the Sunshine State borders. (Today, after the voluminous dust of the last few years has settled, Winn-Dixie has 358 stores in Florida, 162 outside. Publix has a whopping 719 in Florida, 283 outside. These are the current figures on the companies’ websites.)

By the mid-90’s, Winn-Dixie was in a dreadful situation in its key markets, competing against Wal-Mart on price and Publix on service and style. As the late New York Times writer Constance Hays put it, “In both cases, (Winn-Dixie) was struggling against nimbler, more experienced foes.” Through the 80’s and 90’s, though, the company made attempts to compete on both fronts. In 1987, Winn-Dixie resurrected the “Table Supply” name for a discount warehouse format, but it proved to be short-lived, with five of the six stores launched closing down after just two years. Years later, another warehouse discount format would be launched, SaveRite, on a much wider basis. On the other hand, through the 90’s Winn-Dixie continued to open larger, more deluxe stores, but it was a slow and expensive process. By 1990, only a third of the chain’s 1,200 stores were over 35,000 square feet, and there were still a fairly small number of the 45,000 square foot upscale Marketplace stores. Far too many of the chain’s stores were too old, too small and too dated.

The first years of the 21st century could only be described as a disaster for Winn-Dixie, with sales and profits spiraling downward. Between 1998 and 2003, the company closed more than 200 stores, and in 2003 alone, Winn-Dixie stock lost nearly half its value. That year, many of the Atlanta stores, including several of the elegant Marketplace units were converted to the SaveRite warehouse format. In February 2005, faced with the toughest challenges in the company’s proud 70-year history, Winn-Dixie filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The following June, the painful details of the company’s reorganization were announced. Over 300 of the company’s 913 stores would be closed, and Winn-Dixie would exit four states altogether – Tennessee, Virginia, North and South Carolina. The latter two states in particular had contained key company markets for decades. In addition, Winn-Dixie would say goodbye to Atlanta after some 45 years.

A year later, under the guidance of new CEO Peter Lynch, a former Albertsons executive, Winn-Dixie emerged from bankruptcy. Maintaining a smaller store base of some 520 units, the company progress has been well noted by Wall Street, which by and large seems to like Winn-Dixie again. One initiative the company has undertaken is to streamline its stable of private label brands to just a few, with two primary ones – a simple “Winn-Dixie” for most items, and in a nod to company history, “Winn and Lovett” as a premium brand. Peter Lynch’s stated goal is admirably straightforward – “To make Winn-Dixie a better company.” The company’s new tagline underscores this goal – “Getting better all the time”, which for me instantly conjures up the 1967 Beatles song.

Of course, an 80’s song would fit the bill pretty well also!

Pictured above are four Winn-Dixie Marketplace interior views. Meat and seafood departments from the first store, in Valdosta, Georgia, in 1984, followed by a produce department view from 1985 and a typical “Cheese Shop” from the following year. Below are two Marketplace exteriors, from 1986 and 1993 respectively. The last view shows a friendly-looking crew from a 1986 standard (non-Marketplace) store. I find myself wishing they had added a few more departments just to see what additional uniform colors they could come up with.

Winn-Dixie - Power to the (Beef) People

A billboard flies past as cars streak down the highway at night, sometime in 1970. Instead of the exit number for the nearest Holiday Inn, or a pitch for a tourist attraction such as Weeki Wachee Springs, we see a great big steak, the stock-in-trade of Winn-Dixie and Kwik Chek supermarkets. Uncooked, no less – a practice that thankfully is rarely (no pun intended) the case in supermarket advertising today. Modern weekly grocery ads, for example, typically show attractively cooked and garnished steaks, prominently placed on the front page.

In Winn-Dixie’s case, beef wasn’t just on the front page of their ads, but on the front of their stores, in slogan form at least. “The Beef People” is a phrase that continues to be associated with Winn-Dixie, even though it long ago ceased to be company’s tagline. (I actually prefer James Lileks’ one word slogan – “Mmmmmmeat!”)

