The Superette Grocery/Convenience Stores

[plumber2]

Was this the Orlando family by any chance?

 

Yes it was.

[Libbie]

I never heard the word superette until I saw this thread; we just called them little grocery stores. Would the old Weingarten's on Richmond at Mandell have been one? Or was it a lbit too big.  But there's a surviving old-style smallish grocery store at 7548 Canal, on the East End:  Shew's Food Market. They still sell fresh produce and have a meat counter, unlike  the used-to-be-grocery-stores-turned-convenience stores that you see around. The very pleasant proprieters appear to be a young man, his middle-aged father, and the elderly grandfather, sometimes all there at once. Once I asked one of them where the Ramen noodles were, and he said, "Take ten steps straight ahead, turn left, and then take 5 more steps. They're on the left, the third shelf from the bottom."  And so they were!  I asked him how he knew the number of steps, and he said that he had trained himself that way in order to be able to come into the store after hours when he needed to, without turning on the light. He said they'd had the store since about 1957.

[Firebird65]

Used to be one on Fulton at Joyce, just north of Calvacade, in Lindale Park. Don't remember the name of it, but I know my grandmother and I would walk the long block (Lindale Park has some long blocks) to go get bread or eggs when I was a kid. It was maybe nearly the size of two convenience stores, but it was a lot smaller than the Clayton's Supermarket further up Fulton. The building is still there (or at least was the last time I passed by) but it was no longer a store.

 

There used to also be a similar sized place on Clay Road near Greenhouse in west Houston. I'd go there sometimes to pick up things when my wife and I would visit my sister-in-law's family. It had a butcher shop and a produce shop, but it had maybe three aisles of groceries at the most.

 

I'd say you could call both of these superettes

[mkultra25]

Used to be one on Fulton at Joyce, just north of Calvacade, in Lindale Park. Don't remember the name of it, but I know my grandmother and I would walk the long block (Lindale Park has some long blocks) to go get bread or eggs when I was a kid. It was maybe nearly the size of two convenience stores, but it was a lot smaller than the Clayton's Supermarket further up Fulton. The building is still there (or at least was the last time I passed by) but it was no longer a store.

 

I'm assuming this was on the west side of Fulton? There's nothing but residential on the east side of Fulton at Joyce (an apartment building on the north side of Joyce, and the infamous "Fulton Mansion" on the south side). On the west side of Fulton, there's a tire shop, and to the north of that the building I think you're referring to. It was most recently a furniture store. 

[Firebird65]

I'm assuming this was on the west side of Fulton? There's nothing but residential on the east side of Fulton at Joyce (an apartment building on the north side of Joyce, and the infamous "Fulton Mansion" on the south side). On the west side of Fulton, there's a tire shop, and to the north of that the building I think you're referring to. It was most recently a furniture store. 

 

Oh, I forgot about Google's Street View!  I've attached a pic of the place as of April 2011 (according to Google Maps - guess they haven't updated it in awhile).

 

The location is actually at the corner of Fulton and Wynne. Joyce is on the east side of Fulton, Wynne is on the west. This would be catty corner from what you called the "Fulton Mansion." (The mansion is on what used to be the site of a movie theatre, as you probably already know). Directly across from this building (or behind the photographer) are those apartments you mentioned.

 

Yes, as you mentioned, from the photo it was a furniture store at least at one time. When it was a superette, the building was a light blue, not red.

 

 

[mkultra25]

Oh, I forgot about Google's Street View!  I've attached a pic of the place as of April 2011 (according to Google Maps - guess they haven't updated it in awhile).

 

The location is actually at the corner of Fulton and Wynne. Joyce is on the east side of Fulton, Wynne is on the west. This would be catty corner from what you called the "Fulton Mansion." (The mansion is on what used to be the site of a movie theatre, as you probably already know). Directly across from this building (or behind the photographer) are those apartments you mentioned.

 

Yes, as you mentioned, from the photo it was a furniture store at least at one time. When it was a superette, the building was a light blue, not red.

