Weingarten's Grocery Stores

[northbeaumont]

in 1955:

general offices:

600 lockwood dr

personnel offices:

808 prairie av

stores:

808 prairie av

1601 taft av

5100 harrisburg blvd

2001 yale

1420 richmond av

1802 polk av

3600 n main

3114 smith

1118 broadway

1100 quitman

2512 university blvd

4800 washington av

1102 telephone rd

6002 lyons

4100 almeda

4000 bissonnet

10901 market

8826 jensen dr

4431 griggs rd

south shaver and southmore, pasadena

bakery and food plant:

534 lockwood dr

poultry and sea food dept:

4711 navigation blvd

home centers:

4800 washington av

1102 telephone rd

I remember the first time I went to Astroworld back in 1969, there was a replica of the first Weingarten's store. I think the sign on it said that it opened in 1901.

[JLWM8609]

My grandfather used to drive 18 wheelers for Weingarten's. He drove them until he was 69 years old, so that was around the 1981-1982 timeframe. Before that, he did some other work for Weingartens. My uncles worked in the stores too, I know for sure one worked at the Almeda Rd. location where the post office now sits, and my grandfather and other uncles at the N. Main location that's now an auto parts store.

[yak23flora]

I found a Weingarten's token while metal detecting at Ellington Field a few years ago, which reminded me there was a Weingarten's at Edgebrook and I-45 that became a Minimax, and now I don't recall what it is.

[musicman]

I found a Weingarten's token while metal detecting at Ellington Field a few years ago, which reminded me there was a Weingarten's at Edgebrook and I-45 that became a Minimax, and now I don't recall what it is.

i believe it was where the Fiesta is now.

[spikey2]

The Weingarten name seems to be entangled with a lot of scandal in recent years.

They own the company that wants to tear down River Oaks And Alabama Theaters.

Son in law who help developer Greenway Plaza went to prison for bank fraud, Grand daughter went to jail for Enron fraud. Nothing like greed among the super rich!

[northbeaumont]

The Weingarten name seems to be entangled with a lot of scandal in recent years.

They own the company that wants to tear down River Oaks And Alabama Theaters.

Son in law who help developer Greenway Plaza went to prison for bank fraud, Grand daughter went to jail for Enron fraud. Nothing like greed among the super rich!

Don't you remember "Social Darwinism" in history class? Or that movie where the guy said: "Greed is Good"?

[northbeaumont]

This building is simply to die for. I presume, in the grand Houston tradition, that it has been torn down. Where was it?

I remember the speakers in Weingarten's would always play the same song. I'm thinking it was called "Desafinado." Maybe I'm wrong. Someone out there might know the name of that song.

[musicman]

I remember the speakers in Weingarten's would always play the same song. I'm thinking it was called "Desafinado."

you must be talkin early to mid 60's?

[Vertigo58]

Name that tune:

Desafinado...1962...Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd

Percy Faith popularized Delicado a tad earlier around the same time.

I just remember (sort of) the Weingarten on Telephone played basic elevator muzak. Loved it.

[northbeaumont]

you must be talkin early to mid 60's?

Yes, I think the song title was some kind of a Latin name.

[readam]

After seeing that list from 1955 I remember going to the "Village" Weingartens on University and the "Montclair Center" Weingartens on Bissonet and Weslayan before the "Bellaire" Weingartens was built near the intersection of Bellaire and Bissonet. The Montclair center store had one of those circular donut machines that you could look and see the donuts dropped, turned and finished. Pretty neat for a young kid to be mesmerized. They also had those old fashioned "Flip card" movie machines that flipped through hundreds of cards to show you a "moving picture" show. They expanded out farther to Maplewodd near Braeswood and Chimney Rock and points west and south. The only problem my parents and later I had with the stores was that they always seemed to have had a very limited amount of checkout stands open at any one time...it took too long to check out. If I remember from talking to colleagues from Louisiana they had Weingartens in Lafayette as well.

Edited December 23, 2007 by readam

[plumber2]

The Weingartens in Galveston was on 25th St. It is now operating as an Arlans, but basically unchanged fom it's mid 60's appearance.

[eileen]

I used to be able to pay my utility bills at Weingarten's service window. Very convenient. You don't get that kind of service in a grocery store any more.

[memebag]

I used to be able to pay my utility bills at Weingarten's service window. Very convenient. You don't get that kind of service in a grocery store any more.

Last time I checked (a couple of years ago, I think) the Kroger on S. Post Oak did that.

[Sharpstown Bill]

I remember an ill fated "Elvis Tribute" @the Capittan in Jan 1978--they show a movie and one or two impersonators and charged a fortune to get in

[jwphillips2]

I still have a full can of "JW" brand coffee.

