Gateway grocery stores

[jax-native68]

Was it Piggly Wiggly?

No.  As far as I know Jacksonville has never had a Piggly Wiggly.

[Garden guy]

I think it was an A&P  ?

[jax-native68]

I think it was an A&P  ?

I couldn't say right off that it was.  I remember an A&P on Main Street near Dunn Avenue, but I don't remember one at Gateway.   Do you know if A&P gave out trading stamps?

[avonjax]

I remember Gateway being built in the late 50's. There was a Pantry Pride, which was in the section closest to JC Penney. There was a GC Murphy dime store and on the other end was Publix. It was one of the first in Jacksonville. It closed after a few years and Publix did not have a store in Jacksonville for a while. I worked at Gateway on several occasions. My first job was at JC Penney shoe department. Then I worked at Campbell Shoes, which was a local business. In the early 80's I worked for May Cohens. I was in the "display" department and we traveled to all the branches. There was a May Cohens store in the former WT Grant space at Gateway. I also did all the Levitation shops. They were the jeans stores that were owned by May Cohens. Does anyone remember them?
In it's heyday, Gateway was completely filled and a lot bigger. Since I'm going down memory lane I will name some of the shops.
There was a Service Merchandise in the former JC Penney store before they built the two story Penney's in the mall section.
As I mentioned there was a WT Grant, GC Murphy, Walgreens and Montgomery/Jefferson Ward.
At one time in the mall there was a local men's shop The Golden Knight, a Chess King, Mr Kicks, Baker Shoes, Levi-Wolf, Cal's Records, Hallmark Cards, Thom McCann shoes and several other shops I can't seem to recall. Oh yeah a Morrison Cafeteria. Heading north outside the mall through Penney's was the Pantry Pride and a local men's store The Matador. The Matador was also at Regency. Just for nostalgia sake there was a cool store at Roosevelt Mall called Carnaby Street. And for the  old timers there was the coolest shop of all in the old days called the Naked Pear. They had a location on Cesery Blvd in Arlington, which they eventually moved to Regency Mall near where the current food court is located. But my favorite location was the second floor of the drugstore building in 5 Points next to Sake House.
Back to Gateway. There was a Lerner's shop, a barber shop, a Nancy Scott, which was a women's clothing store, French Novelty, Baskin Robbins ice cream shop, S&H green stamp store, The Vogue owned by the same people who have the Body Shop. There were others that I can't recall, but when I do I will add them. There was another shop in the mall that my girlfriend and I bough matching Levi's, but I cant remember the name. There was another shoe store also. I think it was a men's shoe store.

[jax-native68]

There was a Pantry Pride, which was in the section closest to JC Penney. There was a GC Murphy dime store and on the other end was Publix.

I remember Pantry Pride in a stand-alone building out in the parking lot in the early 1970s.  Sometime after I came back to town in 1975 it moved into a storefront between Murphy’s and the Penney’s.

I also did all the Levitation shops. They were the jeans stores that were owned by May Cohens. Does anyone remember them?

The name is vaguely familiar to me, but I couldn’t tell you anything about the store.

There was a Service Merchandise in the former JC Penney store before they built the two story Penney's in the mall section.

I only remember the Penney store in the mall.  I do remember Service Merchandise as Standard Sales in a storefront on the end opposite the mall.

As I mentioned there was a WT Grant, GC Murphy, Walgreens and Montgomery/Jefferson Ward.

I am not old enough to remember the Grant store in Jacksonville, but I know it from when I lived in Georgia.  I remember when the lunch counter in Walgreens burned; my mother and I were coming into town for a visit and we just happened to pass by Gateway on I95 while the firemen and their trucks were fighting the fire.  But I don’t have any conscious memory of Walgreens before the fire.

But my favorite location was the second floor of the drugstore building in 5 Points next to Sake House.

Do you remember Petersen’s?

Back to Gateway. There was a Lerner's shop,

My mother was working at Lerner Shop as a cashier and bookkeeping clerk when I was born.

[Jaxson]

Was it Piggly Wiggly?

No.  As far as I know Jacksonville has never had a Piggly Wiggly.

Jacksonville had Piggly Wiggly, but the chain left town altogether.  What locations?  I have to do my research...

http://www.jaxhistory.com/Jacksonville%20Story/Picture%20of%20Supermarket,%20Davis%20Family.htm

[billy]

In San Marco?

[danno]

I think it was an A&P  ?

A&P was at 44th and Pearl.

[urbanlibertarian]

jax-native68 wrote:

I remember an A&P on Main Street near Dunn Avenue...

It was at the intersection of Main St. and Baisden Rd.  I grew up on Baisden Rd.  I believe they did have trading stamps but I don't recall which kind.  I believe the building is currently used as a dance/cheerleading school.

[Debbie Thompson]

I remember Petersen's.  I loved Petersen's.  They had everything...simply everything... that you couldn't find anywhere else.  The Piggly Wiggly reminded me of something.  We spent a few years in Oklahoma in the 1970's, and when we moved out there, the top grocery stores in the little OK towns we called home were Piggly Wiggly and Humpty Dumpty!  I thought I had stepped through the Looking Glass somehow and ended up in Wonderland.  LOL

But back to Gateway...besides the ones already mentioned, I'm out of ideas for "lost" groceries, except for Albertson's.

[jax-native68]

jax-native68 wrote:

I remember an A&P on Main Street near Dunn Avenue...

It was at the intersection of Main St. and Baisden Rd.  I grew up on Baisden Rd.  I believe they did have trading stamps but I don't recall which kind.  I believe the building is currently used as a dance/cheerleading school.

If A&P is the store at Gateway that I am trying to remember it is weird that I don’t remember it.  The A&P on Main was there for as far back as I can remember so if there was one at Gateway I find it strange that I cannot remember that the store on Main was also at Gateway.

[thelakelander]

I just happen to be at the library and remembered this thread. Looking at the directories, Pantry Pride was at Gateway as far back as 1970. Also, the 1973 directory has a store listed as Sperry & Hutchinson Co. Green Stamps at 5430 Norwood. Evidently, it was next to the Gatepost Restaurant.

[danno]

I remember going with my mom to the greenstamp place to redeem the green stamps.  I can't remember anything they were ever redeemed for besides a set of dishes once.

[jax-native68]

I remember going with my mom to the greenstamp place to redeem the green stamps.  I can't remember anything they were ever redeemed for besides a set of dishes once.

I remember the S&H showroom at Gateway.  But since my family seldom shopped at any store that gave S&H green stamps the only real reason I was ever in the showroom was to get a catalog to have something to look at.

The descendants of S&H founders sold the company in 1981.  S&H later ended up with a holding company who sold it to a descendant of the founding Sperry family.  S&H greenpoints are now given out for some online purchases.

BTW: The right to use the name Montgomery Ward, another store that was at Gateway, is now owned by a subsidiary of the Swiss Colony.

[danno]

Ahhh good ole Monkey Wards