Weingarten's Grocery Stores

[Michelle C]

 

There used to be a Weingarten's located at 1500 Richmond Ave. (see photo above).  The Menil Collection purchased the property and kept the outer shell of the original Weingarten's store (which had a lot of nice decorative motifs along the top of the building), and remodeled the property into the Dan Flavin Installation at Richmond Hall.

 

Here's a short history of the building:  http://www.hamiltonshirts.com/blog/2010/06/28/dan-flavin

 

You can see interior shots of the Flavin artworks (made of colored lights) here:  http://menil.org/visit/flavin.php

 

 

I was in that building many times when it was the Stampeed Ball Room. I met my husband there.

[Michelle C]

The old Weingarden stores located at Washington Ave. and Shepherd and at 11th and Yale in the Heights are still standing.

 

Yale and 11th.                                                                                                                     Shepherd and Washington Ave.

 

 

[MikeRichardson]

I don't know about Handy Andy, but there is another Randalls store at 5219 FM 1960 West that (used to have) the exact same architecture as 1407 S Voss. They remodeled the FM 1960 store so extensively that you can only tell it was almost the same as the Voss store by going inside and looking at the ceiling.

The Voss store has not been remodeled since the 90's. Knowing Safeway they will just shut it down (like every other unremodeled store in the past few years) when the lease is up and claim the landlord wanted an extra $1 per month and there's too many other stores nearby and oh by the way our executives have no balls

 

My prediction came true.

 

http://blog.chron.com/primeproperty/2013/05/randalls-flagship-to-close-after-lease-impasse/

[GEM]

Any pictures of the 600 Lockwood location.Main offices,bakery,mailroom etc.?

[sabasushi]

Speaking of old supermarkets....what did the building at Kirby and Alabama that currently houses Bed, Bath and Beyond use to be? The building definitely looked very "supermarket-y" :-)

[mkultra25]

It was a Rice Epicurean Market. I think it may have been a "regular" Rice Food Market prior to that, back when those still existed. 

[brucesw]

In the 70s and up until 1985, that was an Eagle. That may have been the original occupant.

[Subdude]

Note Weingarten's topics merged.

 

 

[IronTiger]

As mentioned in the AppleTree thread, I am absolutely sure some of the old, small Weingarten's became the AppleTree "Budget Stores" which would've been their last use as grocery stores before being razed or becoming non-grocery uses. Don't know where they are, or how long they lasted.

[IronTiger]

I was curious about the Weingarten's Home Centers mentioned in the first page, so I looked it up and it appears to be a discount/department store addition. This is neat!

[IronTiger]

I'm presenting to you the version of Weingarten's logo it had under Grand Union, which is pretty rare:

 

It uses a similar typeface and the "red dot" of Grand Union that it used during that time, and was a rather tumultumous time for the company--Grand Union bought the 150 Weingarten stores but sold them after 4 years after closing about 30. This particular logo is from an ad for the College Station store, which lasted 2 months.

[sevfiv]

I can't remember if I posted this somewhere here or not, but I have an old picture (early 1980s) with a Weingarten's grocery bag in it (if I can find the original scan I'll repost something larger):

 

[IronTiger]

One thing I don't get, at the Target at Wayside/610 (later Auchan), there was a Weingarten there after the original "Target Foods" name expired (Lewis & Coker/Kmart Foods had a similar contract). That would put it about 2 miles away from the Weingarten at Gulfgate.

The Target near Memorial City presumably had the same set-up (built at around the same time), and also co-existed with the Weingarten at the mall. Now, I know AppleTree and Kroger both had these "two stores within a mile or two" set-up, but did Weingarten really operate in close proximity? Meanwhile, none of the four Weingartens mentioned survived until Safeway, unless Safeway closed them prior to '88.

[IronTiger]

One more Weingarten question (man, I never knew this was such an interesting topic): did the Weingarten stores sold to Safeway close and reopen as Safeway, or was it a signage change? When Safeway became AppleTree, it seemed to (from newspaper articles) mostly involved new brands on the shelves and a new name, but when AppleTree became other stores like Fiesta, it seemed to (from newspaper articles) involve shutting down the store for a day or two to install new décor and change all the price tags, as well as re-training employees.

[brucesw]

The initials of Howard E. Butt, the son of the company founder:

http://www.heb.com/s...history/3000002

Pasternak's. I miss that place, it was still open when I first moved into the area in the early 80s. Can't remember the business that moved in after they closed, but eventually they went out of business too and the original building was razed.

