I feel like I say this every time I post a vintage Safeway, but the selection of service departments in them always seems completely random! This store has a pharmacy, and that's it -- definitely one of the stranger choices I've come across. I also love the very old heater hanging overhead! I was going to say something about it probably being gas-fired or maybe even using heating oil, but I looked up Chromalox (which still exists, somehow) and apparently their thing was electric resistance heating, so probably not. This store was built well before air conditioning would become commonplace around here, even in commercial buildings, and I have to imagine there aren't very many Safeways left that still don't have A/C today!
Certainly if Safeway built something like this in Houston in 1956, it would have been built with air conditioning!
ReplyDeleteModern looks a bit strange here in something so clearly not-modern, but I suppose any modern supermarket decor package would look at least a little strange here. Having a heater hang like that looks more like something from a farmers market than a chain supermarket! Also, I suppose Safeway decided to go with miniaturized (or, since we aren't too far removed from Halloween, 'fun sized') aisle markers here.
Ha! I've actually seen these industrial-style heaters in several older retail places I've been to over the years -- this is probably the only chain store I've seen them in, though.
DeleteI actually quite like the way Modern looks in vintage stores, at least compared to a lot of other decor packages! And these are actually the "mid-size" Modern aisle markers -- my local store has ones with just two plaques. 🙂