Groceteria
@groceteria.bsky.social
130 followers 110 following 580 posts
Supermarket and retail history, photos, commercial archaeology, random pop culture, architecture, and urban history. Librarian by day. https://groceteria.com/ 🇺🇸🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈🏴‍☠️
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Fort Worth is turning out to be more interesting than I expected, but as I look at old locations on Google Maps it's apparent that its old commercial strips have not aged well.
That's great. I can't remember why but I was looking at some other into about that building just a few days ago and I didn't make the connection.
I think the urinals and sinks were free, but who knows...
My hometown airport had these when I was a kid. It also had coin-operated toilet stalls.
Greyhound bus terminal, LA, 1969.

Who remembers coin-operated TVs? For that matter, indoor ashcans, newspapers, and nattily dressed commuters? 😎
Sorry. Resistance was futile.
Also present were convenience store pioneers Tote'm Stores (later 7-11) and Iceteria.
By 1941, all these brands had disappeared, replaced by Safeway (16 stores), Worth Food Markets (11), and Picwick Food Stores (5). Safeway had acquired the local Piggly Wiggly stores and Worth took many of the Helpy-Selfy stores.
Fort Worth TX in 1930 has 27 Piggly Wiggly stores, 23 A&P, 17 Helpy-Selfy, and 11 Clarence Saunders stores. And Helpy-Selfy has always been one of my favorite chain names ever. More to come.
Quibbling with article, I'd point out that most of their stores are in NORTH Carolina, where they're based and were founded (in my hometown yet) rather than South Carolina.
Putting Binghamton on hold for a bit because reasons but please enjoy these lovely A&P photos.
I never know whether to love it or hate it when I finally manage to make something work correctly but I have no idea whatsover just how the hell I did it.
Next stop: Binghamton NY. It's looking more interesting than I expected, though I can't go any further back than 1950.
Sigh. It's just another one of those apocalyptic signs we're facing on a daily basis. You used to be able to confidently walk into any diner or cafeteria and assume you could get a full turkey dinner at any time.

I blame COVID.
Thanks. My annnual low-key observance of Canadian Thanksgiving (even though I'm not Canadian) has just become one of my weird little traditions over the years. And I get grumpy when diners won't let me have my way...
At least I got pie. There's that…
Yeah, I know this is the very definition of a first world problem. I don't care. It's one of my little eccentricities.
I was already disappointed Because I got screwed out of my annual Thanksgiving trip to Canada due to work stuff. Now I find that my standby diner no longer does turkey dinner as a daily thing, so I had to settle for a crummy open-face sandwich here on the wrong side of the border. Sigh.
Wishing my Canadian friends a happy Thanksgiving!
A quick and not terribly exciting one for your Sunday night: Slidell LA chain grocery/supermarket locations, 1964-2003. www.groceteria.com/place/us-lou...
I have decided to appropriate this surprisingly old pencil I found in a conference room at work.
Reposted by Groceteria
Today, Saul Zabar passed away. For more than 70 years, he was the principal owner of the legendary Zabar’s market in #NYC. This #NYTMCollection image captures the Zabar’s storefront in 1957, twenty-three years into its time in business and seven years into Saul Zabar’s tenure.
The right message for the right week.
Health Experts Recommend Standing Up At Desk, Leaving Office, Never Coming Back https://theonion.com/health-experts-recommend-standing-up-at-desk-leaving-o-1819577456/