Valu-Mart
Encyclopedia
Valu-Mart was a chain of discount stores founded in Seattle in the 1950s. Its parent company was Weisfield's Jewelers. For many years Weisfield's was a store that carried jewelry, as well as televisions (many Seattle residents purchased their first television set from them), radios, stereos, and other consumer electronics products. Once Valu-Mart was put into place, Weisfield's strictly became a jewelry store.

History

Started as membership stores (similar to Costco) this requirement would disappear by the mid 60s as the stores would try to switch from a no frills warehouse look to a full service and more upscale look. Each store contained clothing, variety, toys, sporting goods, pet (mostly fish), home and garden, electronics (mostly a record department at the time), notions, pharmacy, groceries, a sweet shop, automotive (with repair), a restaurant, beauty salon, and a jewelry department (similar to Weisfield's).

The original stores were built in Seattle (Georgetown), Tacoma (off 35th St.), and Spokane. The Georgetown location served as the flagship store for the chain until 1972 when the chain acquired a former White Front
White Front
White Front was a chain of discount stores in Southern California and the western United States from 1959 through the mid-1970s. They were noted for the architecture of their store fronts which was an enormous, sweeping archway with the store name spelled out in individual letters fanned across the...

 store in Burien and relocated their offices to the new site and shut down the Seattle location.

1960's

During the 1960s, stores were built in Kent (Midway), North Seattle (Greenwood), Shoreline (Aurora), Everett, Yakima, Richland, Anchorage, as well as five stores in Oregon. Their distribution center was located in Kent (212th and East Valley Highway) in the newly built Benaroya Business Park.

1970's

Improvements were made to the stores by adding one of the first computerized point of sale systems (created by Singer) for a regional retailer in the Northwest. In 1974, the company decided to change the name of the company to Leslie's. A new commercial campaign was started featuring Joe Conley (general store owner, Ike Godsey from The Walton's) marketing the store as "Leslie's, America's general store". It was an unsuccessful marketing move and the inflation woes at the time didn't do the company any favors. By 1976 the chain was acquired by Portland based Fred Meyer
Fred Meyer
Fred Meyer, Inc., is a chain of hypermarkets founded in 1922 in Portland, Oregon, by Fred G. Meyer. The company was one of the pioneers of one-stop shopping, eventually combining a complete grocery supermarket with a drugstore, clothing store, shoe store, fine jewelers, home decor store, home...

 and the stores were added to their chain while the property was still owned by the owners of Valu-Mart with Fred Meyer signing long term leases for their locations. The Everett location was only used for a short time until Fred Meyer built a newer store nearby.

Separate grocery sections in the stores featured curbside grocery pickup by placing the grocery bags into numbered bins that rolled onto a conveyor allowing the customer to drive up to the front of the store to pick them up by giving the attendant a plastic card with the numbered bin they used. The groceries were loaded into the car. Grocery sections were no longer managed by the stores in 1972. Instead they leased the area to other grocers to run. Most were acquired by AG (Associated Grocer) Member stores and converted into Mark-it Foods. A no frills discount store popular in the 1970s that allowed the customers to mark their own prices with a grease pencil as well as bag their own groceries. Stores also contained automotive repair sections which served as Good Year Tire Stores as well. Sweet shops were eliminated after the Leslie's name change leasing additional space to other businesses such as vacuum cleaner and sewing machine retailers. The restaurants and beauty salons were re-leased to become independent businesses that operated within the stores. Some of them even after the Fred Meyer conversion. Most of the restaurants were converted to Eve's (Fred Meyer's dining brand) after the conversion.

The stores were a direct competitor to another Seattle based membership chain founded by Joe Diamond called Gov-Mart/Baza'r.

The company even sponsored a hydroplane in the early 70s that was known for having a unique hull design for its days. The hydroplane would later carry the Weisfield's name in 1975.