 

Yeah, that's the place I thought you were talking about. Google Maps has some pics of the building from August 2013, after it underwent a renovation (or at least a few coats of paint), but they're only visible from certain angles. Try this link:

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.80655,-95.369067,3a,75y,278.81h,86.24t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sfj1SCICskwY9Df-KvvwmSw!2e0

 

I wish the Al Ray theater was still on the site of the "mansion". The owner of the mansion had planned to turn it into a special-events facility and had been trying to get a liquor license not too long ago. As you might expect, this was not well-received by local residents. Haven't heard any more about it since then but I believe the liquor license application was denied after comments opposing it were filed by neighboring property owners. 

[sevfiv]

The Fulton store was originally a Minimax (Joe Di Chiara's in 1955) then by the mid 1970s it was the Fulton Super Serv.

[Firebird65]

The Fulton store was originally a Minimax (Joe Di Chiara's in 1955) then by the mid 1970s it was the Fulton Super Serv.

 

Thanks for the info about Minimax. Yes, the name Fulton Super Serv seems to ring a bell.  The early to mid 1970s would be the time I was referring to in my post.

[Firebird65]

Yeah, that's the place I thought you were talking about. Google Maps has some pics of the building from August 2013, after it underwent a renovation (or at least a few coats of paint), but they're only visible from certain angles. Try this link:

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.80655,-95.369067,3a,75y,278.81h,86.24t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sfj1SCICskwY9Df-KvvwmSw!2e0

 

I wish the Al Ray theater was still on the site of the "mansion". The owner of the mansion had planned to turn it into a special-events facility and had been trying to get a liquor license not too long ago. As you might expect, this was not well-received by local residents. Haven't heard any more about it since then but I believe the liquor license application was denied after comments opposing it were filed by neighboring property owners. 

 

Ah, that does look at LOT better than that garish red paint. I wonder why you got a different, more up to date image than I did? I went to Google Maps as well, but mine said it was from April 2011.

 

As for the Al Ray, yeah, I would imagine the people in the neighborhood (Lindale Park) would have a problem with that. The used to be a rowdy cantina at the corner of Fulton and Calvacade that was always in the news back in the 1980s. While that was 30 years ago, the neighborhood was already at least 75 percent Hispanic then with the only white folks left being people in their 70s and 80s who had live there since the neighborhood was built. So I can't imagine there's been a lot of turnover in the years since, a that neighborhood had already undergone white flight in the 1960s and 70s.

 

[Earlydays]

Used to go to the Al Ray in the 60's when it was one of the few theaters that played Foreign films.......

[Materene]

I can remember a Tony's on 20th circa 1956, but it wasn't the all look a like and was more of a stripmall apppearance with large plate glass windows. I lived on Oxford and often had to go fetch a gallon of Milk which of course was a large glass bottle in those days, might add it was worth 25 cents for that bottle so you always had to take along the trade bottle or pay that extra 25 cents.  I always made the trip on my  bike.  I think every trip I made my Grandmother would have me ask for soup bones for the dog, and naturally the dog got the bone after the soup was made.  Our mailman lived just down the street from this market on 20th.  I forget his name it has been decades ago, but he always pulled a little tripod bag carrier behind him, his route must have been pretty large and I'm sure the bag was heavy.  In the 50s there were always tons of freebies mailed out from retailers.  Time keeps marching on, I think soon there will be nothing left from my childhood. 

[mkultra25]

Ah, that does look at LOT better than that garish red paint. I wonder why you got a different, more up to date image than I did? I went to Google Maps as well, but mine said it was from April 2011.

 

As for the Al Ray, yeah, I would imagine the people in the neighborhood (Lindale Park) would have a problem with that. The used to be a rowdy cantina at the corner of Fulton and Calvacade that was always in the news back in the 1980s. While that was 30 years ago, the neighborhood was already at least 75 percent Hispanic then with the only white folks left being people in their 70s and 80s who had live there since the neighborhood was built. So I can't imagine there's been a lot of turnover in the years since, a that neighborhood had already undergone white flight in the 1960s and 70s.

 

 

You have to zoom in or navigate up and down Fulton a little from the exact address in order to see the newer photos. They apparently haven't updated all the viewing angles yet.

 

An example of the trend you refer to is the transition undergone by the church on the corner of Fulton and Link. When we first moved into the area almost 15 years ago, it was a Methodist church whose congregation was comprised almost exclusively of elderly Anglos who had been here for many years. The congregation was clearly on its last legs then, and several years later a Hispanic church moved into the facility. One of the other buildings on the property had previously been named after a longtime member of the Methodist congregation who was also a longtime resident of Lindale Park, and still bears the sign denoting that honor. 

