Fresh Nostalgia Today, And We Give Stamps

Tomorrow is a big day in Versailles Borough.

Well, big by Versailles' standards, anyway, and if you live there, or in Christy Park or Haler Heights or Eden Park, it will probably be a big day for you, too --- a full-service supermarket is returning to Olympia Shopping Center as a new Shop 'n Save opens in the space recently vacated by Giant Eagle.

Of course, Olympia has had a supermarket of sorts. There's a Save-a-Lot in the center (ironically in the space that used to be occupied by the Shop 'n Save), but Save-a-Lot is more of a limited-service grocery store, with, to be honest, a lot of off-brand and generic merchandise. A supermarket implies more fresh food (especially produce), a full-service deli and meat counter, and maybe a bakery.

Nobody cares about any of this, I'm sure, except for me, but I've found the whole situation that has played out with the supermarkets at Olympia fascinating. Ten or 15 years ago, there were two supermarkets there: Giant Eagle, where Shop 'n Save is opening now, and Scozio's Shop 'n Save, where the Save-a-Lot is now.

(Try to follow along, because there will be a quiz in class next week.)

When Oak Park Mall opened in roughly, oh, 1994, the Scozio family opened a new Shop 'n Save there, and it was clear that the Olympia store --- smaller, older, cramped --- was living on borrowed time. Its conversion to Save-a-Lot left Olympia wide open for Giant Eagle.

Except that the Scozio family had a rather well-publicized falling out with Shop 'n Save's corporate parent, Supervalu, which eventually led them to buy the Giant Eagle franchise in Olympia and move it to Oak Park Mall.

It's hard to fault them for that --- Giant Eagle is arguably a much stronger brand name to have in Western Pennsylvania, especially with the "Fuelperks" program that gets you a few cents off per gallon when you buy gas at Giant Eagle's "GetGo" stores.

Shop 'n Save has responded with a similar gasoline discount program at some local Sunoco stations, but it doesn't seem to provide price cuts anywhere near as large as Giant Eagle's.

I'd argue that the Giant Eagle advantage card, too, has much better market penetration than Shop 'n Save's "Greenpoints" tie-in with Sperry & Hutchinson --- would you rather save money now, at the register, or save "points" for a set of dishes or towels?

Nevertheless, I kind of like Shop 'n Save, and wish the owner of the new Olympia store --- Jeff Ross, who also owns the Foodland Downtown, along with another Shop 'n Save in Mt. Pleasant, Westmoreland County --- lots of success.

The "Shop 'n Save" brand, by the way, is a corporate sibling to Foodland, in case you didn't know that --- both are controlled by Minneapolis-based Supervalu --- though they don't spread that news around.

What's the difference? The Foodland stores tend to be independently operated neighborhood locations, while the Shop 'n Saves tend to be in regional shopping centers or malls. Personally, I think it's a distinction without a real difference, and that Supervalu is hurting itself in Pittsburgh by splitting its advertising money that way. But of course --- no one asked me.

More useless trivia: There are two completely different, unrelated Shop 'n Save chains, both owned by Supervalu. The other one is in St. Louis, Missouri. Again, I don't really understand why Supervalu would have different corporate identities for two different chains operating with the same name in different markets. But what do I know?

I don't know what the supermarket line-up was in Olympia when it first opened, but I can recall that in the '70s, there were three stores there. Giant Eagle was located where Shop 'n Save will open tomorrow, while there was a Thorofare Market (aha! Anyone remember Thorofare?) down near the "arcade shops" in Olympia, in the storefront that was most recently a "Rainbow Rentals."

The building that now houses Save-a-Lot, and was previously a Shop 'n Save, was built as an A&P --- you can see evidence of that in the mansard-style roof with the fake shingles.

A&P ("The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co.") is still very much alive and well, though much smaller than in its 1940s and '50s heyday, when there was literally an A&P in almost every town in America. In terms of market penetration, it was the Wal-Mart of its era, and small independent grocers hated it every bit as much as small merchants despise Wal-Mart now. (There's a lesson there for Wal-Mart --- even A&P eventually fell.)

Besides the A&P in Olympia, there were A&P's scattered around the city, including one on Atlantic Avenue in 10th Ward --- Tico Electric uses the building now --- and one at the Versailles end of the Boston Bridge, I think in the same building that Dr. Rudy Antoncic recently moved into.

Kroger is big almost everywhere in the country except Western Pennsylvania --- labor trouble (most of their stores were unionized) drove them out of the region in the early 1980s. I'm not sure why they've never come back.

There's nostalgia for old diners, movie theaters, five-and-10s and gas stations, but I've never heard anyone get nostalgic for old supermarket chains, which kind of puzzles me.

The supermarket is one retail outlet where nearly every American is guaranteed to spend at least some time every month, if not every week. Nevertheless, I have yet to see a picture book of old supermarkets, though there must be dozens on diners and gas stations, and there's only website that I know of dedicated to supermarket nostalgia, but it's a fine one called Groceteria.

The Mon-Yough area was home to a number of chains, now defunct, and some of whose logos decorate today's Almanac, like Loblaw's, which survives in Canada. The biggest chain around McKeesport --- at least to my young eyes --- was Super Dollar, which makes sense, since I'm fairly certain it was supplied by McKeesport-based Potter-McCune Co.

There were smaller, family-owned chains around, too --- Marraccini's had stores in Clairton, Elizabeth and White Oak, and had a great reputation for excellent meat and poultry. It survived until only a few years ago. Payday's out on Route 51, between Elizabeth and Bunola, was another longtime fixture that became a Giant Eagle and recently closed.

I also remember the Haines Super Market out on Route 51 in Pleasant Hills, mostly for its fantastic neon sign, and the great handpainted billboards that were strung along its parking lot, facing the southbound lanes of the highway. It's all gone now, replaced by a Pep Boys.

And no entry on McKeesport supermarkets would be complete without mentioning the legendary Balsamo's, located Downtown, roughly where the Cricket store, Subway and Dollar Bank are now on Lysle Boulevard.

Alas, I'm a little bit too young to have personal experience with Balsamo's, but people who "vas dere" talk about great quality meats and produce, fresh bulk nuts and dried foods, and cheap prices on canned goods. Balsamo's also exploited its location smack against the B&O railroad tracks to have entire carloads of merchandise shipped directly to the store.

In fact, if you can imagine a cross between Aldi and Whole Foods, but with tin ceilings and wooden floors, I suspect you'd approximate the Balsamo's experience. (Your Balsamo's stories are welcome here, of course.)

Sebastian Eger, of the family that later owned the Ford agency on Walnut Street, had a large food market Downtown, too, at the corner of Walnut Street and Sixth Avenue, where The Coker Building is now. (I'm not sure, but that building --- which was previously a drive-through bank --- may be the same building as Eger's market.)

This is a good place to mention, too, that the supermarket experience is really a post-World War II phenomenon, facilitated by mechanical refrigerators and suburban shopping centers.

Before the "baby boom," people who lived in cities shopped mostly at their neighborhood grocery store, which they walked to. And since you only had an "ice box," you didn't buy a week's worth of perishables at a time.

A handful of neighborhood groceries survive in the city --- Zoscak's in 10th Ward and Lampert's up in Grandview are excellent examples --- but I think that's an Almanac for another time, don't you?

. . .

To Do This Weekend: If supermarket openings aren't your cup of tea, head down to the St. Martin De Porres Church Festival, 704 Market St., beginning at 6 tonight and running through Sunday. (Sunday hours are 1 to 6 p.m.) Highlights include music, dancing, food, games, bingo and more, along with a "polka Mass" Saturday at 5 p.m. Call (412) 672-9763.