[Vertigo58]

I used to be able to pay my utility bills at Weingarten's service window. Very convenient. You don't get that kind of service in a grocery store any more.

It also costs too much now for this service. In those days there were no alternatives but to pay in person or via mail.

The courtesy booth for the Weingartens on Telephone Rd was right next to the big glass windows with several bubblegum machines, tall weight scale and soda pop machines. We could see all the traffic passing down Telephone Road as mom stood in line waiting to pay up. It's so clear still, strange.

This specific store was smack in the middle of the hustle & bustle of the neighborhood so you always saw friends, neighbors, schoolmates. Very small town feel then.

[northbeaumont]

This building is simply to die for. I presume, in the grand Houston tradition, that it has been torn down. Where was it?

I didn't know that Kroger was big in Houston. Today's Chronicle says that Wal-Mart Supercenter has surpassed Kroger in market-share. I thought that Randall's and H.E.B. Pantry were the two most popular supermarkets in Houston.

[jetbeetle]

The one I remember in Pasadena was next to Montgomery Wards on Spencer and South Houston - it was even attached to the Montgomery Wards store so you could walk through an area of the store and into Weingartens. I used to go there with my gandmother all the time. -- Just a little more on the store's location - the Mamma's Cafe featured in Urban Cowboy where Bud and Sissy rolled around in the mud together then Bug asked her to marry him was right outside the store. If you look when Sissy is hitchhiking - you can see the Ward's sign in the bg.

[cosmic08]

Does anyone know how I can obtain a pic of the Weingarten store that was on Yale?

[Otis Fantastic]

I live up in DC, and the Washington Nationals logo 'W' looks very similar to the old Weingarten's 'W'. Pretty much everytime I go see them play, I constantly tell people they stole the 'W' from Weingartens. I miss Houston, is that odd?

[NenaE]

It mortifies me to admit I can't visualize a Weingarten's in Pasadena, but I'm sure there was one. For some reason, my memories keep coming back to a location in a shopping center on South Shaver at Southmore, directly across Shaver from the Sears store. I could be wrong though. I frequently am. Anybody with a better memory than mine? The floor is still open.

Think I've mentioned this on another thread, The Weingartens was by the Sears, west of it, you are right. I also recall a Weiners clothing store, with deep display case windows as you entered (seemed like an old store in the late 60-early 70's) on the south side. There was an Oshmans, later, on the east side (Weingartens bldg.) There was also a White's or other auto tire store that also sold things like bicycles, as well, on the west side. These stores were all connected.

The Abel's drug store was across the street, South. Never went in there.

Weingarten's always seemed so huge to me, the Gulfgate one comes to mind.

Edited October 13, 2008 by NenaE

[PapillionWyngs]

There was a location on Park Place Blvd., as well as a very large one in Gulfgate.

I wonder why they aren't mentioned?

[NenaE]

There was a location on Park Place Blvd., as well as a very large one in Gulfgate.

I wonder why they aren't mentioned?

There was also one at S. 75th & Lawndale, across from the Capri Theater, southwest of Mason Park.

[Vertigo58]

There was a location on Park Place Blvd., as well as a very large one in Gulfgate.

I wonder why they aren't mentioned?

Do you recall the intersection of the one on Park Place was??? That really has my mind racing.

I only knew of the very, very convenient one we had on Telephone Rd and Mulford st? near the Stephen F Austin High School. It was a bit of a local teen hangout for Jackson Jr High and Austin kids too. We knew almost every cashier & manager there. I can still picture their faces at the time.

I could always count on the newstand to have my latest issues of Mad Magazine & National Lampoon.

They always sold tickets or lucky numbers rather for the "Let's Go To The Races" (Dick Gottlieb?) snippet they would do after the news at night. If the horse with your lucky # won you WON too like in $$$. This was way before Texas Lotto folks circa 1966-70? Wow more kiddie flashbacks.

Edited October 14, 2008 by Vertigo58

[Dan the Man]

The building for the Telephone Road store is still standing (looks a little like the one in the photo in post #68). The building now houses government offices, if I remember correctly.

[Vertigo58]

The building for the Telephone Road store is still standing (looks a little like the one in the photo in post #68). The building now houses government offices, if I remember correctly.

Yes, it is discussed in another topic with great pics of its grand opening in the 1940's? Presently a depressing remuddled mess serves as either an HPD or HISD admin site. Gated like a prison until Ike smashed it down. We knew a girl named Becky that worked in the "Courtesy Booth" as the letters said above. She had one of those then stylish mid 70's Toni Tenille hairdos so it had to have closed shortly after so that would have been around 1978. It was so safe to walk from home to go buy a candy bar or little knick knacks light enough to carry home. No one and I mean no one ever thought of sneaking off with a shopping cart.

