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U-Tote-Um Grocery/Convenience Stores


Ashikaga

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I was thinking that there was a U-Totum in the 200 block of Westheimer in the early 80's. Can't remember if it was at the corner of Helena St. (still a convenience store) or Mason St. (now a adult DVD store).

Anyone remember?

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There was a 7-11 across the street from my house when I grew up on the corner of W. Airport & Chimney Rock. That was in the 60s. When 7-11 pulled out of Houston, it became a local no-name store and changed hands/names several times.

I lived up the block and around the corner from you, at that time, on Landsdowne, about a block south of W. Airport. I remember that 7-11 too. From your description of your 7-11 purchases, it sounds like you were just a kid then. Did you know that Ron Stone of KHOU-TV fame lived on the same block as you at that time?

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I lived up the block and around the corner from you, at that time, on Landsdowne, about a block south of W. Airport.  I remember that 7-11 too.  From your description of your 7-11 purchases, it sounds like you were just a kid then.  Did you know that Ron Stone of KHOU-TV fame lived on the same block as you at that time?

Boy, it's a small world! Yeah, we bought that house in 1963, I was three years old and lived in that house until I got married. I did not know that about Ron Stone! OK, this story might not strike anyone else as funny but it's a memory for me.

When Ron Stone was anchor (actually I think it was after he had moved over to KPRC), he used to end his broadcast by saying, Good night Neighbor. I (as a teenager who thought I was clever) used to say, Neighbor! I don't even know where he lives!

Little did I know, he actually WAS my neighbor at one time.

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Boy, it's a small world! Yeah, we bought that house in 1963, I was three years old and lived in that house until I got married.

I guess you and my son must have gone to the same elementary school for a year or two before we moved in 1968. You would be a year older than he. The name of the school slips my memory. We still communicate with our old neighbors that lived across the street. They moved there in 1961, same year as we did, and they still live there.

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I guess you and my son must have gone to the same elementary school for a year or two before we moved in 1968.  You would be a year older than he.  The name of the school slips my memory.  We still communicate with our old neighbors that lived across the street.  They moved there in 1961, same year as we did, and they still live there.

I was born in 1958. I lived in Houston from 1962-64. I attended Kindergarten at Park Place Elementary School. I wonder if one of you went to school with and/or lived near me. I resided in a white house on the corner of # 8 West Court Drive and Galveston Road, just a little way down from where Park Place Boulevard dead ends into Galveston Road.

Chet Cuccia

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I guess you and my son must have gone to the same elementary school for a year or two before we moved in 1968.  You would be a year older than he.  The name of the school slips my memory.  We still communicate with our old neighbors that lived across the street.  They moved there in 1961, same year as we did, and they still live there.

Anderson Elementary.

My mother remained in that house for until she passed away a few years ago.

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Last night I was having dinner at the folks house.  The following conversation took place:

Mother:  Go up to the U-Tote-Em and get some milk

Me:  What the hell is a U-Tote-Em

Mother: the Convienance Store up the street

Me:  Sunny's...  Got it.

I actually remember U-Tote-Em (there was one on Richmond between Hillcroft and Freshmeadows) but they have been gone a long time.    I was reading this post last week and when my mom called the Corner Store the U-Tote-Em I about fell out of my chair.

If your mother calls a drive-in grocery store "U-Tote-Em" when its name is something else, then that chain must have been popular in its day to have made a deep impression on her.

I don't recall any of them ever being over in this area. Just over in Houston.

Chet Cuccia

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I was thinking that there was a U-Totum in the 200 block of Westheimer in the early 80's. Can't remember if it was at the corner of Helena St. (still a convenience store) or Mason St. (now a adult DVD store).

Anyone remember?

Are you talking about the place next door to Numbers? I also know there was a U-Tote-Um on Edgebrook in the little strip center just before the Arlington Place Apartments. I remember going into the office when we lived there back in 1988 to pay rent and seeing an arial photo there of the complex and in it was the U-Tote-Um. It was a Stop-n-Go when we lived there.

