The space beyond the audio area was home to the TV area, with its rows of very hefty shelves that were presumably designed to hold TVs that were much larger and heavier than today's models. Modern flat-screens look silly on such large tables! Sadly, this is all that was left of the TV department, though Fry's did still manage to have some big names up for sale (the display in the background, as well as the boxed TV, are from Samsung). I'm not sure if the dim lighting back here was by design (to show the TVs better), or is just because Fry's was cutting some of the lighting! 🙂
Yeah, it was quite common back in the day for TVs to be displayed in dark rooms. Just like what we discussed the other day about enclosed stereo rooms, electronics stores also tried to display TVs in dark areas. I suppose the idea behind it was to make the colors pop and to reduce glare. As you can tell, shopping for electronics in the past meant spending a lot of time in very dimly lit areas! At something like a Montgomery Ward Electric Ave., the appliances and lawn & garden were lumped together with the electronics and so even the lawn tractors and fridges were sold in the dark, lol.
ReplyDeleteHopefully Retail Retell is reading this next part because I think both of you will find this to be really neat. I've known for some time that there is a ex-Kroger Greenhouse store in the Dallas area operating now as a Cost Saver supermarket which still has Bauhaus-era produce lights. That itself is really neat: https://goo.gl/maps/3Dv7wsx5SKncmpat7
However, I decided to look at the neighboring area and what I found is that it's full of Kroger oddities. It seems the Kroger that probably replaced that Greenhouse store is a former Albertsons. That store is really strange because it still has the Albertsons era vertical ceiling tiles and such: https://goo.gl/maps/BL1SLfaRAxHrAQLLA
If you look at the Google Map of the place, the Kroger gas station for that store is actually across the street in an old Exxon that had auto service bays! I'm not sure if I've ever seen a supermarket gas station where it's actually not on the same property as the affiliated store (I have seen it with a Wal-Mart before though).
While we're looking across the street, it seems Kroger had a Superstore-era store there that is now a Harbor Freight Tools! And check out the really vintage Whataburger that is there by the Superstore! Link: https://goo.gl/maps/MmeYKNgM9B21tLRq8
There's also a lot of other old fast food chain locations that are now some kind of private fast food restaurants. But, yeah, that area is really strange with all those old Kroger elements all clustered together like that with a little old Albertsons mixed in.
Yeah, that's what I kind of figured. It makes sense, but I don't think I ever shopped in an electronics store of this type! About the only places we shopped on a regular basis that would have had TVs on display were Walmart and Costco, and they obviously don't go for fancy things like dim lighting for TVs.
DeleteThat's a lot of interesting stuff! Regarding the gas station, I've never seen a separate gas station converted to a grocery store brand, but I have seen a few off-site grocery store gas stations before. There's a Fred Meyer gas station in Portland that's half a mile from the actual store, and Safeway has one in Port Townsend that's only about a block away, but which has a much more elaborate convenience store than you'd normally see at a grocery store-connected gas station. And the weirdest example around here is this one, where QFC kept the gas station in operation after the actual store closed! So now you have a Grocery Outlet with a QFC gas station out front. (I also just noticed that one of the gas station signs says "QFC - Quality Fuel Centers". I've never noticed that tagline before! It's kind of clever, and works well for the weird situation at this store.)
That QFC Quality Fuel Centers is really strange. I wonder why they kept the gas station and not the store. My understanding is that gas stations by themselves which don't have big C-stores, car washes, and stuff like that don't make much money. Maybe things are different in the NW. If those Google gas prices are accurate, gas in the NW (at least at that Port Townsend Safeway) is almost exactly $1 more a gallon than it is here in my part of Houston at a name brand gas station!
DeleteThat Fred Meyer gas station is really strange with it being across the Interstate. It looks like they have plenty of room to put a gas station in that shopping center if they wanted to. Perhaps the shopping center developer or the area has some zoning restrictions against gas stations. That's strange.
A couple of Houston area Sears stores, the downtown store and the West Oaks Mall one, had auto centers which were not on the same piece of property as the store itself. In the case of the downtown store, the store was built in the 1920s before Sears probably had auto centers. The West Oaks Mall Sears was originally a Saks Fifth Avenue store that became a Sears later on. Obviously, Saks didn't have an auto center, lol. Actually, when that Sears first opened, they more or less kept Saks' decor and operated it as a higher-end clothing and softlines only store before eventually making it a full-line store. It was strange having a Sears which didn't sell appliances, tools, electronics, and all of that! Anyway, Sears opened an auto center across the street from the mall at an old NTW/NTB location (which Sears owned at one time).
