Gone but not forgotten in San Antonio! (Houston, Arlington: pharmacies, companies)

[super-FISH-ial]

Someone asked where there were Handy Andy's previously located....

I am responding before reading back too far (late on a Sunday and need to hit the hay) but there is still at least one HA up in Schertz (at least there was a year or so ago) it is on Schertz parkway near the city hall/police dept. My sister lived in Schertz and I would run down there to grab an item or two rather then hitting the HEB at 35 and 3009.

Hope I am not repeating a previously given answer.

[Willsatx]

I am amazed how all the northside handy andy's closed thru out the years, wonder if someone had a whole list of all the locations.

[munerider]

The one we went to wasa at the strip center on Austin Highway were Earl Abel's is now. Drive through on the side, of course. With that, Dick's Hobby Shop, Penney's, Wyatt's and Thom McCann and a Shoebox, too...man, that was living large!!

[tcs]

Originally Posted by smaug

Does anyone remember the Slot Car Race Track that was in the lower level of Wonderland Mall? Near the Toy Box store.

I remember the slot car races, there was also a Saturday morning TV show from wonderland. That was before Rhodes was opened. The mall had these so 60s big paper balls hanging from the ceilings. Saw Capt Gus there also.

[940]

Originally Posted by Willsatx

I am amazed how all the northside handy andy's closed thru out the years, wonder if someone had a whole list of all the locations.

I have numerous old newspapers and magazines about SA that I've gathered through the years just because I'm a history buff concerning my home town. Some interesting newspapers I have include a 4 week insert of Express-News "magazines" from October of 1965 showcasing 100 years of progress in San Antonio and South Texas. Looking through each one, there are multitude ads from familiar names in SA, some long gone, unfortunately.

The only thing I see in some of these ads concerning Handy Andy, is that there were about 32 locations in the area in the mid 60s and they were touting the newest and most modern location off Nacogdoches and North New Braunfels ( I rememeber that distinctive building as do most on here, I'm sure). They advertised that HA was first in having an in-store bakery, and in having air conditioning.

HEB's ads mention 21 stores including the state-of-the-art store being built off WW White. Piggly Wiggly had many ads in each of these magazines showing a map of SA with all 20 locations in SA (the newest location at 1950 Bandera Rd in "Inspiration Hills") along with stores in Brady, Del Rio, Fredericksburg and Luling, along with a history of "firsts" since they came to town in 1916.

Other ads shown include Montgomery Ward "growing with San Antonio" and highlighting their latest store openings including at Wonderland Shopping City which opened Sept 14, 1961 and the McCreless Shopping City store which opened March of 1962.

Penney's had four locations..Downtown ( 401 E Houston) Terrell Plaza (131 Terrell Plaza) Northwest Shopping Center ( 3672 Fredericksburg Rd) and McCreless Plaza (100 McCreless Plaza).

Gibson's Discount Center (the fastest growing discount chain in America so the ad says) had locations at 1067 Bandera Rd and at 2627 SW Military Dr.

Sears touts their store at SW Military Drive which opened in 1954 and had "acres and acres" of parking. Their Plaza Store had a parking deck which opened in 1960 and proved popular with shoppers who could park in covered areas on hot days. Neighborhood Sears stores were smaller and were located at 3601 West Ave (first one), Valley Hi Mall and Bandera Rd. The new Central Park complex was being built and was planned to open in spring 1967 and would be the most modern and up-to-date store in SA.

If anyone had any question concerning other retail locations for a particular store, I'm sure I could find something in these old magazine inserts...

[Willsatx]

Originally Posted by 940

I have numerous old newspapers and magazines about SA that I've gathered through the years just because I'm a history buff concerning my home town. Some interesting newspapers I have include a 4 week insert of Express-News "magazines" from October of 1965 showcasing 100 years of progress in San Antonio and South Texas. Looking through each one, there are multitude ads from familiar names in SA, some long gone, unfortunately.

