We had Fairways at 83rd and Pulaski. They were a Certified Grocery. The building is still there, though it is Family Dollar now and previously was a tile store. At one time in my square mile neighborhood, we had 6 grocery stores. Plus a handful just across the neighborhood 'boundary' lines. Now we have none. Have to go outside the neighborhood to shop, unless one wants to go to CVS - we have 2 of those!
Mayflower at Central and Addison, then Kohl's, then Dominicks, now flat.
National on Central near Berteau, turned uinto banquet hall
Jewel at Lawrence and Central, still there
Steve's and then T&C, a Centrella store at Irving and Austin.
Boulevard, a Certified across the street from T&C, now a conveinence store, with same name.
Small grocery [name forgot] at 6100 Addison, and was still around to 1990.
Open Pantry, 3800 n Central, became 7-11, moved to Central and Irving by 1981.
There was a small supermarket on the southwest corner of Addison and Avondale up until the late 60s--Avondale Foods. A creaky wooden floored and dimly lit place with a meat market, about 2 store fronts in size. I think it had 1 checkstand consisting of a small wooden counter (a friend worked there during high school).
Probably a Certified or Centrella.
In those days there was no Blue Line at Addison and Avondale but there was a Northwestern rail station right across from the store. Probably catered to the more upscale neighborhood (at that time - Villa, etc.). What a great location for a grocery store. Also, the Kennedy Expressway wasn't built yet and blocks and blocks of homes still existed east of the store along Addison.
Those were better days. One day the Northwestern station burned down. It was said that some kids we knew played a part in the arson. It was never rebuilt.
Buy the time the "L" was built, Avondale foods became a dumpy tavern and a laundromat. Not a good stretch of real estate for business--not visible from Addison.
I once found an old grocery receipt in a cookbook from Avondale Foods. The prices were amazing; every item was less than a dollar.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/23/2010 04:15PM by fleurblue.
Anyone recall Meltzer's? Located just north of St. Ita Church, 5500 block of N. Broadway (don't think there's a S. Broadway) on the west side of the street.
There was a Hi-Lo Foods at Devon and Mozart Ave during the 50s and 60s on the south side of the street. The low concrete wall bordering the parking lot along Devon allowed for the seating of several people. The building has been recently used as a Croatian- American meeting hall.
[i]Posted by: 222psm (---.br.br.cox.net)
Date: June 15, 2010 11:05AM
captain54 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 222psm Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > There was a Butera on the South east corner of
> W.
> > Montrose and N. Kedzie. It was a National first
> > then a A&P and finally a Butera. A few blocks
> > south on Kedzie there was a Jewel and a Osco
> back
> > to back.
>
> I'm always intrigued by the former smaller grocery
> store/department store type stuctures, that
> probably go back the 30s/40s/50s....and the
> current usages of them..one such example might be
> Marie's Golden Cue @ 3241 W Montrose..a billiard
> hall
>
>
> the marquee at one time read (and may still read)
> "We have smooth shafts and clean balls"
Boy did you bring back some memories Captain, I used to play the pin ball machines
and space invaders back in the late 70's at Marie's Golden Cue. There was or is a jewelry store across the street, my parents brought my first watch there.
I remember this being a grocery store but for the life of me I can't remember the name.[/i]
[b]That was a"CERTIFIED" on Montrose. They advertised 'Suesy Saver'? or something similiar. When I was a kid, I had a green toy truck, with "Certified" on it that came from this grocery store. I can still remember buying fruit from this store.[/b]
I remember there used to be a Butera on the corner of Touhy and Rockwell that sat abandoned for years (over 10 years) until around 2000 when it became an Autozone. I think it couldn't keep up with the Jewel-Osco at Howard & Western Shopping Center (prior to when Jewel-Osco left Howard & Western and headed down the street and reopened bigger,and better on Howard & Kedzie on the Evanston side of Howard.
On Harlem Ave. just south of Higgins, there's an old A&P store on the east side of the street. It's vacant now (I think it was a Saxon when I was a kid), and all the signage on the tower is gone, leaving a ghost of the old A&P logo.
I always wondered what used to be in that Autozone. It makes sense now, since you can faintly see old grocery ads on the billboards in the lot adjacent to the building:
Another store, probably only familiar to Hyde Parkers and southsiders, was Mr. G's (for Gerstein) which had several locations and finally closed around 1990 - the last store (in Kimbark Plaza, 53rd and Woodlawn) was merged into the Co-op for a time.
Interestingly, the main co-op market was the largest supermarket in Chicago when it opened the new store in '59 (if I recall correctly) in the I.M. Pei designed Hyde Park Shopping Center at 55th and Lake Park. Mahalia Jackson sang at the opening it was such a big deal.
Open Pantry was one of the first convienience chains. I'd walk to get a gallon of milk nearly 3 times a week when I was a pre-teen. At Central and Grace St. 7-11 bought some OP's in 1971, and kids in the 'hood loved the candy and Slurpees.
Ah the HiLo: I knew it well in the 'Fifties. My husband was a student and we had no money. The HiLo's claim to fame was its many ten-cent items---cartloads of them, up and down the aisles. Some were wonderful---wish I could buy them now. There was Apple Bay Applesauce, slightly pink in color and very appley-tasting, best canned applesauce I've ever found, and also a big can of mashed sweet potatoes that could be baked with a few marshmallows on top (they were also ten cents).
There was a Certified Store in the old Downtown of Warrenville IL, owned by Soukup family. My grandmother bought everything there and mostly store brands, Country's Delight and Raggedy Ann, [though she looked nothing like the doll.]
It was tiny compared to today's huge stores! But it carried the basics and no need for huge aisles of 2 liter bottles of pop [soda to non natives] and chips.
A similar Certified was 'Boulevard' on Irving Park near Austin. Had floor to ceiling racks of merchandise. Now is just a conveinience store, but still called 'Boulevard', not a Certi-Saver.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/03/2010 02:01AM by tomcat630.