 

I had forgotten all about Pasternak's.  It was there when I lived in Montrose in the 70s but I never went.  I don't know why since there was a shortage of grocery options in Montrose.  As I recall, a used furniture store later occupied the space, not a junk or antique store, just used.  I think the name was Alabama Furniture and it later moved up on Yale.

 

Edited August 1, 2014 by brucesw

[FilioScotia]

There was a Lucky 7 store in Pasadena in the 50s and 60s, one block from Pasadena HS, owned and managed by a really nice guy named Ted Pasternak. He lived in Pasadena too, cause his daughter Robin went to Pasadena High - class of 1960. I wonder if Ted was any relation to the owner of the Pasternak store you're writing about ?

[brucesw]

I have no idea but obviously there are lots of family ties in the restaurant business in Houston, so why not grocery stores?

[mkultra25]

Well, there is a Pasadena connection with the Pasternaks, but it's Pasadena, California as opposed to Pasadena, Texas:

 

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/pasadenastarnews/obituary.aspx?n=cary-pasternak&pid=115936749

[joeyb1964]

http://www.houstondeco.org/1930s/weingarten.html

 

That Weingarten pictured above is the 1102 location, not the Washington ave location.

 

 

http://www.houstondeco.org/1930s/weingarten/detail2.html

[GEM]

Any photos of the 600 Lockwood Location?

[IronTiger]

When Safeway bought the Weingarten stores did they close at all, or have the employees immediately rehired?

[mkultra25]

One of the Kroger signs has (temporarily, I assume) been taken down at the Kroger at Yale and 20th, revealing its history as a former Weingarten's location. Someone grabbed a pic and tweeted it earlier today:

 

 

https://twitter.com/ChrisBarnesInfo/status/836573060664799232/photo/1

[IronTiger]

I'm not too familiar with that variant of the logo, the only ones I know of is the script one and the "Red Dot" logo. Besides, between Weingarten and Kroger it served as two other names (Safeway and AppleTree) if I'm not mistaken.

[mkultra25]

Not sure that it was a logo per se, as much as just a generic sign installed at some point for expediency's sake. It's gone now, they covered it up again less than a day after it appeared. 

[Greg Rhodes]

I'm interested in photos of Oak Forest from the 1950's-1970's (when I grew up there) of the streets, houses, and shopping centers. I recall as a kid getting high enough up in a tree in my yard or on the roof of my house & being able to see the illuminated Weingarten's grocery stylized  'W" at the top of their tower sign on 43rd  at night about 3/8 mile away. That was iconic to me (anyone have that photo?). Links to sites rich in these photos would be a good start.

 

Thanks

Edited October 9, 2017 by Greg Rhodes
spelling

[tanker61]

On 2/28/2017 at 3:55 PM, mkultra25 said:

One of the Kroger signs has (temporarily, I assume) been taken down at the Kroger at Yale and 20th, revealing its history as a former Weingarten's location. Someone grabbed a pic and tweeted it earlier today:

 

 

https://twitter.com/ChrisBarnesInfo/status/836573060664799232/photo/1

Was wondering where that Weingarten went to.  My ex always said her house used to sit on the spot where the store was to be built and was moved a little south to its present location in the Heights.

[tanker61]

On 5/27/2013 at 4:32 PM, MikeRichardson said:

 

My prediction came true.

 

http://blog.chron.com/primeproperty/2013/05/randalls-flagship-to-close-after-lease-impasse/

Randalls on Voss and 1960 were both built as Handy Andys.  I worked at a couple of Handy Andys and the interiors were identical.  When I worked at the 1960 Flagship, I kept looking around thinking something looks familiar.  

[sinister1]

On 2/26/2012 at 6:43 PM, Snigley said:

While I realize this is an old thread, hopefully someone can help me. Prior to my parents meeting, my father worked at Weingarten's #7. He's in the enclosed photo that promoted some type of sale. The photo was taken in 1945, but I believe the store was older than that. My question is does anyone know where Weingarten's No. 7 was located. I'd be very happy to find out where he actually worked.

That building looks like the one on Harrisburg in Eastwood next to the Park. If this is the same building it is still there and I want to say it was built in the 1920's.

2 minutes ago, sinister1 said:

That building looks like the one on Harrisburg in Eastwood next to the Park. If this is the same building it is still there and I want to say it was built in the 1920's.

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7423592,-95.3240863,3a,41.5y,193.15h,97.81t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s_sPnptMmse7QbShJGOhQFw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

[Ross]

From the 1942 city directory

And, a list of Weingarten stores at the time:

[Subdude]

#15 on University Blvd was in business until the very end of Weingartens.