The loading area in back was excellent for us kids riding bikes up the ramp and flying off like in mid air just like our idol, Evel Kneivil!

Edited October 15, 2008 by Vertigo58

[carol802]

After seeing that list from 1955 I remember going to the "Village" Weingartens on University and the "Montclair Center" Weingartens on Bissonet and Weslayan before the "Bellaire" Weingartens was built near the intersection of Bellaire and Bissonet. The Montclair center store had one of those circular donut machines that you could look and see the donuts dropped, turned and finished. Pretty neat for a young kid to be mesmerized. They also had those old fashioned "Flip card" movie machines that flipped through hundreds of cards to show you a "moving picture" show. They expanded out farther to Maplewodd near Braeswood and Chimney Rock and points west and south. The only problem my parents and later I had with the stores was that they always seemed to have had a very limited amount of checkout stands open at any one time...it took too long to check out. If I remember from talking to colleagues from Louisiana they had Weingartens in Lafayette as well.

[carol802]

I worked at the Weingarten's on Stella Link just south of Braeswood 1969-1971. I had grown up 5-18 down Stella Link & Willowbend & shopped there with my parents most of my life.

Before moving to that area we had lived off Drake Street & Weslyan & shopped at the one at Montclair.

I just about died in that parking lot! I was 4 & my mom was going to the store & was leaving us kids home with my dad. I wanted to go with my mom so I snuck out to the old station wagon & hid in the back under a blanket. Planned on springing up & yelling peekaboo when we got there. I started thinking about it & decided it wasn't a good idea so I stayed under the blanket.

It was summertime. It was freaking hot & I was in a locked car & too young to figure out how to unlock the doors or roll down the windows.

My mom found me almost dead. When I had fully recovered she tore my behind up.

Edited December 3, 2008 by carol802

[scrubba]

Well....... I guess that means that the Weingartens store I used to shop at up on Little york road off North freeway is gone now too. I wonder if the Bowling alley is still there ? Damn , I'm really getting old I used to buy cold cut for the guys there cause we had Van accessories to make as I owned a business just behind the shopping center.

Ed Shaver, scrubba

[moni]

I didn't know that Kroger was big in Houston. Today's Chronicle says that Wal-Mart Supercenter has surpassed Kroger in market-share. I thought that Randall's and H.E.B. Pantry were the two most popular supermarkets in Houston.

Years ago several of the Kroger stores in Houston changed to Henke-Pelot, but I can't find that information any place.

[mkultra25]

Well....... I guess that means that the Weingartens store I used to shop at up on Little york road off North freeway is gone now too. I wonder if the Bowling alley is still there ? Damn , I'm really getting old I used to buy cold cut for the guys there cause we had Van accessories to make as I owned a business just behind the shopping center.

Ed Shaver, scrubba

Big Texan Lanes is long gone, and that Weingarten's has been gone for even longer. I bet you probably remember when there used to be a Grant's in that shopping center, before the bowling alley was there, as well as a Wyatt's Cafeteria.

I spent a lot of time in all those places when I was growing up. What was the business you owned there?

[silverartfox]

Years ago several of the Kroger stores in Houston changed to Henke-Pelot, but I can't find that information any place.

Actually, Henke & Pillot was a Houston grocery chain established in the early 1900's. Kroger, a national company. bought them out several decades ago.

[OldHouseLover]

Remember the opening of Gulfgate Shopping Center & the Weingarten Grocery new store? Here's a letter fromJoe Weingarden, Chairman of Weingarten's to area residents inviting families to eperience their "most beautiful, largest, new store". Walk down "memory lane". I'm still not very tech savvy, but thought someone might enjoy this bit of East End history.

Edited July 20, 2009 by OldHouseLover

[sevfiv]

"Fairyland shopping mart"

Thanks for posting this!

[NenaE]

Yeah, thnx for posting this...one of my fav subjects, nice to see the date.

[IronTiger]

I've become a bit more curious about Weingarten's.

I read on my "BCS Supermarkets" thread that a Weingarten's was briefly in College Station from 1982-1984, and was quite upscale.

What were they like, really? Also, is the current Weingarten development company at all related?

[Highway6]

Also, is the current Weingarten development company at all related?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q...ngarten+history

[IronTiger]

Right. So the grocery store chain was sold in 1980, but closed in 1984.

Although that website was pretty clever.