The only thing I see in some of these ads concerning Handy Andy, is that there were about 32 locations in the area in the mid 60s and they were touting the newest and most modern location off Nacogdoches and North New Braunfels ( I rememeber that distinctive building as do most on here, I'm sure). They advertised that HA was first in having an in-store bakery, and in having air conditioning.

HEB's ads mention 21 stores including the state-of-the-art store being built off WW White. Piggly Wiggly had many ads in each of these magazines showing a map of SA with all 20 locations in SA (the newest location at 1950 Bandera Rd in "Inspiration Hills") along with stores in Brady, Del Rio, Fredericksburg and Luling, along with a history of "firsts" since they came to town in 1916.

Other ads shown include Montgomery Ward "growing with San Antonio" and highlighting their latest store openings including at Wonderland Shopping City which opened Sept 14, 1961 and the McCreless Shopping City store which opened March of 1962.

Penney's had four locations..Downtown ( 401 E Houston) Terrell Plaza (131 Terrell Plaza) Northwest Shopping Center ( 3672 Fredericksburg Rd) and McCreless Plaza (100 McCreless Plaza).

Gibson's Discount Center (the fastest growing discount chain in America so the ad says) had locations at 1067 Bandera Rd and at 2627 SW Military Dr.

Sears touts their store at SW Military Drive which opened in 1954 and had "acres and acres" of parking. Their Plaza Store had a parking deck which opened in 1960 and proved popular with shoppers who could park in covered areas on hot days. Neighborhood Sears stores were smaller and were located at 3601 West Ave (first one), Valley Hi Mall and Bandera Rd. The new Central Park complex was being built and was planned to open in spring 1967 and would be the most modern and up-to-date store in SA.

If anyone had any question concerning other retail locations for a particular store, I'm sure I could find something in these old magazine inserts...

That is too cool, I would like to see where many of the grocery stores used to have locations.

[tketexas]

Does anyone remember Stone Bull..It was this scary place out on the far NW side of town.out in the country though.
How bout Jay's? Sombrero Rosa on Wurzbach?The World of Sports on DeZavala, Photon (at the World of Sports), NW 12 Movie Theatres?

[Macgrad89]

940,

Let's start with:

Gulf-Mart! I can remember two of those - 410 and Broadway (where Airport Convention Center is now) and 410 and Fredericksburg (where Graham Central Station is). If you go to the Airport Convention Center now and look for two large circles in the concrete in front of the building, those were where the posts for the Gulf-Mart sign were embedded (at least I hope they're still there after the recent freshening of the building's facade).

Gibson's later opened a store on Eisenhauer which is now the Eisenhauer Rd Flea Market.

Food City

Foodway (only remember the one at Naco-Perrin and Perrin Beitel which is now the GE Scratch and Dent store.)

Now a plea to some long-time San Antonians: if you had family or know someone who was in the San Antonio Fire Department in the 50s, 60s, or 70s, I could use their assistance. I am looking for old photos of SAFD stations and/or equipment from this timeframe (940, newspaper fire scene photos from that time would be SUPER if you have them!). If anyone has photos they wish to share, please contact me via e-mail at bdhsat@gmail.com to discuss the matter further.

Macgrad89 (burning up in Middle Tennessee - 106 degrees in Nashville last Thursday)

[Willsatx]

What kind of store was Gibsons?

[Macgrad89]

Gibson's was early competition for Wal-Mart and K-Mart and were all over Texas and the Midwest in the 60s and 70s. They were a discounter on the scale of Sam Walton's deal for a while. The company had corporate owned and franchised stores but the owner wanted to control pricing for both. The franchisees took Gibson to court and won, resulting in the corporate stores going out of business and the franchisees buying their stores. Some stores may still be left (possibly in Kerrville and Weatherford) but a bunch went belly up in 2002.

If you go by the old Gibson's on Bandera, the sign may still be up. It was still standing in 2004 when we left SA.