2555 Gessner Rd.

[IronTiger]

One of the more intriguing buildings I've passed in recent days is the King Dollar at 2555 Gessner. Well, not the fact that it was a King Dollar, but it was in a visibly old building that came to an arch. It also has some brickwork from an era long past gone. I want to say it was a Weingarten, but I just don't know.

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.8188117,-95.5453222,3a,60.4y,270.9h,82.42t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sc9nvTH_ZziixqsPYyP-SHw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1

[Ross]

The Kroger on 20th looks like that behind the Kroger generic facade. Not sure what it was originally.

[IronTiger]

8 hours ago, Ross said:

The Kroger on 20th looks like that behind the Kroger generic facade. Not sure what it was originally.

Based on Google Maps (above and behind the building), it had an arched building, but nothing quite as dramatic as this building. For what it's worth, the Kroger of which you speak WAS originally a Weingarten, and became a Kroger in the mid-1990s after AppleTree sold off its stores. I'm not sure it was a Weingarten, but it did come to mind.

[SpaceGhost]

That's gotta be an Ex-Weingarten. The only thing else that comes to mind with that Stonework was Safeway, but based on the look of the rest of the shopping center this has to predate their entrance to Houston. Also afaik, they never did points. The Rosenberg Weingarten looked almost identical until 99 Cent Only covered it up with an ugly facade. You can still get a glimpse from the back however.

 

Edit: Just realized it wasn't stonework, but rather brickwork. The Rosenberg location had it as well. If you switch to the 2008 view you can kinda make it out.

 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/99+Cents+Only+Stores/@29.5573484,-95.800532,3a,60y,353.73h,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s-5I64ozb95u1r7iatlr9zA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!4m5!3m4!1s0x86411c1a78165c83:0x9cd22ce26fc3401c!8m2!3d29.557642!4d-95.8006029!6m1!1e1

[IronTiger]

On May 8, 2016 at 11:54 PM, SpaceGhost said:

That's gotta be an Ex-Weingarten. The only thing else that comes to mind with that Stonework was Safeway, but based on the look of the rest of the shopping center this has to predate their entrance to Houston. Also afaik, they never did points. The Rosenberg Weingarten looked almost identical until 99 Cent Only covered it up with an ugly facade. You can still get a glimpse from the back however.

 

Edit: Just realized it wasn't stonework, but rather brickwork. The Rosenberg location had it as well. If you switch to the 2008 view you can kinda make it out.

 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/99+Cents+Only+Stores/@29.5573484,-95.800532,3a,60y,353.73h,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s-5I64ozb95u1r7iatlr9zA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!4m5!3m4!1s0x86411c1a78165c83:0x9cd22ce26fc3401c!8m2!3d29.557642!4d-95.8006029!6m1!1e1

Maybe. It does look similar to this Weingarten though has a slightly different angle. They did do stores like the Safeway "Marina" stores too, though, according to this link.

[NenaE]

I guessing it was a Weingarten's. Reminds me of the Lawndale and Gulfgate Weingarten locations of the fifties - sixties.  

[gnu]

According to HCAD, it was built in 1968.  My 1976 directory has it as Gerland's Food Fair #4.

It does resemble a lot of the Weingarten's that I remember.  I guess Weingarten could have sold it to Gerland's, early, before they went out of business in the early 80's.

[IronTiger]

4 hours ago, gnu said:

According to HCAD, it was built in 1968.  My 1976 directory has it as Gerland's Food Fair #4.

It does resemble a lot of the Weingarten's that I remember.  I guess Weingarten could have sold it to Gerland's, early, before they went out of business in the early 80's.

I don't think so, as Weingarten even stuck around in places like Gulfgate until Grand Union started selling or closing stores. It's probable that they did build it, as even bland retailers like Brookshire Brothers made "Safeway Marina" like stores.

[NenaE]

Oh, yeah. That makes sense, it does look like the Gerland's store style I remember, in the sixties. 

 

 

[blue92]

I lived behind that store in that neighborhood in 1978 and at that time it was a Gerland's but now that I look back at it it does look like a Weigarten's of the 50s. In 1978 I worked for Houston Watch Co. in downtown Houston on Franklin St. when they closed their downtown location in the late1990s they moved into a strip center also in that parking lot that faced south they were in that location until the owned had a stoke and was put into a nursing home in the mid 2000s.