[Subdude]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q...ngarten+history

It doesn't make for much of a discussion board if the best response people can come up with is "go google it yourself".

I liked Weingartens because the one near me was open 24 hours, and for a student that is convenient. The locations I remember were on University and Dunlavy. The latter became an Apple Tree, and eventually Fiesta. The one in the Village was where The Gap is now.

[Croberts]

While it was a Houston based chain, they were as far north as Texarkana. They seemed the main chain in the period 50s-70s. The one in Westbury had a hatch on the roof that was unlocked, and I remember people who worked there would leave the A frame ladder under the hatch, so that they could break in at night and steal beer and wine.

[IronTiger]

Why did Weingarten sell out in 1980? I mean, when did out-of-town competitors (Kroger, H-E- come in?

Edited January 6, 2011 by IronTiger

[little frau]

The HISD building in the 1100 block of Telephone Rd. used to be a Weingarten's, according to one of my older neighbors. Per HCAD, it was built in 1939, but she doesn't go back that far so is not sure if it was originally built as a grocery store. Still, to see that at least part of the old building has been saved and repurposed is a good thing.

Sadly, the old Cage Elementary a bit down the road from there has not fared so well.

[Specwriter]

There was a Weingarten's in the Northline Mall in the early to mid-60s. It was off a long corridor on the Joske's end of the mall if I remember correctly. We would drive from our house near the intersection of FM 149 and the North Freeway all the way to Airline and the freeway (about 5 miles) to shop there. Other smaller stores were in the neighborhood, like Io's Lucky 7 at Airline and Gulfbank but Weingarten's was the "big supermarket." Soon a Henke-Kroger* was built at the southeast corner of the North Freeway and W. Mt. Houston and a Piggly Wiggly at the northwest corner of the same intersection. Once the Randall's opened at the North Freeway and Tidwell Mother did almost all the family's grocery shopping there. I believe it was a Minimax before that. She never said why she preferred Randall's over the other, closer stores.

I know there were many other Weingarten's stores around town but for the decade of the 60's (my first on the earth), my world was pretty much defined by Crosstimbers on the south, Hardy Road on the east, Aldine-Bender on the north, and Hempstead Highway on the west. That's a lot of area but there was much less stuff in it then.

*The Henke - Kroger connection must have been some arrangement between the national chain (Kroger) and the local historic Henke-Pillot establishment.

[IronTiger]

There was a Weingarten's in the Northline Mall in the early to mid-60s. It was off a long corridor on the Joske's end of the mall if I remember correctly. We would drive from our house near the intersection of FM 149 and the North Freeway all the way to Airline and the freeway (about 5 miles) to shop there. Other smaller stores were in the neighborhood, like Io's Lucky 7 at Airline and Gulfbank but Weingarten's was the "big supermarket." Soon a Henke-Kroger* was built at the southeast corner of the North Freeway and W. Mt. Houston and a Piggly Wiggly at the northwest corner of the same intersection. Once the Randall's opened at the North Freeway and Tidwell Mother did almost all the family's grocery shopping there. I believe it was a Minimax before that. She never said why she preferred Randall's over the other, closer stores.

I know there were many other Weingarten's stores around town but for the decade of the 60's (my first on the earth), my world was pretty much defined by Crosstimbers on the south, Hardy Road on the east, Aldine-Bender on the north, and Hempstead Highway on the west. That's a lot of area but there was much less stuff in it then.

*The Henke - Kroger connection must have been some arrangement between the national chain (Kroger) and the local historic Henke-Pillot establishment.

Yeah, in the 1960s, the Henke's Family Center stores were run by Kroger (http://pleasantfamilyshopping.blogspot.com/2009/01/family-affair-at-kroger.html)

[Fringe]

Weingarten's were everywhere in the 60's I believe the grocery store at Meyerland Mall started out as a Weingarten's.

[ernie5823]

Weingarten's were everywhere in the 60's I believe the grocery store at Meyerland Mall started out as a Weingarten's.

I believe the Gulfgate Weingartens was there from the beginning - mid '50s? Seems there were others, on Telephone & either on Broadway or Harrisburg, well before that.

[silverartfox]

I believe the Gulfgate Weingartens was there from the beginning - mid '50s? Seems there were others, on Telephone & either on Broadway or Harrisburg, well before that.

There was one on the corner of Harrisburg and Dumble as far back as the 1940's. Its original Art Deco brick building has been restored and is now home to an auto supply store, laundromat, etc.

[rsb320]

The Container Store at Post Oak and Westheimer was a Weingartens.

[IronTiger]

Wikipedia says that one was the last one to close, in 1986, two years after the others were sold off.