crooow579

The 290 corridor was my old stomping grounds as well.  Here are some updates that you may find useful-

-I'll start at 14900 Northwest Freeway at W. Little York, the location of the old Kroger.  I worked there from 1998 until it closed in July 2005.  A colleague who was a Safeway veteran told me the store opened in 1981.  Eckerd was next door to us until it closed in 2004 when CVS (who bought Eckerd) opened their location at Gessner and Phillipine.  Way back in the 80s, there was a pizza parlor called Spanky's in the parking lot.  No clue as to when it opened or closed.  The Kroger at 14147 Northwest Freeway closed in 2009, IIRC.  It was open during Ike.  Next door to it was a Walgreens. It closed in the late 90s.  Shipley Do-Nuts is the only tenant that's been there from the start.

-Moseying on down 290 to Bingle,  the Handy Dan sat vacant until the early 90s when Academy took it over.  They just painted the building and put their sign up.  They relocated to their current location in 2004.

-The strip center at 43rd opened up in the early 90s with Venture and Service Merchandise as tenants.  Toys R Us opened up around 1994.  Venture went under in 1996 and Kmart moved in around January 1998 as part of their "Big Kmart" launch.  

-The Northbrook shopping center at 34th opened up circa 1970.  It included Kmart, Walgreens and Weingartens.  Weingartens closed in the early 80s and it was briefly 2 independent grocery stores (Moore's Foods and Sun Foods) before Office Depot opened in the mid-80s.  There was another Walgreens next door to Randall's across 290 in the Northway shopping center.  That opened up in the late 70s.  Randall's took over the old Kmart around 2000.  Walgreens closed around the same time and there was also a theater-the AMC Festival 6.  Office Max later took over the spot.

-The strip center at Mangum stands out to me because there was a wonderful bookstore there for over 10 years-Future Visions Books, a science fiction/fantasy/horror bookstore that also sold comics and gaming supplies.  It opened around 1987 and closed in 1999.  I also recall seeing an early Blockbuster open up in the mid-80s. It was called "Blockbuster Videos" with the "Videos" in a different font.    

Kroger opened their current store in Oak Forest in late 1998.  I recall visiting the Kroger (the old Weingarten/Safeway) when the current store was under construction and I bought the new issue of MAD, which featured their spoofs of Armageddon and Deep Impact.  

I don't recall the swinging doors but I remember the low ceiling.  I'm 5'10'' and it was too low for my comfort.

I can confirm that one. To this day, I believe, you can still make out one of the old Safeway signs. It's the one next to the little street that is next to the former Target. You can make out the individual letters of "Safeway" in the sign. On the other side of the little street, is what I believe to be a former Albertson's.

 

On the other side of Jones, the same side of FM 1960 is a Big Lots that kind of reminds me of a Kroger greenhouse store.

 

You now have to drive at least a few miles to get to any grocery store from that intersection.

Big Lots was a Kroger.  I worked at that Kmart for the last month of its existence in 1997 and the MacFrugals (now Big Lots) didn't do anything to the Kroger except change the sign.  The remodel came later.  

That intersection of Jones at FM 1960 had a lot of merchants that are gone, including 3 grocery stores!  Let's see what was there in the not-too-distant past...

SW corner (Steeplechase shopping center):

-Palais Royal (one of the very few still in business)

-Safeway

-Best Products

-Target (moved down 1960 to Eldridge)

SE Corner

-Kmart (moved to Willowbrook in 1997)

-Kroger

NE Corner

-Eagle (store became Crafts Etc., another defunct retailer)

-Computer City (Tandy's long-gone stab at the PC market)

And to add to the list of Houston-area Safeway stores, there was one at Cypress N. Houston and Huffmeister.  It's now a Food Town.  I recall a location in Quail Valley (Missouri City area) but I couldn't tell you where exactly.  And there was one near NASA-I recall it was small and the street sign had the circle S logo painted on a small square sign.  

I heard that the Randall's at the corner of Hwy 6 & 529 (Copperfield) is closed. Had a big 50% off day Monday.

And last week they closed their Louetta at Champions Forest location. I'm starting to wonder when Safeway will cut their losses and dump this operation.