I loved when Circle K was here. To me they were a Corpus Christi thing when I was little back in the 70s. When we started seeing the Circle Ks when we went down there to see family we knew we were getting close. It was cool being able to say "I'm going to Circle K" when they were here. When family would come to Houston they'd all be like "y'all have Circle K here??. Its the same with HEB now. I'm loving that. I hated seeing Circle K go.

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If your mother calls a drive-in grocery store "U-Tote-Em" when its name is something else, then that chain must have been popular in its day to have made a deep impression on her.

I don't recall any of them ever being over in this area.  Just over in Houston.

Chet Cuccia

THere was one up the street from our house so she got used to it. She is always getting names wrong. She calls me by my unlce's, father' and cousin's first name at will.

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there's still a stop-n-go on NASA 1. the gas is diamond shamrock, but the convenient store is still the same classic stop-n-go green, logo and all.

Stop N Go is still around. Granted the gas is Diamond Shamrock, but I know of 4or 5 Stop N Gos. Westhiemer and Montrose comes to mind.

I used to get my Super Co-Pilot filled up everyday on the way to HS. I had a 30 minutes drive and I would usually drink an entire Co-Pilot full of DP, a package of 6 mini chocolate donutes followed up with 3-4 smokes. Nothing like the High School metabolism.

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  • 2 weeks later...

This may be a little late response but yes, I remember U Totems, thought not from as far back as 40 years ago. I remember them from 20 or so years ago. Matter a fact I remeber one outside the neighborhood I grew up in at Sage and San Felipe. They were a chain of convience stores that died out when Circle K came into being. But I remember taking many trips to the U Totem...

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This may be a little late response but yes, I remember U Totems, thought not from as far back as 40 years ago. I remember them from 20 or so years ago. Matter a fact I remeber one outside the neighborhood I grew up in at Sage and San Felipe. They were a chain of convience stores that died out when Circle K came into being. But I remember taking many trips to the U Totem...

Did Circle K buy them out?

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  • 1 month later...

Yep, I remember U-Tote-Em. There was one on my street in our neighborhood in Channelview (Channelwood). The building's still there, it's the water district office now. We spent a lot of time (and money) there as kids on cokes, candy, think they had popcorn later. They were still building a lot of the houses there in the early '60s and some of the construction guys came in and bought hot links for lunch. I remember those hot links, man they were good. Ten cents, plus a nickel if you wanted a slice of bread with it. Worked there some later cleaning up, stocking shelves.

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Now I've just remembered something else from my days in Houston over 40 years ago.  I recall us stopping by a convenience store chain called "U-Tote-Um."  The sign was an indian totem pole.  Does anyone else out there remember those stores?

Are there any popular chain convenience stores over there in Houston?  If there are, what are their names?  There are some Racetrac's over here.  I looked up their website.  It said that there are also some over in the Houston area.  I saw an article in the Houston Chronicle that said that the Diamond Shamock stores in Houston are changing their names to Valero.  I don't know if the ones over here will do that or not.  When I last saw them, they were still Diamond Shamrock.

Chet Cuccia

You bet I remember U-tote-M, stole alot of candy out of there. Only got caught a couple of times. I used to frequent the one on Foutain View and Skyline, right by hwy.59. It is still a convience store, with a new name. Played tons and tons of pinball there. No video games there, of course this was 1978 or 79. The old Yellow , green, and maroon exteriors, with tile totem poles. These stores were the precursor to the Stop-N-Go stores.

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I am in a U-Tote-M employee training film, which is most likely in a vault somewhere or more realistically in a landfill. :lol: I was 7 years old and my sister and I were supposed to take our hot dogs to the counter so the cashier could ring us up. It was the coolest thing in the world for me because I got to eat that hot dog. :lol:

My dad did all of U-Tote-M's PR during the late 70's. Those were the days.... :rolleyes:

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  • 2 weeks later...

