Lewis & Coker Grocery Stores

[IronTiger]

I would venture to say a small Safeway.

[gnu]

^

Not to hijack the thread but do you recall what was in the strip center on the SW corner of S. Braeswood and Chimney Rock where there is a small, dumpy HEB now?  Must've been a grocery, 5 & 10 or hardware in that space.

 

My old '66 directory says it was a Rice

[brucesw]

That makes sense.  I don't remember that at all and it has bugged me for a long time.

 

Rice built a much bigger store on Hillcroft, just south of S. Braeswood (address on Hillcroft although it's back behind a strip center) that was a Rice Epicurean and is now a nice Walmart Neighborhood Market.

 

For aggieengineer, it's still a very nice neighborhood.  Meyerland, after all.  Houses immaculately maintained on the outside, anyway.  Interesting boutique businesses - The Russian General Store in the center where the L&C was, probably the biggest selection of salamis in Houston and lots of import goodies, My Pita, a Kosher bakery that makes fantastic pitas, and the New York Coffee and Bagel Shop with probably the best bagels in town.

Edited October 20, 2014 by brucesw

[marmer]

There was one on Dixie Drive at 332 in Clute, next to (you guessed it) K-Mart.   It was gone by the mid-80s, though.

[IronTiger]

There was a Lewis & Coker at the southeast corner of Hillcroft and S. Braeswood when I lived in that area from the mid-'60s until the '80s. My mother shopped there, claiming it was cleaner than other stores. In the same shopping center were an auto parts store (formerly a drug store), The Taxco Inn mexican restaurant, and a Schwinn bicycle shop owned by a rather stern man. It certainly was a nice area to live in back then.

Say, you didn't work at the College Avenue Albertsons did you?

[plumber2]

Arlan's is family owned.

[SpaceGhost]

are there any family owned grocery stores still around in the Houston area or are they all apart of big chains or owned by grocery supply, Ive always liked to see the old grocery stores bc it reminds me of an era gone by.

 

The last Rice Epicurean is still family owned. In addition to that Food Town, and Food Fair are still owned by Gerland's. Sellers Bros. is still independent as far as I know.

 

Also a bunch of the Asian grocery stores are independent.

[brucesw]

I think a some of the Indian grocery stores are chains but many are independently owned.  Likewise Pakistani grocery stores.

 

Belden's in Meyerland.

 

Phoenicia - 2 locations.

 

I wonder about Hong Kong Market in Hong Kong City Mall.

 

Pyburn's - the original in Almeda has been around for probably 50 years but four years ago they opened a second location in Fondren Southwest and they're set to open another in a food desert.  I don't know what all the stores are this Vuong owns but one is Jim's Supermarket on Yellowstone.

 

Pyburn's is known for their meat department.  Sometimes I think there are more butchers milling around behind the counter waiting on someone to serve than there are customers in the whole store.

[Subdude]

Note a post about family-owned grocers got its own topic here:

http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/31340-any-family-owned-grocers/

[tiger198619]

Thanks guy I knew i could count on yall to point me in the right direction , im semi-new to the fourms. Im still learning how to use it

[aggieengineer]

Say, you didn't work at the College Avenue Albertsons did you?

 

No, but I did work at Belden's Food Giant at Post Oak and West Bellfort while I was in high school, and during Christmas vacations while I was in college - 1974 until about 1980 probably.

[aggieengineer]

That makes sense.  I don't remember that at all and it has bugged me for a long time.

 

Rice built a much bigger store on Hillcroft, just south of S. Braeswood (address on Hillcroft although it's back behind a strip center) that was a Rice Epicurean and is now a nice Walmart Neighborhood Market.

 

For aggieengineer, it's still a very nice neighborhood.  Meyerland, after all.  Houses immaculately maintained on the outside, anyway.  Interesting boutique businesses - The Russian General Store in the center where the L&C was, probably the biggest selection of salamis in Houston and lots of import goodies, My Pita, a Kosher bakery that makes fantastic pitas, and the New York Coffee and Bagel Shop with probably the best bagels in town.

 

I remember when the New York Bagel Shop opened. I'm pretty sure I was in high school at the time. None of us had ever had a bagel, so my dad took us there one morning to try it out. We were hooked! Anyone remember Zinnante's Delicatessen in the same area?

[brucesw]

I went to Zinnante's just once; Robb Walsh wrote it up in the Press, praising the meatball sub as I recall.  I had never been aware of it and went to try it out.  It was closed in less than a year.  The power of the Press?  That is now My Pita which seems to have frequent ownership changes.

[Zenjive]

I used to go to the Ranchester and Bellaire L&C with my mom in the 70's. I think it closed in the early to mid 80's. I went inside a few years ago. It's totally different except towards the back, it still sort of has the old interior deco. I think I saw a couple of the old chilled display racks.

[Gurgis]

I was going to mention the Lewis & Coker on the southeast corner of Hillcroft and S. Braeswood, but aggieengineer beat me to it.  To address brucesw though, the grocery store wasn't on the corner of the two sides (i.e. the old Blockbuster location). It was at the far south end on the side facing Hillcroft. In other words, if you faced the Hillcroft side of the center, Blockbuster would have been at the far left (the corner), and Lewis & Coker was at the far right. The large space of the grocery store was later divided up into smaller sections for the later tenants.