I'm not sure if you saw this in the photos inside that Kroger in the old Albertsons, but for some reason they were selling Walmart's Great Value brand shortening. Maybe the private label manufacturer accidentally sent them some Walmart stuff, but it's odd that they still sold it. I wonder if it had the same UPC number. Link: https://goo.gl/maps/cuNf3ah4MgnYAbqM9
The mini-Marketplace decor actually looks pretty good at that store I think. It's just really odd due to some oddities in the store including varying ceiling heights and such.
Yeah, I really don't know much about the business side of gas stations, but it's not that unusual to see bare-bones gas stations around here, and attached convenience stores aren't generally very busy.
DeleteThat's weird to hear about Sears having off-site auto centers! The only similar thing I can think of is the Federal Way Walmart's detached but on-site auto center.
I did look at those pictures, but I guess I wasn't paying close enough attention to see the Walmart stuff! That's very strange. I've never seen anything like that before!
I suppose you have one of those Wal-Mart detached auto centers as well. We have at least one of those here at the Greenspoint area Wal-Mart Supercenter. This Wal-Mart is right across the street from where the North Houston Fry's was. I'm not entirely sure why this Wal-Mart has a detached auto center as it looks like they had enough room behind the garden center to put an attached auto center where they normally put them, but I suppose they felt otherwise. Unlike the Federal Way Wal-Mart, this detached auto center is so close to the main store that they didn't even bother putting any Wal-Mart signage on it: https://goo.gl/maps/3j481JNHpNgySbLE8
DeleteI'm pretty sure that Wal-Mart opened as a regular Wal-Mart and was then expanded to a Supercenter later on. Maybe that had something to do with the need to use a detached auto center, but the Wal-Mart I shared with you earlier with the greenbelt was also expanded into a Supercenter and it had an attached auto center. Both of these stores have (or had in the case of the greenbelt store) a drop ceiling over the main part of the store and an open ceiling over the grocery section. Also, while the greenbelt store had a gas station, the Greenspoint Wal-Mart does not have a gas station. The shopping center it is in does have an Exxon though.
The Houston downtown Sears Auto Center was quite strange because it had very dated signage on it. Granted, the main store itself had very dated signage as well so I guess at least it fit in in that regard. Link: https://goo.gl/maps/fPGk1LDExVEP9XJy8
If you spin the camera view about 180 degrees around, you can see the main store. This store closed in around 2018 or so. Rice University actually owned the land the Sears was on and evicted them from the property so they could turn the building into some kind of research center. The Sears had an art deco design under all that aluminum siding that they put up in the 1960s.
Standalone gas stations without some kind of large C-store and/or car wash are pretty rare around here. My understand is that gas is sold somewhat near cost in the hopes that someone stopping for gas will buy something else with higher profit margins. Of course, I've noticed that a lot of gas stations around here have started to only post their prices for regular gas, and maybe diesel, and so the prices for higher grade fuel is quite a bit higher than it used to be back when those higher grade fuel prices were posted on the big street sign. Fortunately, my car is designed to run on regular gas!
That is very neat to see the Bauhaus produce lights still in use! And the Quality Fuel Centers name is funny too, lol.
DeleteWow, that Walmart with the auto center right next to the main store looks super weird! I bet there wasn't enough space on their property to put it on the left side where it would normally go, but I wonder why they didn't want it to be just attached on the right side of the store rather than being completely detached.
DeleteThat downtown Sears store is pretty cool, especially looking at Street View after the 60s siding was removed! I have to wonder how many buildings out there have more interesting designs hidden beneath more boring, newer cladding. We had one of those here, but sadly the whole thing was demolished. Those old signs are cool too -- I probably shouldn't be surprised since it's Sears and I've seen similar things myself (including in Port Angeles), but it still surprised me to see that on such a big store!