There was a U-Tote-M on the corner of Oak Forest and W. 43rd...across the street from Oak Forest Elementary. I walked to that store many times as a child. I remember on my 12th birthday, my mother gave me a quarter so I could get a piece of penny candy for each person in my 6th grade class.

There was a 7-11 on Judiway near Oak Forest across from the public pool. This was a favorite place to get Popsicles and penny candy. I remember finding coke bottles and cashing them in for a few cents and buying penny candy. :D

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Remember the shout-and-response Thunderbird radio ads?

"What's the word?

Thunderbird !

How's it sold?

Good and cold!

What's the jive?

Bird's alive!

What's the price?

Thirty twice!

Say, what's the word?

Thunderbird!"

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  • 3 months later...
U-Tote-Ums immortalized in Townes Van Zandt song...

Talkin' Thunderbird Blues

Among the strangest things I ever heard

Was when a friend of mine said man, let’s get some thunderbird

I said what’s that? He just started to grin

Slobbered on his shirt, his eyes got dim

He said you got fifty-nine cents?

I said yeah, I got a dollar, but don’t be a smart-aleck

I ain’t gonna spend it on no indian relic

And he said Thunderbird’s not an old indian trinket,

It’s a wine, man, you take it home and drink it.

I said it sure don’t sound like wine to me

And he said he’d bet me the change from my dollar

We hustled on down to the nearest U-Tote-Um

The guy wanted my id, I whipped her out and showed him

Before it bit the dust, I guess that U-Tote-Um was one of the dominant convenience store chains in Houston. What would you say is the dominant convenience store chain in Houston today?

He got a green bottle from the freezing vault

My friend started doing backward somersaults

Through the cottage cheese

Took it back to his house, started drinkin’

Pretty soon I set in to thinkin’

Man, this Thunderbird tastes yummy, yummy, yummy

And I know it’s doing good things to my tummy, tum..., t...

That's how you reason when you're on that crap

Got a few more bottles, chugged them down

I pulled myself up off the ground

Decided I go see my dearest sweet wife

Who met me at the door with a carving knife

Said get them damn grape peels from between your teeth.

I could see we’re gonna have a little misunderstanding

I said dear, I better get in touch with you later

She said forget it, man, you’re never touchin’ me again!

Now I’ve seen the light and heard the word

And I’m staying away from that ol’ dirty Thunderbird

A message come from heaven ready to find,

All I drink now is communion wine

Six days a week

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The U-Tote-Um in my neighborhoos was on the corner of Mandell and Richmond. There was also a 7-11 in a tiny strip center on the corner of Graustark and Castle Court. Before we had our own washer, I would go with my mom to the washateria on the other end and get an Icee. I didn't like the texture of Slurpees when they made the switch as much, but the flavor names were better. My favorite was "Fulla Bulla". :lol:

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There used to be a U-Tote-Um at the corner of Park Place and Poplar. In the 70's I'd walk up to buy a Dr. Pepper and copies of Mad Magazine and Cracked.

It's a bar now.

That might have been the U-Tote-Um that I went to back in the early 1960s. I lived just down Galveston Road where Park Place Boulevard dead ended into it. I thought that the one that we went to was a little south on Galveston Road, but maybe it was on Park Place. I do remember a Minit Mart on Park Place.

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I believe that I remember a U-Tote-Em near my grandparents' home, at the corner of Mykawa and Belfort. It seems that there might have been a couple more along Telphone Road between I-610 and Airport. Any other recollections of such locations?

No the place on Belfort & Mykawa was a 7-11. My friends and I used to frequent that place for Big Gulp Slurpees and video games (Punch Out, Crazy Climber and Asteroids). I lived on Crosswell.

Anyone remember the Sunny's on Belfort & Northdale?

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