Minimax Grocery Store At 1201 Strawberry Rd.

[NenaE]

I remember my mother simply calling them "baskets." She bought groceries from Weingarten's in the then-Gulfgate Shopping City.

I have always called carts "baskets", and any bag a "sack"...

The grocery stores my mom frequented were Minimax, in our neighborhood, Oak Meadows,(Ahrens St. in Houston)and Lewis & Coker (Southmore Dr. & Richey Rd. in Pasadena). That was in early/mid 60's. I don't remember blue tiles, but Minimax had nice painted murals on the inside walls of the bldg., a separate pharmacy/store/soda-ice cream counter. The courtesy booth, just inside the entrance had a revolving, belt driven, posting spot for 3x5 index cards, for you to advertise "whatever".

Edited April 30, 2008 by NenaE

[Libbie]

There was a Minimax across the street from Reagan that was our "I'll see you after school" location. At Love Elementary, it was "I'll see you behind Wright's (pharmacy) after school!". At Hamilton, it was "behind the drug store" (Yale Street Pharmacy).

I guess all schools had a place for guys to fight after class let out. But, back in my day, they were, for the most part, fair fights.

In the '50's and '60's there was a Minimax grocery store in the middle of the strip center at Westheimer and Montrose (west of Montrose, south side of Westheimer, just east of what's now Half Price Books, and across a side street from the Tower Theater--now Hollywood Video). Then, until a few years ago, there was an Eckard's Drugstore there. Now it's something else, a fancy liquor store maybe? Anyway, I remember Minimax's advertizing jingle on T.V.: "Mini and Max--shoot you the facts. Oh, and I think there was a Wallgreens with a soda fountain that served really good hot fudge sundaes where that Half Price Books is now.

[houwest]

You didn't finsih the Minimax jingle:

Mini and Max.......... (Mini was a female cartoon type character, Max was her male equivalent)

Shoot you the facts

You get more for your money

at MINIMAX.

"Minimum prices and Maximum something - quality or service or ??? Our local Minimax was Florian's Minimax in about the 1200 block of W.43rd, owned by Charlie Florian who lived just up the street in about the 900 block of w.43rd. He was a really nice guy AND gave S&H Green Stamps!

I remember a sort of different advertisement for grocery stores. It was a joint advertisement for 7-11 stores and Wiengartens. The gist of it was that when the manager of 7-11 did his regular shopping he went to Wiengartens and when the manager of Wiengartens just need to run in a get a couple of quick items, he went to 7-11.

The coolest thing about our neighborhood Wiengartens (1300 W.43rd) was the donut making machine in the snack bar. This culinary / mechanical marvel sat on the counter in full view and was about 3' square and 3' high. Raw dough or batter was poured in to a hopper in the center of the machine.

It some how formed perfect donuts complete with a hole in the center and plopped them into a round container of hot oil that surrounded the hopper. The donuts then floated around in the oil (think of the little boat merry go round at an amusement park) and when they were half way around, they were automatically flipped so the top side would get cooked. They'd take the hot donuts and sugar them up or ice them. Grease, dough, and sugar, the perfect meal.

I also uncovered a vast Wiengartens conspiracy. They had a store brand bread, white of course. It came in a wax paper wrapper and had a sticker on the end that said Baked Fresh and had a day of the week on it. I was in the store with my father right before they closed on Friday night. THEY WERE PUTTING SATURDAY BREAD OUT........ON A FRIDAY. I actually called some of my 8 y/o friends the next day and told them about it. If I had known what the media was I would have alerted them.

Another local chain was Lucky 7. It was a regular full service store but seemed smaller in size to me.

[Libbie]

You didn't finsih the Minimax jingle:

Mini and Max.......... (Mini was a female cartoon type character, Max was her male equivalent)

Shoot you the facts

You get more for your money

at MINIMAX.

"Minimum prices and Maximum something - quality or service or ??? Our local Minimax was Florian's Minimax in about the 1200 block of W.43rd, owned by Charlie Florian who lived just up the street in about the 900 block of w.43rd. He was a really nice guy AND gave S&H Green Stamps!

I remember a sort of different advertisement for grocery stores. It was a joint advertisement for 7-11 stores and Wiengartens. The gist of it was that when the manager of 7-11 did his regular shopping he went to Wiengartens and when the manager of Wiengartens just need to run in a get a couple of quick items, he went to 7-11.

The coolest thing about our neighborhood Wiengartens (1300 W.43rd) was the donut making machine in the snack bar. This culinary / mechanical marvel sat on the counter in full view and was about 3' square and 3' high. Raw dough or batter was poured in to a hopper in the center of the machine.

It some how formed perfect donuts complete with a hole in the center and plopped them into a round container of hot oil that surrounded the hopper. The donuts then floated around in the oil (think of the little boat merry go round at an amusement park) and when they were half way around, they were automatically flipped so the top side would get cooked. They'd take the hot donuts and sugar them up or ice them. Grease, dough, and sugar, the perfect meal.

I also uncovered a vast Wiengartens conspiracy. They had a store brand bread, white of course. It came in a wax paper wrapper and had a sticker on the end that said Baked Fresh and had a day of the week on it. I was in the store with my father right before they closed on Friday night. THEY WERE PUTTING SATURDAY BREAD OUT........ON A FRIDAY. I actually called some of my 8 y/o friends the next day and told them about it. If I had known what the media was I would have alerted them.

Another local chain was Lucky 7. It was a regular full service store but seemed smaller in size to me.

Does anybody besides me remember the genealogy of the Fiesta store on Dunlavy off Alabama? In my early childhood in the 50's it was Weingarten's. Then, around 1960, for a short time it changed its name to Texas Serve-All. Then, inexplicably, a a year or so later it was Weingarten's again. By the time I noticed it again, after college, probably in the 70's, it was Safeway. In the early 90's it became Apple Tree. And now, for the past 10 or 15 years, it's been Fiesta. But the building is still the one from when it was Weingarten's.

[katiemac]

Jermaine mentions the Minimax at Pinemont & Ella but that was the second location. The original Florian's Minimax was located on 43rd St between Ella and Oak Forest and predated the Weingarten's(then Safeway, then Apple, then Kroger) that went in at the corner of Oak Forest and 43rd. As children, we used to roller-skate in the parking lots on Sundays when all stores were closed. The ramps for the grocery carts were the big attraction.

Florian's had several Minimax stores and a big supply warehouse off 610 south of 18th. They got bought out by Grocer Supply, I think, and the warehouse has since been demolished.

We also had a Henke's on 43rd west of Roslyn, (it is now an Evangelical church), and there was a Piggly Wiggly briefly on the north side of the street, now a Family Dollar.

 

[IronTiger]

8 hours ago, katiemac said:

Jermaine mentions the Minimax at Pinemont & Ella but that was the second location. The original Florian's Minimax was located on 43rd St between Ella and Oak Forest and predated the Weingarten's(then Safeway, then Apple, then Kroger) that went in at the corner of Oak Forest and 43rd. As children, we used to roller-skate in the parking lots on Sundays when all stores were closed. The ramps for the grocery carts were the big attraction.

Florian's had several Minimax stores and a big supply warehouse off 610 south of 18th. They got bought out by Grocer Supply, I think, and the warehouse has since been demolished.

We also had a Henke's on 43rd west of Roslyn, (it is now an Evangelical church), and there was a Piggly Wiggly briefly on the north side of the street, now a Family Dollar.

 

IIRC, it was Fleming that bought the Minimax warehouse, not GSC.