For the most part, the 1970’s saw a continuation of Winn-Dixie’s success. The company started the decade with the formation of a new division – in Atlanta (to include the North Georgia and Chattanooga areas), where Winn-Dixie had maintained a presence for just over ten years by that time. Initially, the new region was comprised of thirty-one stores peeled off from the Montgomery division and eight from the Greenville division. Although the Atlanta division would grow impressively, not quite doubling in size over the next ten years, it would remain one of the company’s smaller operations. Competition in the Atlanta area was fierce, prompting a brief return to issuing trading stamps (Top Value this time around) in 1978.

The biggest news of the era for Winn-Dixie came in 1976, when the government imposed 10-year ban on acquisitions finally came to an end. In August of that year, the company bought out Fort Worth, Texas-based Kimbell, Inc., gaining 135 stores in three states new to Winn-Dixie – Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. The stores operated under the Buddies, Foodway and Hagee names. A twenty-unit drugstore chain owned by Kimbell, called “Thrifty”, was not part of the deal. Two years later, Winn-Dixie would sell off its New Mexico stores due to problems with the local unions. The 23 Foodway stores were sold to Smith Management Co., operator of the “Smith’s Food King” supermarkets, which years later would become a division of Kroger.

Most major grocery chains were unaccustomed to the new scrutiny that came along with the “consumers’ movement” of the 1970’s. Suddenly, supermarket chain profits became the stuff of headlines, and often as not, companies were portrayed in an unflattering light. Because of Winn-Dixie’s industry leading profits, they felt more heat than most. In an October 1973 full page article, Forbes magazine came to the company’s defense: “...profits, properly speaking, are created by efficient management, not by greed; Greed has never been known to create anything. Winn-Dixie makes more money than most, yet manages to keep employees, customer and even stockholders happy. What’s so sinful about that?” In any event, through the rest of the decade Winn-Dixie managed to maintain this balance, as described by the New York Times in 1979: “Winn-Dixie, (is) the nation’s fourth largest supermarket chain (behind Safeway, Kroger and A&P) and one of its most successful, with profits above industry average”.

Not much to “beef” about there!

The vintage Winn-Dixie publicity photos seen above are as follows: (1) the above-mentioned 1970 billboard, (2) from 1975, a store that appears to be an older unit retrofitted with a mansard roof, (3) a shopping center store from 1976, (4) another from 1977 – Note the white and green Chevy Vega hatchbacks in the foreground. By the time their owners were finished shopping, the rear quarter-panels on both were rusted clean through!, (5) a very nice exterior from 1979, (6) an even nicer one from 1980, one of my nominees for all-time best exterior design, post-1970 category.

Below are six interior shots, three from 1971 with a very nice earth-toned theme, followed by three more conventional 1977 views.

The Postwar Kroger

In the decade following World War II, a number of key developments took hold in America’s chain grocery business. One was a marked increase in the amount of non-food items carried, particularly in the area of health and beauty products. Once limited to a few brands of soap and sometimes a handful of other basic personal care items, the forties and early fifties saw this area evolve into a full-fledged “department”. Kroger was in the forefront of this trend, with most stores featuring a full health and beauty lineup by the end of the 1940’s.

Another trend, more visible, was an acceleration of the replacement of the small storefront grocery store with the supermarket. In the decades immediately following WWII, the average size of the chain grocers’ stores steadily grew from around 5,000 to 8,000 square feet at the war’s end to 20,000 to 30,000 square feet (or more) by the early 1960’s. During that period, the store counts of nearly all the major chains actually decreased, as two, three or more stores within a given trade area were replaced by one large supermarket. Kroger went from 2,611 stores in 1946 to 1,587 in 1955, for example, although sales more than doubled during the same period. The declining store count trend came to an end in the 1960’s when the conversion to supermarkets was largely complete, and the large chains grew rapidly by the continued addition of stores in new suburban areas and through acquisition.

On this front, Kroger was forced to move slower than many of its fellow large chains, due to the fact that it owned a large number of its properties, and were bound to others via long-term leases. Beyond this, the simple fact remained that a great number of Kroger’s smaller stores were very successful. Things gradually picked up steam as the 50’s progressed, and attractive new Kroger supermarkets opened in many shopping centers on main drags throughout their territories.