After Fred Meyer
Fred Meyer
Fred Meyer, Inc., is a chain of hypermarkets founded in 1922 in Portland, Oregon, by Fred G. Meyer. The company was one of the pioneers of one-stop shopping, eventually combining a complete grocery supermarket with a drugstore, clothing store, shoe store, fine jewelers, home decor store, home...

 acquired the Burien flagship store from Leslie's, the grocery section was still leased to Keith Undenburg and operated as a Stock Market Food store as a separate department until the early 1990s when the company lost its lease and relocated to the former Payless store in Burien (before being acquired by QFC
QFC
Quality Food Centers is a supermarket chain based in Bellevue, Washington, with over 75 stores in the Puget Sound region of Washington state and in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area.-History:...

). When remodeled in the 1990s to add groceries to the store, it became one of Fred Meyer's larger stores in terms of square feet.

Today

Valu-Mart continued to own the properties of their locations leasing the space to Fred Meyer
Fred Meyer
Fred Meyer, Inc., is a chain of hypermarkets founded in 1922 in Portland, Oregon, by Fred G. Meyer. The company was one of the pioneers of one-stop shopping, eventually combining a complete grocery supermarket with a drugstore, clothing store, shoe store, fine jewelers, home decor store, home...

 until the properties were sold to The Kroger Corporation in the early part of the 21st century since Kroger wanted full control of their interests. After the sale of the properties, The Midway location was eventually torn down and redeveloped adding a new store, gas station, and additional space to lease in 2007.

Most former Valu-Mart stores are still standing today although most buildings have been extensively remodeled. Greenwood, Burien and Bellevue stores are still operating as Fred Meyer stores. The Burien location was extensively remodeled a few years ago to shed the original White Front
White Front
White Front was a chain of discount stores in Southern California and the western United States from 1959 through the mid-1970s. They were noted for the architecture of their store fronts which was an enormous, sweeping archway with the store name spelled out in individual letters fanned across the...

 design of the store including the trademark concrete arch which Valu-Mart covered up with a modern vinyl siding awning after they acquired the store. The Bellevue location, also a former White Front but without the distinctive arch, is also still operating at Fred Meyer. The Greenwood store (used in commercials in the late 1970s) still looks the same today while the Everett location served as a plant for Fluke Electronics. Built in the same design as the original Midway store in the mid 60s it could have been demolished since the building has been vacant for quite some time. The original Tacoma store is used by Pierce County as their annex offices for county services while the second store they acquired after White Front left the Seattle market is used by Michael's at this time (formerly a Jafco and Best store before that). The Georgetown location operated as Gamble's outlet store during the mid 70s but became vacant for sometime until Treasure House took over the site in the 1980s to make it a flagship store for their crafts business. Micheal's craft store acquired the company and used the site for sometime until it was converted into office space. The building is vacant at this time.

The distribution center was used by Ernst
Ernst Home & Nursery
Ernst Home Centers, Inc. was an chain of home improvement retail stores founded in Seattle, Washington. Ernst was started in 1893 by Seattle brothers Charles and Fred Ernst and became a division of Pay 'n Save, one of the largest retail companies in the Northwestern United States, in 1960. After a...

 for a while until they relocated to the former Pay and Pak distribution center in Kent in the 1990s.

After Fred Meyer
Fred Meyer
Fred Meyer, Inc., is a chain of hypermarkets founded in 1922 in Portland, Oregon, by Fred G. Meyer. The company was one of the pioneers of one-stop shopping, eventually combining a complete grocery supermarket with a drugstore, clothing store, shoe store, fine jewelers, home decor store, home...

 acquired the Burien flagship store from Leslie's, the grocery section was still leased to Keith Undenburg and operated as a Stock Market Food Store as a separate department until the early 1990s when the company lost its lease and relocated to the former Payless store in Burien (before being acquired by QFC
QFC
Quality Food Centers is a supermarket chain based in Bellevue, Washington, with over 75 stores in the Puget Sound region of Washington state and in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area.-History:...

). When remodeled in the 1990s to add groceries to the store, it became one of Fred Meyer's larger stores in terms of square feet. Former office space used by Leslie's to operate the company was remodeled and used as Fred Meyer's Northwest Regional Offices until the space was relocated to the Midway store after the early 21st century remodel. Fred Meyer's Credit Union was relocated to the second floor of the Midway store (where the former beauty salon operated) until being moved to another shopping center nearby.

External links

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