Grocery store names (Dallas, El Paso, Del Rio: bankrupt, live, groceries)

[bjh]

When I was extremely young my family lived in EP for a while. I was wondering about my misspent youth and can't remember. Did El Paso ever have A&P grocery stores?

If not, what grocery store names were in EP in the 60s and 70s?

[atrabilius]

I remember Piggly Wiggly, FedMart, Safeway, and Big 8. The first three were big chains and the last was a local chain.

There was a FedMart on Dyer at Manila and a Piggly Wiggly on Fairbanks at Rushing in Rushfair Center that both closed when I was little (I'm talking about sometime between 1969 and 1975; it seems to me that FedMart departed its Dyer location sometime while Gerald Ford was president while the Rushfair Piggly Wiggly became defunct before Richard Nixon's second term as president started). There was also a Safeway on Fairbanks at Shenandoah in Rushfair Center that was still there when I moved away in 1985. Also Smith's, which occupied the same place in the Rushfair mall that the Piggly Wiggly had once occupied (northwest corner), but that might not have come along until 1980.

I think Gibson's, which was a discount store similar to WalMart, might have sold groceries also; I remember one on Dyer at Annette and another on Viscount.

As far as I know, El Paso never had an A&P; I think that's a Northeast (New England and Middle Atlantic) regional supermarket chain.

[bjh]

Thanks! We had A&P in the Dallas area when i was a kid. I think they tried to break into the Tx market but couldn't make it. I just couldn't remember if they had been in El Paso too or only Dfw. The had coffee grinders at the check out stands. That was kind of before the trend for freshly ground coffee that made a return several years ago. I kind of associate that smell with A&P.

Great info. btw. We had a Gibson's in Dfw until about 10 years ago, but not any left that I know of. I found one in a small town west of Ft Worth about 3 years ago. Inside it was just like when I grew up. I thought I'd stepped back in time.

[atrabilius]

Originally Posted by bjh

Thanks! We had A&P in the Dallas area when i was a kid. I think they tried to break into the Tx market but couldn't make it. I just couldn't remember if they had been in El Paso too or only Dfw.

Looks like they were a lot bigger (more widespread) once. Now they're just in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York. (See.)

Great info. btw. We had a Gibson's in Dfw until about 10 years ago, but not any left that I know of. I found one in a small town west of Ft Worth about 3 years ago. Inside it was just like when I grew up. I thought I'd stepped back in time.

That must be a store that just happens to have that name. I thought the Gibson's chain went bankrupt and went out of business about 30 years ago.

[jgar477]

anyone remember Skaggs? my dad still calls any supermarket (whether it is a Big 8, HEB, Albertsons) Skaggs.

[atrabilius]

Originally Posted by jgar477

anyone remember Skaggs? my dad still calls any supermarket (whether it is a Big 8, HEB, Albertsons) Skaggs.

Oh, yes. There was one on Dyer at Hondo Pass; I think it was Skaggs Alpha Beta in my time.

[bjh]

At one time Skaggs Albertsons. Then Albertsons.

[Gary Siete]

The west side Albertsons at Resler/Mesa used to be a Skaggs Alpha Beta and I believe before that a Safeway.

[bigg 3469]

I Remember Piggy Wiggly,Big 8, Safeway, Furr's Supermarkets,Silva's, Big Star-Food City and Covenience stores such as Circle K And 7-Eleven back when I visited El Paso back in the 1960's-70's as well as the Del Rio Superette in Cd Juarez Chihuahua.

[RockyJoe817]

Before "Circle K" there was the sixteen Food Corral, my parents also shopped the Piggly Wiggly and Furrs's.
Do you remember Globe on Montana down the street from Fedmart. Gibsons was on Yarborough and I-10.

I remember jerry calison's five and Dime next to the barber shop where my dad took me as a child to get my hair cut.
Jerry's was really old time one stop shopping. You could get your wash tub, wash board, overall slacks, and iron skillet
all in one place. Toys such as the steel cast tractor and the balsa wood rubber band airplane.