The year 1946 saw some key milestones in Kroger history. First, the company’s name was shortened from “The Kroger Grocery and Baking Co.” to simply “The Kroger Co.”, the name it continues to go by today. Also, the famous Raymond Loewy-designed logo, the “Kroger Blue” rectangle with distinctive white lettering made its first appearances on store signage, product packaging and in advertising. Prior to this time, no distinct logo was used (unless you count the “B.H. Kroger” script logo on the store windows in the chain’s earliest years) and the Kroger name appeared in a multitude of different lettering styles. The Loewy logo was modernized in 1961 to the version we’re familiar with today.

Another very significant event was the 1946 appointment of Joseph B. Hall as Kroger’s president. Hall, a Chicago native and graduate of the University of Chicago, joined Kroger in 1931 as head of real estate, working his way to the top of the company from there. Hall did much to hone Kroger’s successful management development program and was also a driving force behind Kroger’s aggressive growth through acquisition, particularly in the late 1950’s and early 60’s with the notable expansions into California and Texas among other areas. Under Hall’s leadership, Kroger revamped its line of private brands, dropping various long-used brand names in favor of a unified Kroger brand with the new logo. Hall would become company chairman in 1961, leaving the post in 1964 to become chairman of the Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank.

Pictured above are two artists’ renderings from 1950 and 1951, featuring the Kroger blue blade pylon. Below are pictured several of Kroger’s well-selling private label products, resplendent with the famous logo. The “Spotlight” coffee brand was used for years, even in Kroger-owned stores that didn’t bear the Kroger name. In Atlanta, for example, where Kroger got its start in 1935 with the purchase of 25 Piggly Wiggly stores, Kroger’s Spotlight coffee was sold for many years before the stores were finally converted to the Kroger name.

Zayre's Fabulous Department Stores

After a slow, careful period of initial growth through the end of the 1950’s, Zayre Corp., as it was now known, began to expand rapidly. Only six Zayre stores were in operation in 1959, the approximate year that Zayre’s volume reached that of the Bell Shops/Nugents stores. By 1962, there were 27 Zayres open, with ten to twenty new ones added annually for many years afterward. That same year, Zayre Corp. became a public company. Headquarters remained in Natick, Massachusetts, moving later in the decade to nearby Framingham.

Zayre set its sights on a much larger market area than that of some Northeastern contemporaries, including Bradlees (owned by Stop & Shop, who would expand outside the Northeast much later on) and Two Guys (owned by Vornado, who would add some West Coast stores in the late 60’s). Starting in 1960, the company embarked on a program to open stores in major markets all across the eastern half of the U.S., with a presence in nearly every state east of the Mississippi by the middle of the decade.

Wisely, they tended to open the stores in clusters, so as to maximize brand presence and advertising efficiency. By the end of 1966, Zayre had 92 stores total (not counting the specialty stores) with major concentrations in greater Chicago (9 stores), Miami (10 stores) and their home turf of Boston (13 stores). Medium-sized Zayre markets at the time included Washington DC (5 stores), Pittsburgh (4 stores) Atlanta, Cleveland and Columbus (3 stores each), Jacksonville, Tampa and Providence, R.I. (2 stores each).

Some of this growth came through acquisition. When Toronto-based Towers Marts, a chain with discount store locations from Ontario to Florida went bankrupt in 1963, Zayre picked up four of their Washington DC area locations – Silver Spring and Wheaton, Maryland and Falls Church and Alexandria, Virginia. Consumers Mart of America (CMA), a no-frills superstore chain with a smattering of locations around the country, was another early discounting casualty, and Zayre announced in March 1965 it would be taking over three Chicago locations (Ashland Ave., Oak Lawn and Palatine) and a couple of units in Florida. In December 1966, Zayre bought out Duluth, Minnesota-based Northern Enterprises, Inc., owner of four Shoppers City stores located in Duluth, St. Paul and Minneapolis. Interestingly (unlike previous acquisitions), Zayre retained the Shoppers City name for these stores.