 

Younger people have been moving into the neighborhood for some time now, although there are still a fair number of retirees. Like most other places inside the loop, property values have skyrocketed, but for now it remains relatively affordable compared to the Heights or Oak Forest. It used to be the rare house that even approached the $200K mark here; now, of the 9 houses currently listed on HAR, 6 of them are over $200K, and 2 of them are well over $300K. The civic club is in the process of trying to get minimum lot size restrictions in place before developers start itching to subdivide the typically large lots and throw up townhomes on them. 

[Firebird65]

An example of the trend you refer to is the transition undergone by the church on the corner of Fulton and Link. When we first moved into the area almost 15 years ago, it was a Methodist church whose congregation was comprised almost exclusively of elderly Anglos who had been here for many years.

 

You are speaking of Reid Memorial Methodist Church. My great aunt and uncle (who lived on Caplin) attended services there for many a year. I'm surprised the place lasted into the 1990s considering the changes in the neighborhood.

[NenaE]

I never heard the word superette until I saw this thread; we just called them little grocery stores. Would the old Weingarten's on Richmond at Mandell have been one? Or was it a lbit too big.  But there's a surviving old-style smallish grocery store at 7548 Canal, on the East End:  Shew's Food Market. They still sell fresh produce and have a meat counter, unlike  the used-to-be-grocery-stores-turned-convenience stores that you see around. The very pleasant proprieters appear to be a young man, his middle-aged father, and the elderly grandfather, sometimes all there at once. Once I asked one of them where the Ramen noodles were, and he said, "Take ten steps straight ahead, turn left, and then take 5 more steps. They're on the left, the third shelf from the bottom."  And so they were!  I asked him how he knew the number of steps, and he said that he had trained himself that way in order to be able to come into the store after hours when he needed to, without turning on the light. He said they'd had the store since about 1957.

 

Cool story and building. 

Here are two more I ran across in the East End recently. 

 

1. Wing-On Foods - Canal x Super St.

2. Sherman x Latham St.

[NenaE]

There was also an East End Carrabba's store - Canal and 74th. I haven't been able to verify through records which bldg. it actually was.  

[sevfiv]

Ah Wing-on - it was originally at Canal and Ennis: http://arch-ive.org/archive/2919-canal/

 

And Carrabba's Grocery was at 7402 Canal: http://goo.gl/maps/dY30X

[mkultra25]

You are speaking of Reid Memorial Methodist Church. My great aunt and uncle (who lived on Caplin) attended services there for many a year. I'm surprised the place lasted into the 1990s considering the changes in the neighborhood.

 

Right you are - the name escaped me when I posted that. It was known as "Reid Casa de Alabanza" or just "Casa de Alabanza" for a while after the transition, and I believe it may have changed names one more time after that, but the signs have since been taken down. The property has been for sale for a while, so I suppose it's only a matter of time until it's redeveloped - they're sitting on a pretty decent-sized chunk of land right on the light rail line.

[Firebird65]

Right you are - the name escaped me when I posted that. It was known as "Reid Casa de Alabanza" or just "Casa de Alabanza" for a while after the transition, and I believe it may have changed names one more time after that, but the signs have since been taken down. The property has been for sale for a while, so I suppose it's only a matter of time until it's redeveloped - they're sitting on a pretty decent-sized chunk of land right on the light rail line.

 

 

Yeah, I suspect you are right about redevelopment. Makes sense.

 

As a kid in Northline Terrace, I attended Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church, across from Aldine High at West Rd. and Sweetwater. I moved away to the westside in 1990. My parents moved away in 2003 to Spring. But my mom kept going to Beautiful Savior, at least most of the time.

 

As with Reid Methodist in Lindale Park, eventually most the original white population moved away and was replaced by Hispanics (who generally aren't Lutheran or Methodist), leaving only scattered older people. The congregation got so small, it couldn't afford the upkeep. A few years ago, my mom told me the church sold its building to an Asian church and then leased back the sanctuary for its services as a tenant, presumably to hang on until the last of the older folks there either passed on, went to a nursing home or moved away.  The website is still up, although it hasn't been updated since last November, so I guess the church is still in existence.

