Pueblo grocery stores, St Thomas, USVI

It snowed today, and it made me think of sunnier places, like St Thomas, Unites States Virgin Islands.  St Thomas is the location of Charlotte Amaile, a busy town and a major cruise ship port-of-call.  The grocery store chain with the largest number of locations is Puerto Rico's Pueblo, with a grand total of four; two on St Thomas and two on St Croix.

Pueblo's stores are a bit worn around the edges, but are well stocked.  They contain a wide variety of grocery items, along with health and beauty, hardware, etc.  The store even sells a cheerful yellow reusable shopping bag. 

The location closest to the cruise ship terminal is pictured above. A map of the St Thomas locations is shown below.

View Pueblo locations, St Thomas, USVI in a larger map

Piggly Wiggly, Portland area locations, 1965

Through the mid 60s, there were several Piggly Wiggly stores in the Portland, Oregon area.  When I saw my first P.W. in the 1970s, I thought the name was one of the funniest things I'd ever heard.

Piggly Wiggly was the nation's first true self-service grocery stores. The chain was the first to provide check-out stands and mark the price on every item in the store. There are still over 600 stores, in 17 states, though none today in Portland.

A map of Portland area locations in 1965 can be found below:



View Piggly Wiggly locations 1965 in a larger map

Shoppers Drug Mart USA

I live in Seattle, and as a result, make it Canada a little more frequently than the average American. Even on the shortest day trip, I usually find myself inside a Shoppers Drug Mart at least once. Shoppers (operating as Pharmaprix in Quebec) is the largest drug store chain in Canada.

In the early 1980s, the chain Shoppers Drug Mart operated some stores in the US. The four stores in the Seattle area were located in the northern and eastern suburbs. The company acquired at least two locations of the local Olson’s Drug Stores, around 1981. Ultimately, they operated four stores through the middle of the decade, when the company left Seattle. Three of the stores were acquired by local company Bartells by 1985, and are still operate today.

The company used their familiar mortar and pestle logo for the stores, though the tag line in the phone book was different from the one used in Canada. During that time, the company used ‘You’re gonna be happy’ north of the border, but Seattle area shoppers were enticed with ‘Near enough to save you money’, which seems like an absolutely terrible line.
Sadly, with only four stores, I’m sure their TV commercials featuring Bea Arthur weren’t aired on Seattle stations, though some live on through You Tube!

The location of the stores can be seen on the map below:


View Shoppers Drug Mart USA locations in a larger map

Seattle area A & P locations, 1970

Until the early 1970s, there were several Seattle area A & P locations, including Bellevue Square, University Village and Northgate Mall.  The Broadway QFC started off life as an A & P store.  In one of the hallways in Bellevue Square, there's a picture that showing the store.

By 1975, all locations had vanished from the area. Here's a map of these locations:


View A and P locations, 1970 in a larger map

Hello

The focus of this blog retail geography.  Right now, I define retail as:

- banks (including savings and loans and credit unions)
- department stores
- grocery stores
- pharmacies
- shopping centers

This list, however, could evolve over time. I primarily focus on chains, though this does include local chains, and I will seek to include independent stores as well.

The blog will take a map based approach, and should lead to some fun and interesting browsing.