I definitely took a lot of pictures within this part of the store, but I think it's cool enough that you won't mind! Each of the service departments have their own individual look, with the seafood one seemingly borrowing the diagonal wood paneling from the 70s package I linked to earlier.
It really snuck up on me this year, but today marks my 6th "retail anniversary" from when I started posting regularly back in 2017! I want to say a big thanks to all of you for your support over the past several years, and I hope you'll stick around for the years to come!
I might as well consolidate my thoughts about today's photos into this post. This is really neat! I've heard of some creative names for service departments before, but 'Seafood Grotto' is a new one! I'm not too surprised that this store does not have a service meat counter. At one time, especially when meat was expensive, stores didn't have fancy meats and the butcher could be summoned from the back of the store with a 'press for service' button if someone had a question about regular meats. I'm not sure if Save Mart had or has in-store butchers though.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of the grandeur of 1980s supermarkets, be sure to check out the post Je posted to the Louisiana & Texas Retail Blog today about my local Fiesta Mart! This is the neon-filled one with the stage that was recently heavily renovated. Je has several really good before and after photos, Mike contributed some vintage photos of the store when it was new, and I contributed some text about the history of the store including some statements I didn't know that I got from an anonymous former Fiesta Mart corporate employee that I was able to interview for my commentary. It was certainly a group effort, but I think this post turned out really well and I think you'll really like it! It's sad what was done to this store, but at least we were able to give the classic look of it a proper memorial: https://southernretail.blogspot.com/2023/08/fiesta-mart-20-willowchase-2020-and.html
Happy retail blog (and Flickr) anniversary! This year was certainly an interesting one being able to visit the Pacific Northwest and seeing some of these places first hand for the first time! Thanks for letting me do that guest blog post, I know some people really liked it! I'm looking forward to seeing more photos in the next year...especially of this Save Mart, lol.
I'm not sure about the in-store butcher situation either. Some of their other stores definitely do have service meat, but this one doesn't have any sort of obvious "press for service" setup today (obviously, that could have been different in the past). I know service meat departments weren't as common back then, but it still seems weird to have a service seafood department without a meat counterpart!
DeleteThat's a great post! It's so sad to see that store remodel -- it looked so much nicer in its original state.
Thanks! There's plenty of interesting stuff to come -- not all of which you'll particularly like, I'm sure, but I think there will be some things that you approve of!
Happy retail anniversary! What better place to celebrate that than in a 1980's "Seafood Grotto"? Even if it wasn't intentional, it worked out well that your anniversary date aligned with this photoset.
ReplyDeleteHere's to more retail adventures over the next year!
Thanks! Yeah, it's not what I normally do for my retail anniversary, but it's still a cool store to have for this occasion!
DeleteAgree with the above -- "Seafood Grotto" is definitely not a department name I've come across before! And happy sixth retailversary!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteYou're welcome!
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