Why did these companies close their KC locations?

[AllThingsKC]

Safeway

The Black Eyed Pea

Jack In The Box

Furr's

Does anyone remember these?  They're still around in other parts of the country and they used to be in KC.  Why did they leave KC? 

I'm sure there were others I was thinking about, but I can't remember them now.

[KansasCityCraka]

White Castle 

[knucklehead]

Safeway is a union grocery store. They can't compete with the nonunion stores in town.

Seems the average american would rather have cheap groceries than pay prices that allow grocery stores to include health insurance in their employee benefit plans.

There are apparently still places in California and the northeast where the cost of living is so high that you have to offer union benefits to get and keep decent employees which allows safeway to continue to operate in those areas.

[dangerboy]

It's not just about union/non-union in the local grocery industry.  It's also about real estate.  The local chains are *very* good about buying land in future growth areas, and building stores at just the the right moment. That is why Schnucks gave up on the KC market - all the logical grocery store locations in new developments were already owned by the locals.

When was Jack in the Box here?  I have never seen one...

[butter_breath]

Jack left in the mid to late 80's I think everyone leaves because we don't have light rail or the NBA any more. I've often thought about buying a gut-truck and making a trek to Columbia every weekend just to load up on sliders( about a 1,000 a trip) and selling them for double in Westport after the bars close. That could also be a nice addition to the P&L, I'm just waiting for the first taco truck to pop up to make my move.

[KCMax]

I haven't seen a Church's Chicken in awhile, they still have those?

Dunkin Donuts was here in the 80s, but left. There's still one in Lawrence, to taunt me.

[chrizow]

yeah, Church's is still around.  i know there is one at Gregory and Prospect, and there is one in the "Chicken Place Ghetto" near 31st and Gillham.

[PumpkinStalker]

There is a Church's on 80 something and Wornall too.  I went once and got confused where I was.  It was filthy.

[dangerboy]

Dunkin' Donuts is getting ready to come back to KC.

[butter_breath]

http://www.churchs.com/locator.asp?zip=64106&x=0&y=0

[lock+load]

Safeway underwent a leveraged buyout in the mid 1980s.  The Kansas City division was divested (along with many others) to help pay down the debt.  The stores ended up as Food Barn's (which I believe were still union) and finally Food Barn went bankrupt.  Associated Wholesale Grocers bought many of the locations out of bankruptcy and sold the stores to individual owners, most as Price Choppers--none of which are union.

[chrizow]

the Safeway-->Food Barn in Raytown became "John's AppleMarket," then became "Cosentino's AppleMarket."  i like that the Cosentino's folks operate grocery stores under so many flags - Price Chopper, AppleMarket, Cosentino's, etc. 

[lock+load]

the Safeway-->Food Barn in Raytown became "John's AppleMarket," then became "Cosentino's AppleMarket."  i like that the Cosentino's folks operate grocery stores under so many flags - Price Chopper, AppleMarket, Cosentino's, etc. 

I've never really understood the difference between an Apple Market, Thriftway or Sun Fresh.  They are all AWG flags.  At least Price Chopper seems a bit bigger and different than the others.

[dangerboy]

http://www.awginc.com/concept.html

[aknowledgeableperson]

Safeway underwent a leveraged buyout in the mid 1980s.  The Kansas City division was divested (along with many others) to help pay down the debt.  The stores ended up as Food Barn's (which I believe were still union) and finally Food Barn went bankrupt.  Associated Wholesale Grocers bought many of the locations out of bankruptcy and sold the stores to individual owners, most as Price Choppers--none of which are union.

Food Barn was non-union.  That was Safeway's answer to others offering bare bones stores that were appearing at that time.  Other than that you are right-on.

(Just a member of the old Retail Clerk's union and my mother was in the Meat-Cutters union.)

Kroger and A&P were also in the local marketplace and Milgram's was the biggest non-national, or local, chain in the area.  Believe the KC market was one of the few that had a presence of all three of the big national chains in it.  Other local chains were Pay-less and Justrite.

[lock+load]

When did Kroger leave the area?

[KCMax]

When did Kroger leave the area?

I believe Kroger is "Dillons"

[lock+load]

^Kroger was in KC before Kroger bought Dillons in the early 1980s.

[aknowledgeableperson]

There are still some of the buildings around but one could tell from the buildings after its conversion if that store was a Kroger store, or an A&P, or a Safeway.  Of course, those stores were quite smaller than grocery stores of today.  Rockhurst U used an old grocery store on Troost and the city used one at around 34th & Troost.  I am sure that others are still around and in use.

[PumpkinStalker]

Food Barn had a store on 291 in LS that is now a Hobby Lobby.  Food Barn left when Hy-Vee went in next door.