In Zayre’s early years, their product mix leaned heavily towards soft lines (mainly clothing) due to the Feldbergs wealth of experience in fashion, gained through years of operating the Bell Shops/Nugents stores. As the sixties progressed, Zayre’s product offering resembled that of a more typical discount store, with toys, sporting goods, photographic, records, books, health and beauty products and much more added to the mix. A number of these departments were leased out to concessionaires during Zayre’s first decade, including linens, greeting cards, candy and health and beauty items among others, totaling nearly a third of Zayre’s store revenues. In the mid-60’s, Zayre bought out a good number of these firms, leaving only a handful of departments (accounting for only 12-13% of sales) as leased operations. Zayre was far from the only discounter to actively buy out their lessees at that time – Kmart, Vornado and several others did the same.

In describing Zayre’s stores, a 1966 Barron’s article put it succinctly – “The typical Zayre discount store is about 70,000 square feet and air-conditioned. All outlets are on well-traveled roads with ample parking space. While the stores are pleasant and neat, no attempt is made to create a high-fashion image”. The company itself put a slightly more upscale spin on things in their advertising, which in my opinion was a cut above average discount house ads, even if the stores weren’t necessarily so. For many years, the tagline “Fabulous Department Stores” appeared alongside the chain’s name in their ads. Fabulous confidence at the very least!

The photos above are circa 1963. The locations are unknown save for the last two photos – the TV/Hi-Fi department is from the Monroeville, Pennsylvania store and the night exterior (depicting a free concert on the front sidewalk) is the Beverly, Massachusetts location.

Kmart...Eat Here and Get Gas!

You know, there’s really nothing like a Double K Burger when you’re craving that great Kmart taste! Mmmmmmm!

Yes, my friends, there really was such a thing as a “Kmart Chef”. After five years of outstanding growth, Kresge began to explore ways to leverage the success of Kmart. Though virtually all Kmarts had in-store snack bars and/or concession stands, Kresge figured that a free-standing fast food restaurant, complete with the Kmart brand name and located next to the main store, would be an effective way to snare those customers who managed to escape the store with their lunch or dinner dollars still in pocket. It was also assumed that the highly visible locations of the Kmarts – typically on high-traffic streets or adjacent to highways - would draw an ample number of customers as well. The first Kmart Chef, pictured above, was opened in October, 1967 next to the Pontiac, Michigan Kmart. Plans were announced for 10 more to open in 1968.

The stores were somewhat of a hybrid between a McDonald’s-type fast food restaurant and a cafeteria. Customers walked up to a counter (ala McDonald’s) but were given a tray to push along a stainless-steel cafeteria line. The Kmart Chefs did have interior seating, something that McDonald’s was in the process of a frenetic transition to as they replaced their famous red and white-striped walk-up drive-ins with sit-down restaurants. The initial “limited, high-turnover menu”, as Kresge described it, consisted of “hamburgers, cheeseburgers, frankfurters, fish sandwiches (gotta be ready for Lent), French fried potatoes, fried apple turnovers, assorted carbonated and fruit drinks, coffee, hot chocolate and milk”. As the outdoor sign said, hamburgers were initially 18 cents. That same year, in a controversial but fiscally necessary move, McDonald’s finally raised the price of their burgers from their traditional 15 cents to 18 cents as well.

As it turned out, only a small number of Kmart Chefs were ever opened, with the 10th store, an Albuquerque, New Mexico unit, not even opening until 1971. At that time, there were Kmart Chefs in Pontiac, Clemens and Warren MI, Erie PA, Moline IL, Wichita KS, Kansas City MO, Houston and Lubbock, TX. It was truly a random strategy, to put it charitably. The Kmart Chefs were closed down in 1974.

More successful in the long run were the Kmart gas stations. Many Kmarts had auto centers, generally free-standing units, and the addition of a Kmart-branded gas station was first tried in April, 1967 in the parking lot of an Atlanta Kmart. Pictured above is the original gas station (Check out the 100 octane gas - that stuff would probably be eight bucks a gallon now!). Two more Kmart gas stations were opened in the Metro Atlanta area the following January, beginning a strategy that Kmart has employed on and off ever since.

