![]() ![]() ![]() Readers all had favorite mom-and-pop markets. Many downtown grocery stores in the 1940s and early 1950s were “put out of business with the advent of the Krambo store on the corner of College and Richmond, where the Walgreen's store is now," remembered Noel Ford. Fish remembered the Valley Fair branch because of its “great comic book selection." He read while his mom shopped. Krambo had a number of locations, and Ryan J. “I met my wife there and we were married for 44 years,” he said. If prices changed, the old price was removed with polish remover.ĭavid Van Ryzin was hired as a stock boy at Krambo on Wisconsin Avenue in 1952 for 50 cents an hour. He remembers his uniform included a bow tie. Prices were marked with a rubber stamp on groceries, he said, and cashiers manually punched prices into the register. Jim Tews, then 16, was hired as a “courtesy boy” to bag and carry groceries at that Red Owl. She still thinks of that when she passes the site, now a CVS. When Red Owl opened on Wisconsin Avenue in 1955, “I put my newborn’s name in the grand opening raffle,” said Joann O’Neil. Many readers remembered Red Owl stores, which had multiple locations in the Fox Cities. Mary Lou Peerenboom’s family shopped at the A&P and National Tea Company stores on College Avenue in downtown Appleton. “The one thing I most remember about the A&P is that I would go with my mother to get 8 O’Clock Coffee, and how good it smelled as she ground it into that red bag.” “I had such a good staff,” he reminisced. “Those were the best years in my working career.” The most mentioned supermarkets were Krambo, Eiting’s, Food Queen, Austin’s, Park 'n' Market, past Piggly Wiggly locations, IGA, A&P near the Viking Theater in downtown Appleton, multiple Red Owl stores and Gordy’s Food Fair.Ĭurt Weinaug was the longtime manager of Piggly Wiggly by Goodland Field, now the site of Goodwill. But even with two installments, I apologize that I’m not able to include them all. I read every word and appreciated the lengthy letters and emails. That installment will include more memories in the broader Fox Cities. I’ve split this story in two, with the second part running next Monday. Readers sent in handwritten letters, called, posted online and emailed. Most businesses they mentioned spanned the 1930s through the 1980s. Supermarkets started to arrive in the 1950s and 1960s, and they wooed customers with their bigger size, wider selections, free parking lots and one-stop shopping.Ĭustomers loved all of them, though sometimes had a fierce loyalty to one store at the expense of another across the street.Ībout 120 readers responded to my request to share memories of past grocery markets. Through the better part of the 20th Century, mom and pop grocery stores could be found in every Fox Cities neighborhood. ![]() View Gallery: Looking back: Past grocery stores and vintage ads ![]()
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