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So I don't know how versed you guys are in grocery retail elsewhere but its going to be interesting where I used to live in Raleigh.  Kroger just pulled out their Kroger Branded stores and left only Harris Teeter.  Bi-lo is SE Grocers entry over there instead of Winn-Dixie.  Publix just moved into the area 2 years ago, Food Lion and Lowes Foods are there from forever and now Wegman's are joining the fray.  That's gonna be crazy.

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1 hour ago, codypet said:

So I don't know how versed you guys are in grocery retail elsewhere but its going to be interesting where I used to live in Raleigh.  Kroger just pulled out their Kroger Branded stores and left only Harris Teeter.  Bi-lo is SE Grocers entry over there instead of Winn-Dixie.  Publix just moved into the area 2 years ago, Food Lion and Lowes Foods are there from forever and now Wegman's are joining the fray.  That's gonna be crazy.

Lowes Foods????

So, can you buy your food, paint for your kitchen and shelving for your pantry to store the food on?

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7 hours ago, codypet said:

So I don't know how versed you guys are in grocery retail elsewhere but its going to be interesting where I used to live in Raleigh.  Kroger just pulled out their Kroger Branded stores and left only Harris Teeter.  Bi-lo is SE Grocers entry over there instead of Winn-Dixie.  Publix just moved into the area 2 years ago, Food Lion and Lowes Foods are there from forever and now Wegman's are joining the fray.  That's gonna be crazy.

It’s interesting how NC and VA have become Ground Zero in the grocery wars.

Meanwhile, everybody croon: “Meet me at Food Lion....” Does anyone miss Tom Smith’s sad toupee?

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2 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

Lowe’s home improvement stores are headquartered in NC. Wonder if they are related in any way.

It appears they were at least by the founders.  The companies themselves don't appear to be related.

Per Wikipedia: "Lowes Foods started in 1954 in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, with a single store opened by Jim Lowe (former co-owner of Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse, and son of its founder)."  

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It’s interesting to think about the local families whose businesses made it to multiple branches or significant scale and then the families chose to sell rather than go further. Of course, sometimes it’s incompetence or different dreams or just an offer that’s too good to turn down.

Hopefully, it works out well for them but it’s a blow for the community.

Here are six local families that come to mind:

The Mears’

The Hughes’

The Goodings’

The Daniels’

The Maguires

The Phillips’

The Andersens

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It’s interesting to think about the local families whose businesses made it to multiple branches or significant scale and then the families chose to sell rather than go further. Of course, sometimes it’s incompetence or different dreams or just an offer that’s too good to turn down.
Hopefully, it works out well for them but it’s a blow for the community.
Here are six local families that come to mind:
The Mears’
The Hughes’
The Goodings’
The Daniels’
The Maguires
The Phillips’
The Andersens

For those of us less educated about local history, can you expand on these families’ business ventures?
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1 hour ago, orlandoguy said:


For those of us less educated about local history, can you expand on these families’ business ventures?

I'll take a stab at it...

The Mears’ - taxi & transportation
The Hughes’ - building supply
The Goodings’ - grocery/supermarket
The Daniels’ - bourbon whiskey & southern rock (brothers Jack and Charlie)*
The Maguires - shopping mall and office park property
The Phillips’ - heartburn/indigestion relief products and annoying screwdriver*
The Andersens - writers and publishers of Danish literature.*

*Accuracy of data not guaranteed.

 

.

Edited by JFW657
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On 1/13/2019 at 10:51 AM, orlandoguy said:


For those of us less educated about local history, can you expand on these families’ business ventures?

Sure. The Mears family is pretty well-known because they just sold 90% of their business to an investment group. Owning the major local taxi companies, ubiquitous shuttles throughout the attractions area and even a leasing company, they were one of the largest such firms in the country.

Hughes Supply became one of the largest construction and utility supply firms in the country before second generation son David “Bumpy” Hughes sold to Home Depot. This was one of our few Fortune 500 companies.

The Goodings and the Daniels families both owned local grocery chains that had just begun to grow beyond Orange County when they chose to sell. Gooding’s began in Maitland on 17-92 (it was an IGA first). The Daniels clan from College Park owned the (Fabulous!) Fairway Markets, where I got my first job at the Pine Hills store when I was 14 as a produce clerk.

The Maguire family is one of our FFOs, with holdings in land (including the property where OFS sits, hence the nearby road is named Maguire Blvd.),law and, most notably, First National Bank at Orlando, which grew to be one of the state’s major banks as SunBank. Though the merger with Trust Company of Georgia was supposedly between equals (Sun was larger but Trust had more cachet), when the corporate HQ was announced as Atlanta, most saw the writing on the wall. They weren’t wrong.