Believe it or not, that wasn't even the oldest Sears signage in Houston! That honor would belong to the N. Shepherd/Garden Oaks Sears that closed in 2020. Check out that sign! Link: https://goo.gl/maps/LtWfcPnf28uLUuJN8
DeleteJe of the Louisiana & Texas Retail Blog just did a post about that N. Shepherd Sears if you want to see it: https://southernretail.blogspot.com/2020/05/sears-houston-texas-shepherd-rd-january.html
As for the cladding, there were petitions for years asking Sears to take down the siding and let the art deco design be visible, but it never happened. Obviously, Sears wasn't in a financial position to do it in the last 15 years at least anyway. Anyway, that downtown Sears was a neat store and I'm glad I was able to shop at it a few times in the years before it closed.
Is that Port Angeles Sears Hometown store still open? Seeing old signage on a Hometown store is a bit more understandable than seeing it on a full-line store. Still, it's strange either way! Also, at least the Sears Hometown store appears to still be open.
That Mobil station next to the Sears Hometown in Port Angeles is quite strange. It clearly has Chevron signage, but it's obviously a Mobil station. Oh well, maybe they thought nobody would notice, lol.
Retail Retell: Yes, it is pretty amazing that those Bauhaus produce lights are still in use! I'm glad to see it.
Wow, I really love that even older Sears signage! I've only ever seen it in old pictures up to this point.
DeleteYep, the Port Angeles store is still open -- and hopefully it will stay that way for quite a while, since it's about the only place left in town to buy most of the products it sells! Honestly, I didn't realize it was so rare for Hometown stores to still be open -- they aren't too rare in rural parts of Washington.
You know what's really weird about that Mobil -- as far as I know, it was never a Chevron! It was formerly a Shell, which sat vacant for many years before Mobil took over as part of their big push into the northwest. Interestingly, it doesn't look much like the Chevron stations we have around here, so there must be regional variations.
Huh, that's odd that that signage didn't come from a Chevron! The Chevron signage like that would be quite dated now. It would be from the late 1980s and was probably replaced in the early 2000s. But, yeah, it was all over the place here in Houston after Chevron took Gulf stations over.
DeleteHere's the classic Chevron Food Mart sign: https://flickr.com/photos/ferret111/4714574188/
Here's another Chevron sign showing the Food Mart and the 24 Hour sign in a similar font as that Mobil sign: https://flickr.com/photos/tortugaone/2371068071/
Supposedly that Sears sign is still up even after the N. Shepherd store closed according to what Je told me recently. I hope it stays that way, but I'm not so sure that will happen. I shopped at that Sears a lot over the years and that sign is really great as you can see.
Yeah, a lot of Sears Hometown stores have closed in recent years. I hear they have the same inventory problems that full-line Sears have. It must be difficult for the Port Angeles store to get inventory, but hopefully they can stick around since it sounds like they fill some gaps in Port Angeles that maybe nobody else will fill.
I see what you're saying! Weird -- I guess it's just something new that happens to look like something old. Quite a few Mobils around here have signage like that.
DeleteI sure hope that Sears signage stays around for a good while! It's got to be one of the last of its kind.
Interesting -- I haven't noticed inventory issues from walking by the PA Sears, but it's hard to say for sure. I know my parents recently had to get a new stove (and a somewhat specialized model), and it was going to take months for them to get it if they ordered it from Home Depot or a local independent appliance store, but Sears was able to get it to them in about a week! I think they technically ordered it from the one in Sequim, but still.
Huh, I wonder where Sears got that inventory from! Maybe they have other sources than the full-line stores or maybe something was bouncing around in the warehouse. That's good that they were able to buy what they wanted from Sears though. Local appliance stores might be good, but I'd much rather buy from Sears than from Home Depot or Lowe's!
DeleteSpeaking of Lowe's, I always assumed that they entered Houston when I first saw them in around 1995 or so. However, after looking though some local newspapers, I saw that they had a store in Baytown, which is on the far east end of the Houston area, as early as 1981! I was flabbergasted at seeing that, I could not believe it! I don't know if Lowe's had been in Baytown all that time or if maybe they left this area and then came back in 1995. I certainly didn't see them or hear about them prior to the 1990s though.
I had heard that Lowe's stores in the 1970s and 1980s had electronics. Well, sure enough, they had electronics in their 1981 ad. Can you imagine a TV cave at a Lowe's?!
Here's that newspaper. It's full of great ads from Kroger, Kmart, Woolco, Safeway, Walgreens, etc. The Lowe's ad starts at page 55: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1020825/m1/