What's the Frequency, Kmart?

The transformation that the Kresge company underwent with the introduction of Kmart was dramatic, to put it very mildly. Among the most impressive aspects were the sheer speed and scale of the rollout. Once the final decision was made to push forward with Kmart, Kresge president Harry Cunningham gave a mandate to Kresge’s real estate department that at least 60 leases be secured for new Kmart sites to accommodate the planned rapid-fire growth. As mentioned, there were 18 Kmarts in operation at the end of 1962. 35 would be added in 1963, 35 more in 1964, and 34 more in 1965. By the end of the decade, there would be over 270 Kmarts in all regions of the United States, as well as Canada and Puerto Rico.

Aside from four small-footprint stores that were used in part for development purposes (Kresge called them “bantam” K-marts), the average square footage of the earliest Kmarts was 60,000, growing to 75,000 within a couple of years and to over 90,000 square feet by the end of the 60’s. In the following decade, they would consistently exceed 120,000 square feet.

The simple, rectangular, box-like design of the Kmart stores was a definite aid in the speed at which the stores opened, with average construction time at a brief six months per store. Another key factor was Kresge’s insistence on building free-standing stores in most cases, thereby avoiding frustrating (and costly) delays at the hands of shopping center developers. Kmarts were often located near other stores, but were rarely connected to them.

Kresge sought to open at least two (often more) stores in quick succession within a given market in order to maximize advertising dollars. The first major market, for obvious reasons, was the Detroit metro area, Kresge’s hometown, where seven Kmarts were operating within the first two years. Atlanta, Denver, Knoxville, Fresno and Charlotte were among the other early multiple-store markets.

The store carried a full line of merchandise, including clothes, kitchen items, home improvement and auto accessories , sporting goods, a camera department (remember the “Focal” brand?), electronics (or “Television and Hi-Fi” as such departments were then commonly called), jewelry, and in many cases, a full-line supermarket. A number of the departments were leased, among them sporting goods, cameras and jewelry.

Most notably the supermarkets were leased, from a number of different operators. The early Kmart supermarket lessees were moderate-sized grocery firms, including Borman Food Stores, Inc., the first operator of the some of the K-mart supermarkets in Michigan, Illinois and Indiana. Even small family-owned grocers got in on some of the action. When the Benton Harbor, Michigan Kmart opened in 1963, for example, the supermarket portion was operated by John Sassano, an independent grocer based in Hobart, Indiana. The largest operator of Kmart supermarkets would be Detroit-based Allied Supermarkets, who signed on with the company in June 1964. Allied up to that point had operated food stores in the Midwest, Texas and Oklahoma under the names Wrigley and Humpty Dumpty, among others. They would eventually operate grocery units in a great many Kmart stores all over the country well into the 1970’s. The supermarket areas averaged 20-24,000 square feet and were all thoroughly branded “Kmart”, regardless of the operator. There even was a line of private label items, including Kmart potato chips!

The stores were big, fairly colorful, and most importantly featured discount prices across the board. And then there were the “special buys” (later called “bluelight” specials) to drive high-volume sales on select items. Kmart’s selling prices were set at Kresge headquarters in Detroit, and interestingly, the individual Kmart store managers were given the authority to lower prices to beat local competition, but they were forbidden to raise them. “Charge It!” banners abounded.
Customers showed up en masse, and most of them instantly became regulars. A retailing legend was born.

The photos, dating from late 1962/early 1963, show some of the earliest Detroit area Kmarts, including an exterior view (the Kmart logo would be tweaked slightly on future stores), and views of various departments. The woman shopping in the supermarket area resembles Barbara Billingsley, TV’s Mrs. Cleaver. She’s shopping the detergent aisle, and if you look carefully you can see some boxes of Tide, that most photogenic of consumer products, to her lower right. There's a mezzanined furniture area visible behind the camera department, a feature of a number of early stores. I find the last photo very touching, because it seems to feature a real-life mother and daughter, not professional models. The mom looks like the kind who would have had fresh cookies baking in the oven when you showed up home from school.