 

I remember going to that strip center for different purposes over time: in the early years (Lewis & Coker with my mother), teen years (game room - Gold Dust Saloon??, Blockbuster), and later for haircuts on the Braeswood side.

 

Rice Food Market was a completely different and unrelated venture on the opposite (west) side of Hillcroft. I used to work there.

 

I also remember Zinnante's Delicatessen. Was that in that small strip center at Hillcroft and Queensloch?

Edited June 10, 2016 by Gurgis
clarification

[IronTiger]

On 10/12/2014 at 4:34 AM, vstroud said:

We used to go to the one on Chimney rock and Westheimer. It was small not like the grocery stores we have now. The last one I saw was on Memorial, I think it was there until the 90s.

Yeah, it looks like they lasted until 1997. The Chron mentions that L&C went bankrupt in 1995 so Grocers Supply Co. took it over, and in 1996, the Randalls at Town & Country Village opened, causing the older Lewis & Coker to lose money hand over fist (about $3500 every week) until it was sold to Rice Epicurean in May 1997, which quickly reopened it as its own name. With the closure of The Fresh Market, it ends a legacy of the 50+ year grocery legacy at that location.

[IronTiger]

Where did Lewis & Coker have its locations before they closed the last one in the late 1990s (Memorial Drive, which became Rice Epicurean/Fresh Market/Total Wine)? All I can find is they had one other location in Kingwood in the late 1980s.

 

From reading the articles it seems like at least their later days they skewed upscale despite the fact that they operated the Kmart grocery stores in the 1970s.

[SpaceGhost]

A bunch were found in this thread:

 

http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/29412-lewis-coker/

[IronTiger]

11 hours ago, SpaceGhost said:

A bunch were found in this thread:

 

http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/29412-lewis-coker/

Oh man, and that was my own post too.

[chrispy]

I hate that I am limited on how big my picture has to be and I don’t know how to resize them. I was throwing out a lot of stuff my father had saved and came across a bag from Lewis and Coker. Just thought it was funny to come across it after reading this post. 

[Drooper N. Snork]

Hillcroft at South Braeswood hasn’t been mentioned yet. Primary source of S&H Green Stamps. We’d be warmly greeted by C.W. wielding a big broom, Mom’d chat with him but I only cared about scoring a penny to obtain a gum ball from the machine in the lobby.

[Jbonjorno]

Yes I remember going to Lewis and Coker to shop with my mom. Mom shopped at the Hill croft Store. Many fond memories as my mom and Mrs Coker were good friends. Therefore mom shopped there often and also at Weingartens in or near Bellaire. 
Now I shop a lot at Rice Epicurian on Fountain View. Guess my favorite store now. Great meats and friendly staff. 

[Mari Arenson]

Lewis and Koker had a store at Westheimer and Chimney Rock.  I remember because my mom was crossing Westheimer to pick up a picnic lunch before we went to a swim meet at Briarcroft (??) swim club.  She was wearing high heels and fell down in the middle of the street.  That store burned down, maybe in 1979.  I was little.  My memory is faded.

[Red Creek Tx]

All my high school spending money ($1.25 an hour to start) was earned at Lewis & Coker in Lantern Lane.  In June of 1970, L&C even let me pull an 80 hour week the week I got married.

[Red Creek Tx]

Although you can't really read the sign on the building, at 1:05 is a shot of Lewis & Coker which was in the middle of Lantern Lane.  Although our house was directly behind Interurban it wasn't built until 1965 so I missed all the fun of the '64 Protest.  I would think that these are all Memorial HS kids.

[ttboy]

There was a Lewis & Coker in the same shopping center as the K-Mart on Pruett St. in Baytown.

[frogprof12]

We used to go to a Lewis & Coker near my grandparents' house on Sherwood Forest Road (no idea where the store was but it was close-ish -- maybe in or near Town and Country?); the main thing I remember about the store was the mini-cinema they had near the front door where kids could watch cartoons while their parents (read: moms 😉) shopped. If it cost anything it was maybe a nickel or dime. We lived in Shreveport, LA, at the time and thought it was so fancy to have a movie theater in a grocery store!

[Tjoya]

Yes, I remember the Lewis and Coker in Palm Center.  I am pretty sure it closed in the late 70’s or possibly early 80’s.  I also seem to remember that this location had an area where kids could sit and watch cartoons on a screen on the wall while their mother shopped, this may have been in the 60’s because eventually it was removed.

  Also remember the Henke Pillot on OST and Scott street that became a Rice then HEB which closed in 2020 once HEB opened a new mega store a few minutes away off Hwy 288.

[Poppi]

The Lewis and Coker near Town and Country was on Memorial near Tallowood in Houston Tx, my brother was employed there and I picked him up multiple times after work.

[Ross]

5 hours ago, Poppi said:

The Lewis and Coker near Town and Country was on Memorial near Tallowood in Houston Tx, my brother was employed there and I picked him up multiple times after work.

If my memory isn't failing me, there was a Book Stop in that same strip center. Or a Crown Books, one of the two.