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U-Tote-Um Grocery/Convenience Stores


Ashikaga

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I think Leroy Melcher started them.

The biz school building at UH is named after him - Melcher Hall.

From various internet sources found this out: Leroy Melcher had owned a food brokerage company called Shaffer-Melcher Brokerage Co. He and a partner, Pete Weitinger, negotiated to acquire the U-Tote'M stores in 1950. He became president of U-Tote'M in 1953. There were only 10 stores at the time and eventually grew to over 1,000 stores in 13 states.

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  • 5 months later...

I am originally from Houston with most of my family still in Rosenberg. There was a U-Totem at the corner of Avenue H and Georgiana Street. There was a couple of them in town but this I know for sure in that my grandparents lived in a house nearby. I remember going over to the store when I was young to get gum, candy or soda. They did not have gas for sale and the store was the size of a regular 7-11. In the 80s the store closed and some private business opened.

The design of the outside included yellow and black square tiles in a diamond position. The counter was on the right hand side of the double metal and glass doors. The cashier was at customer level and not on a raised platform, as were 7-11's beginning in the 70s through 90s. They had a metal sign that was a totempole at first, and later a simple metal pole with the company sigh above. The store was also clearly marked with the font of the company directly above the two doors of entry.

Thats all for now.

Shipfitter :D

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I did some more searchin on UtoteM and found that the Zippo Lighter Company did a special edition lighter for UtoteM and you can find that at http://www.grannysjewelrybox.com/gp278r.htm however that item I guess has been sold per that website. Note the spelling of the business is as above from my current searching.

I did find this picture on the web.

Credit for picture: http://tulsatvmemories.com/outside2.html

utotem.jpg

Shipfitter :D

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I did some more searchin on UtoteM and found that the Zippo Lighter Company did a special edition lighter for UtoteM and you can find that at http://www.grannysjewelrybox.com/gp278r.htm however that item I guess has been sold per that website. Note the spelling of the business is as above from my current searching.

I did find this picture on the web.

Credit for picture: http://tulsatvmemories.com/outside2.html

utotem.jpg

Shipfitter :D

Thanks for the photo!

I'm writing a history of my neighborhood and have been depserately searching for a photo of a UToteM. There was one exactly like in the picture located at W Gulf Bank and Cheswick (Store 94) which opened in 1966. There was another one nearby on W Mt Houston just west of the North Freeway, which I believe opened in 1965.

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Life is really short if you think about it, and sometimes the smallest of memories are sweet. I would walk over to UtoteM with my grandfather. He is long since gone, but the memory remains.

I went to a Padres baseball game tonight in San Diego, and remember going to games as a child and watching the Astros on TV with my grandfather. We would walk to the UtoteM, pick up some goodies, then watch the games. It was really cool to see fathers passing down the tradition of watching baseball, even though the CrackerJacks are now 5.75 per box.

Latez

Shipfitter

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I am currently searching for the following items:

Additional UtoteM pix

Houston Union Terminal (Union Station)

This station was located where the new ball park was built. This was the main station for Houston until Amtrak began service. What I am looking for is any pictures in regards to this building, both in it's prime and also in it's neglected state prior to redevelopment. This is NOT the current Amtrak (Amshack) station that is currently used.

Post em up!

Adios

Shipfitter :P

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I am currently searching for the following items:

Additional UtoteM pix

Houston Union Terminal (Union Station)

This station was located where the new ball park was built. This was the main station for Houston until Amtrak began service. What I am looking for is any pictures in regards to this building, both in it's prime and also in it's neglected state prior to redevelopment. This is NOT the current Amtrak (Amshack) station that is currently used.

Post em up!

Adios

Shipfitter :P

You are in luck. I just happened to come across a few today, in fact.

Here's an article I found on the Houston Gulf Coast Railroad Museum's site about the redevelopment of Union station. Wasn't looking for it... came upon it by accident. Only reason I read it is because I once worked with the guy who wrote this article and that caught my eye.

http://www.kingswayrc.com/gcst/union/union.htm

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U-Totem advertised on TV when I was a kid.

"You tell 'em....U-Totem" (to music)

I was born in 52 and I guess my first memories of U-Totem might have been when I was 6 o7 maybe.

They were everywhere.

The one by my house had a wooden Indian outside to emphasize the totem.

A Hershey bar was a nickle there.

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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...

I have a lighter from U-Tote-M. Back in the day! Butane gone, non-refillable. Just kept it because they disappeared.

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I have a lighter from U-Tote-M. Back in the day! Butane gone, non-refillable. Just kept it because they disappeared.

Did you know that the man who expanded the U-Tot-Em chain from ten stores to more than a thousand and made a fortune from them gave a lot of his money to the University of Houston?

LeRoy Melcher's name is all over the UH campus, including the LeRoy and Lucile Melcher Center for Public Broadcasting, the home of KUHT Channel 8 and KUHF Radio.

http://www.stp.uh.edu/vol65/65/news/news4.html

"Just in case anyone should ask you, you-tell'em U-Tot-Em."

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I have a lighter from U-Tote-M. Back in the day! Butane gone, non-refillable. Just kept it because they disappeared.

Did you know that the man who expanded the U-Tot-Em chain from ten stores to more than a thousand and made a fortune from them gave a lot of his money to the University of Houston?

LeRoy Melcher's name is all over the UH campus, including the LeRoy and Lucile Melcher Center for Public Broadcasting, the home of KUHT Channel 8 and KUHF Radio.

http://www.stp.uh.edu/vol65/65/news/news4.html

Actually, U-Tot-Em's didn't "die out'. They're still there, with a different name. Melcher sold the chain to Circle K, and overnight all his stores became Circle K's.

