Another classic feature is the neon Boar's Head sign above the entrance doors -- I'm not sure how old these things actually are, but they're still cool. The mirror above the doors is really messing with my head in this picture, with the section on the left looking as if it doesn't exist at all -- I think what's going on is that the mirror is recessed quite a bit from the grid, and we're actually seeing the side of the recess rather than the mirror itself. But I'm not entirely sure about that.
I am also curious as to how old that Boar's Head neon sign might be because October's The Year of Kroger post at HHR is going to be about the first Kroger in Texas to sell Boar's Head and that was in 1999. I would guess that sign is older than 1999, but maybe not. I wonder if maybe QFC started selling Boar's Head before any Kroger stores did, but I don't know!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of HHR, Mike has something going up on HHR tomorrow morning about the new Houston Hispanic format Krogertsons with a photo tour. I'm sure some people reading this will be interested in that!
I'm sure you heard about the Portland Bowlarama Target closing along with some other Targets, mostly those very badly run small ones, in Seattle and Portland. It seems inevitable that most of those small Targets will close given the terrible user reviews for them, even here in Texas, so this isn't surprising news. Naturally, Target doesn't want to take responsibility for a failed format and so they are blaming the closures on other things, but one of those closing Targets in Portland has what appears to be successful Trader Joe's, Grocery Outlet, and Whole Foods right nearby with all of those having Google ratings in the 4s and the Target having a Google rating of 2.3. 2.3! Aside from Walgreens and CVS (and presumably Rite Aid as well), who gets an average that low? Nobody! Oh well, at least you got to the Bowlarama before it was too late.
Hmm, I don't know -- I feel like Boar's Head is a relatively recent thing out here, but I don't know. These signs, with the non-neon part in the middle, seem similar to beer signs from the 00s, so I wouldn't be surprised if they're actually from that era.
DeleteYeah, it's disappointing to see those stores close, but those stores themselves were always disappointing. Target never really seemed to know what to do with their small-format stores and tried to fit basically the same departments as a full-size Target, meaning they offered a frustratingly small selection of everything. I always wished they were more like a Walmart Neighborhood Market, focusing on groceries and such, but they just didn't focus on anything. The Ballard store was also dragged down by a terrible layout that made finding things an exercise in frustration, and strong competition from a bunch of other stores in the area, while the U District one probably lost a good bit of traffic to the full-size Target in Northgate, especially once the light rail opened. It's too bad about the bowling alley Target since that was one of their more interesting stores, but it felt just as unfocused as the Seattle locations and had its own terrible layout. Maybe I'm focusing too much on the layout thing, but there are definitely stores that I avoid shopping at because it's so hard to find anything, and I'm sure I'm not alone with that!