The only Children's Palace locations I remember were in The Commons at Willowbrook (FM 1960 near SH 249) and The Commons at Greenspoint (I-45 at Beltway 8). They opened in the late 80s and only lasted a few years. They didn't stand a chance against Toys R Us and the Willowbrook location was located across the street from one. I was a Toys R Us kid, so I can't comment on the stores themselves.

Edit: From the newspaper The Texan dated October 14, 1987:

Children's Palace had 3 locations in 1987;

South Cross Shopping Center
Katy Freeway in West Houston
Kleckley Drive in East Houston

There's another curve south on N Houston Rosslyn Road near Log Hollow Road that looks like it was taken out circa 1990.

Yes, that part of N. Houston-Rosslyn was bypassed in the early 90s when the road was widened to 4 lanes. There was a bar and grill there called Zach's Shack. It was popular with the employees of the oil and gas companies that still line that road. I went there once for a wedding reception and stickers advertising those businesses lined the walls.

There used to be a grocery store in the shopping strip where Weiners was, does anybode remember the name? For some reason the colors yellow and black come to find and that the place always smelled like fish.

You're thinking of Price Buster Foods. The grocery store changed hands over the years and in the 1990s, Rice Food Markets bought the location and turned it into a Price Buster. It was a no-frills grocery store that had a yellow and black color scheme.

Rice opened several Price Buster Foods locations around town in the early 1990s but closed them all about 10 years later. Today, the company just has their handful of Rice Epicurean stores remaining from the dozens of stores they once had.

TV ARK is a British website that covers the history of UK and international television primarily via old clips. It's worth a visit if you are interested in television history.

Anyways, I was looking at the US section and I found this gem. It's a promo from KHOU circa 1981 literally singing the glories of its then-anchor, Amanda Arnold. You do not see ads like this anymore. (Then again, there was KIAH's "Meet me at 9" ad campaign...)

It's found here: http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/International/usa/khou.html Click on the arrow next to "Newscenter 11 Promo"-the direct link didn't work.

Were any new AppleTree stores built after the Safeway breakoff? The one in Bryan moved to a location catty-corner to the original, which had the Safeway stucco roof. There, it remained up until the late 2000s, when it was replaced by Village Foods. The original is now a church and bingo parlor.

I'm not positive, but I strongly doubt it. AppleTree came into existence saddled with debt and was constantly closing or selling stores. They also never remodeled the old Safeways as far as I know. They just changed the signs.

Speaking of signs, you sometimes see the distinctive hexagon-shaped sign still standing over streets in the greater Houston area. I get a twinge of nostalgia whenever I see one. My family shopped at Safeway all the time and I still vividly recall my local store.

Some clarifications to a previous post:

-The Safeway/AppleTree on SH 249 at Champion Forest (now Bammel N Houston) was bought by Kroger, who had a store across the street. They kept the old AppleTree open for a few months before shutting it down and sitting on the property. It's now a thrift store and a Family Dollar.

-The Safeway/AppleTree at N. Houston-Rosslyn and W. Gulf Bank was acquired by Gerland's. They shut it down quickly and soon sold it to an industrial company.

-There was a Safeway at Antoine and Pinemont. I don't recall it ever being an AppleTree. My mom said it was a dump and that the good clientele shopped at the Kroger across the street. It has been divided into a Payless ShoeSource, a laundromat and something else.

-There was a Safeway/AppleTree on SH 249 at Louetta. It was an HEB Pantry before sitting vacant for some time. It's now a SteinMart.

-The Safeway/AppleTree in Tomball was located at SH 249 at FM 2920. Academy took over the building and HEB built a Pantry store in front of the Academy. Later, Academy closed and HEB took over the building (they may have torn the old one down). The old Pantry was demolished.

-There was a Safeway at Jones Rd at FM 1960 in the Steeplechase shopping center. I don't recall it ever being an AppleTree. It's now either a Palais Royal or a 99 cent store. Those stores have changed over the years.

-The Safeway/AppleTree on N. Gessner at Hammerly is now a Kroger. The building was built in a diamond pattern and is quite disorienting.

-The Safeway/AppleTree on I-10 at Echo Lane is now a Kroger.

-Finally, there was a Safeway/AppleTree at 290 at West Little York. I worked there when it was a Kroger for several years. Many of my coworkers were Safeway veterans and we found old AppleTree signage when we were cleaning the store out when it closed in 2005.