"Just in case anyone should ask you, you-tell'em U-Tot-Em."

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  • 7 months later...
U-Totem advertised on TV when I was a kid.

"You tell 'em....U-Totem" (to music)

I was born in 52 and I guess my first memories of U-Totem might have been when I was 6 o7 maybe.

They were everywhere.

The one by my house had a wooden Indian outside to emphasize the totem.

A Hershey bar was a nickle there.

Yes, indeed. I remember when I was a little kid with my mom in the store. I would ask her if I could have a candy bar. She told me that I could as long as I didn't pick out "a ten-cent one." I also remember that U-Tote-Um sold ICEEs.

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Yes, indeed. I remember when I was a little kid with my mom in the store. I would ask her if I could have a candy bar. She told me that I could as long as I didn't pick out "a ten-cent one." I also remember that U-Tote-Um sold ICEEs.

I remember part of the song - "If any one should ask you where to (this part I don't know), You tell 'em U-Tote-Em"

There was one on Park Place. I don't know if it became the grocery stroe that was then a bar that was then a carpet store that is now I have no clue - but it was on the corner of Park Place and I have no clue what the other one was.

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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

I remember them ... didn't they evolve into Circle Ks?

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"Just in case...anyone should ask you...You tell em...U Tot Em"

Little Woodrows on Bellaire at the railroad tracks was a U Tot Em

To be honest, I've grown disenchanted with convenience stores. Their prices are too high. I only stop by them to purchase things that would be the same price anyplace else (lottery tickets, newspapers, gasoline, etc.) But I do remember going a little ways down Old Galveston Road to a U-Tote-Um. Ah, fond childhood memories!

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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

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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

yes, that brings back memories. there was a u tote em on fountainview between 59 and richmond. in fact i stole some of those little Super Bubble brand gums from there once. i took the little 1 cent ones and an expensive 5 cent one too! ha, i hope the statute of limitations is over. i felt guilty afterwards though. the sign for u-tote em had a totem pole design on it. sooo many nice memories. thanks.

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One of my meories of a U-tote-um is one Sunday I broke a shoe lace on my Sunday go-to-church shoes, mom drops me off at the U-tote-um to pick up a pair of laces, clerk couldn't sell them to me, it violated the Sunday blue law. Couldn't buy shoe laces for my church shoes, cause it was Sunday--your state government at work.

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One of my meories of a U-tote-um is one Sunday I broke a shoe lace on my Sunday go-to-church shoes, mom drops me off at the U-tote-um to pick up a pair of laces, clerk couldn't sell them to me, it violated the Sunday blue law. Couldn't buy shoe laces for my church shoes, cause it was Sunday--your state government at work.

I never did understand the "blue laws." I always thought that it was a violation of the separation of church and state. I mean, if the owner of a business has such strong religious convictions, he/she can close on Sunday. And if a customer has such strong religious convictions, he/she can wait until Monday to buy what he/she wants or needs.

When I was a kid, U-Tote-Um and other convenience stores were just about the only businesses open on Sunday. A lot of gas stations were closed. That meant that you had to fill up your car on Saturday if you were planning to go for a drive on Sunday. I remember I was about 10 or 11 when I saw there in Houston the signs of Piggly Wiggly stores saying "Open Sundays." Now most, if not all, stores are open on Sunday. I like it that way. The only way that it could be any better would be if all businesses were 24/7. Someone on another topic said that Walgreen's and CVS are.

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I never did understand the "blue laws." I always thought that it was a violation of the separation of church and state. I mean, if the owner of a business has such strong religious convictions, he/she can close on Sunday. And if a customer has such strong religious convictions, he/she can wait until Monday to buy what he/she wants or needs.

When I was a kid, U-Tote-Um and other convenience stores were just about the only businesses open on Sunday. A lot of gas stations were closed. That meant that you had to fill up your car on Saturday if you were planning to go for a drive on Sunday. I remember I was about 10 or 11 when I saw there in Houston the signs of Piggly Wiggly stores saying "Open Sundays." Now most, if not all, stores are open on Sunday. I like it that way. The only way that it could be any better would be if all businesses were 24/7. Someone on another topic said that Walgreen's and CVS are.

Eckerds was open on Sunday, but several sections were roped off, stuff you couldn't buy on Sunday.

Certain Walgreens and CVS's are open 24/7, but most are open 8am-midnight.

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  • 2 weeks later...

U-tote-um/u-tote-em/u-tote-m can't remember how they heck they spelled it, but I do remember that these things were all over the place in Houston. It was almost a generic catch-phrase for any convenience store as I recall.

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There was a U-Tote-Um around the corner from my house in Texas City when I was a kid. My Mom would give my brother and I money to go get candy (I was 8 and my bro was 5; try sending kids that age 3 blocks away to a store nowadays), and the neighbor would send his 6 year old son there to buy his cigarettes. Ah the good old days.

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  • 3 months later...

LOL! I have been looking all over for this ! THis is quite possibly THE only shot of a U-tote-M in existence, and you can thank Francis Ford Copolla for it.

utotem.jpg

That's Matt Dillon running away from the store there.

The little convenience store at the corner of Skyline and Fountainview used to be a U-tote-M. Still standing today.

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LOL! I have been looking all over for this ! THis is quite possibly THE only shot of a U-tote-M in existence, and you can thank Francis Ford Copolla for it.

utotem.jpg

That's Matt Dillon running away from the store there.

The little convenience store at the corner of Skyline and Fountainview used to be a U-tote-M. Still standing today.

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