Doc Phillips was into several things but it was his groves that spawned the family’s fortune. His company helped to develop the process for frozen concentrated orange juice, which led to a major expansion of the industry after WWII before he sold his firm to Minute Maid. The foundation he set up, of course, continues to invest in the community as evidenced by the Dr. Phillips name that pops up all over Orange County. The family over the years has also provided drama that would make shows like “Dallas” and “Dynasty” proud.

Martin Andersen was the owner and publisher of the Sentinel. His efforts to make sure I4 and the Sunshine State Parkway came to Orlando, helping to land a state university here and to connect us with Brevard County made a huge difference. Perhaps even more important, he worked tirelessly to bring the Martin Company and Walt Disney Productions to town. Sadly, he was an ardent segregationist and his refusal to accept an integrated junior college led Valencia to be the state’s last junior college (and also led to a missed opportunity for it to combine with OJC, which would have resulted in a downtown campus 50 years earlier). He sold to the Chicago Tribune in the ‘70’s.

There are others but the non-history types are probably bored to tears now so I’ll stop.

I will say that, even though the families chose to sell, leading us to miss out on the benefits of more corporate headquarters in town, they often continue(d) to play vital roles in helping Orlando to grow.

Edited by spenser1058
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On 1/12/2019 at 10:06 PM, codypet said:

So I don't know how versed you guys are in grocery retail elsewhere but its going to be interesting where I used to live in Raleigh.  Kroger just pulled out their Kroger Branded stores and left only Harris Teeter.  Bi-lo is SE Grocers entry over there instead of Winn-Dixie.  Publix just moved into the area 2 years ago, Food Lion and Lowes Foods are there from forever and now Wegman's are joining the fray.  That's gonna be crazy.

 

On 1/13/2019 at 5:58 AM, spenser1058 said:

It’s interesting how NC and VA have become Ground Zero in the grocery wars.

Meanwhile, everybody croon: “Meet me at Food Lion....” Does anyone miss Tom Smith’s sad toupee?

Speaking of Kroger and grocery wars, this article may be of some possible interest:

https://amp.businessinsider.com/kroger-ceo-harris-teeter-amazon-whole-foods-2019-1

Edited by JFW657
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  • 2 weeks later...
7 minutes ago, AmIReal said:

I'm sure most everyone here reads Bungalower, but I wanted to make sure this was seen by anyone living in the Curry Ford area.

https://bungalower.com/2019/01/24/city-hosting-curry-ford-vision-plan-meeting-and-walking-tour/

Didn't see anything about free food, so I'll probably pass on it.

Cool gif image associated with the article, though.

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3 hours ago, AmIReal said:

Anything of course would have to be an improvement. I fear, however, that for “America’s Supermarket” the biggest problem is its ownership.

Like Eddie Lampert at Sears, the Wall Street outfit that controls W-D knows nothing (and cares even less) about successfully running a retail operation, particularly one geared toward Middle America.

The fact that Publix is still controlled by the founding family and promotes from within and most importantly never has to listen to Wall St., tells you everything you need to know about its success (even it makes it a tad stodgy at times).

Edited by spenser1058
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8 hours ago, AmIReal said:

Ha!

They already "improved" that $#!thole by adding a 1$ store within a store, dontcha know. Just waiting for them to go full smoke/vap shop. The powers that be at WD have clearly decided to take that store even further down-market, as if what that corner was missing was a third $1 store. :rolleyes:

The last time I was there, as per my last post, one of the items we were looking for was leafy green lettuce. So I asked the person working the produce if they had any variety of leafy green lettuce; Boston, Butter, etc. She said "Yes, right over there" and pointed. I looked to where she was pointing and said I was just over there and didn't see any. She then walked over and pointed directly to the cellophane-wrapped balls of Iceberg. For a moment I though she was screwing with me but nope, completely serious.

The best way to "improve" this store is to bulldoze it and put up a Publix, Aldi, Lidl, Walmart Market, pretty much anything actually.

Edited by Camillo Sitte
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10 hours ago, Camillo Sitte said:

The best way to "improve" this store is to bulldoze it and put up a Publix, Aldi, Lidl, Walmart Market, pretty much anything actually.

The site is way too small for a Publix or a Walmart Neighborhood Market and it doesn't meet the basic location requirements for an Aldi. 

That WD has been there since at least the 70's and will probably be there another couple of decades if not longer. And though it's not my regular grocery store, the people who shop there regularly seem to like it.

It'll probably outlast us all. :lol:

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