 

Same thing almost happened with Memorial Baptist Church on Airline and Gulf Bank. That church had been on that corner in one form or another since 1925. In fact, in 1932, it was where the first classes for what would eventually become Aldine High School were held. But by 2000, all the members had moved to other parts of Houston. Rather than die out, the church sold its property and moved to Kuykendahl in Spring and still exists today.

[mkultra25]

Same thing almost happened with Memorial Baptist Church on Airline and Gulf Bank. That church had been on that corner in one form or another since 1925. In fact, in 1932, it was where the first classes for what would eventually become Aldine High School were held. But by 2000, all the members had moved to other parts of Houston. Rather than die out, the church sold its property and moved to Kuykendahl in Spring and still exists today.

 

Memorial Baptist Church was certainly a community landmark for a long time. As I'm sure you know, it's now the Cathedral of Saint Matthew (http://www.cathedralofsaintmatthew.com/) - was that the entity that purchased the property from Memorial Baptist, or were there any other churches that occupied that space in between those two?

[Firebird65]

Memorial Baptist Church was certainly a community landmark for a long time. As I'm sure you know, it's now the Cathedral of Saint Matthew (http://www.cathedralofsaintmatthew.com/) - was that the entity that purchased the property from Memorial Baptist, or were there any other churches that occupied that space in between those two?

 

No, there were no other churches in between. The Cathedral of St Matthew was who bought the site back 10 years or so ago from Memorial.

 

Speaking of Memorial, I'd sure like to get a peek at their church records to see what agreement they had with Common School District 29 (the predecessor to Aldine ISD) to house the first high school classes during the fall of 1932 and early winter of 1933 until the brick school building now known as the Lane School was completed. I've tried to contact some people there, but I've never heard back from them.

 

Talking about  area churches, the Ukrainian Catholic Church a short distance away on Meadowshire is an interesting mystery. Seems like it's been there forever, but I think it only dates from the mid 1960s. How in the world a Ukrainian church got there I'd like to know. And a Catholic one, at that. Most Ukrainians are Orthodox, so you've got a minority of a minority situation going. There can't be that many Ukrainians living in Houston as it is, especially in that area, but then to further segment it into Catholic Ukrainians...

 

I know I've hijacked this thread royally now and I surely apologize for it. If someone wants to create a new thread and move the off-topic posts there, I'd be all for that.

[EastEnd Susan]

I loved going to the "little store" for cokes and laffy taffy. Dibellos was located on the corner of Avenue K and 66th in the East End. It was a converted house. The building is still there.

[NenaE]

I loved going to the "little store" for cokes and laffy taffy. Dibellos was located on the corner of Avenue K and 66th in the East End. It was a converted house. The building is still there.

 

EastEndSusan and other EastEnders...do you remember a wooden house/ corner store called the Wu's? It was within walking distance of my great-grandmother's house...west of N. 71st, Central Park/ Magnolia Park. It was on a corner. I remember a screen door and old wooden floors. Mid-sixties. I would like to know the address, and if the bldg. is still standing.

[sevfiv]

It wasn't this one on the corner of 71st and Sherman? http://goo.gl/maps/YRghb

 

It also used to be Stokleys, Schades, and also Simmons Food Mart over the years (nothing I see lists Wu's, but that doesn't mean much).

[NenaE]

It wasn't this one on the corner of 71st and Sherman? http://goo.gl/maps/YRghb

 

It also used to be Stokleys, Schades, and also Simmons Food Mart over the years (nothing I see lists Wu's, but that doesn't mean much).

 

No. But that's the one she went to the most. I know it well...little bottled cokes, ice creams with wooden spoons and Tropicana orange juice came from there. it's for sale, BTW.

 

Oops, I sent you in the wrong direction... that should be - East of N. 71st.

[tiger198619]

how hard would it be for someone to open one of these "superettes" in todays grocery and bix box retail enviroment? I only ask because it seems like most of the old superettes can not compete price wise, I would love to have one of these types of stores in my neighborhood(Fairbanks/Northwest Crosssing), but with the Walmart, Target, and the numerous dollar and c-stores I dont think one would be able to survive even though we dont have alot of traditional grocery stores in the area.