Evansville, IN

Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. No non-grocery posts.
Post Reply
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Evansville, IN

Post by storewanderer »

I am curious about Evansville. Kroger has some Ruler Foods there, but nothing with the Kroger banner.

Schnucks has quite a few locations there, but that seems to be as far east as Schnucks goes. The Schnucks appear to be of varying age ranges, well executed, and are all well kept and seem to have pretty good traffic.

Was Kroger ever in that market? Was Jay C previously there then downgraded its stores to the Ruler format (seems to have happened to quite a few Jay C Stores)?
wnetmacman
Forum Moderator
Forum Moderator
Posts: 994
Joined: January 17th, 2010, 2:36 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 44 times
Status: Online

Re: Evansville, IN

Post by wnetmacman »

If Kroger was there, they've been gone a good while; from what I've searched on maps, there are neither greenhouses or Superstores there. They also had Buehler's Buy Low, but I'm not sure if they've finished disintegrating or not.

I can't answer for Jay C, though I doubt it for the same reasons.
ValuedCustomer
Cart Collector
Cart Collector
Posts: 14
Joined: November 12th, 2014, 8:39 am
Status: Offline

Re: Evansville, IN

Post by ValuedCustomer »

I can provide some insight into (ancient) history on Evansville, as I spent 9 years of my childhood there from 1973 to 1982. When we moved there Kroger was already gone. There were some A&P stores, Great Scot, Wesselman's and independent Key Market stores (the last two supplied by Creasey Company which was HQ in Louisville and the reason we moved to Evansville as my father worked for them). Schnucks came into the market circa 1980 simultaneously building what were then Schnucks-Walgreens stores on the East and North sides of town. Great Scot was the market leader there in the 70s and whatever Kroger stores that had been there were pretty minor affairs. I do recall a Kroger logo in mosaic in the wall of a 60s vintage shopping center on the North side that housed an Ayr-Way store and SuperX drugs in the 70s. I believe just across the river in Henderson, KY there may have been Kroger and Winn-Dixie stores but am not sure when those left either.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Evansville, IN

Post by storewanderer »

Interesting, so Schnucks has been in that market for a long time...

Wesselman's was not too impressive when I went in there. Pricing was high and the store was not the best. They had more employees than customers (place was largely deserted). It was the first time I had seen the Hy Top private label in a while, since WinCo stopped offering it.

I didn't see any evidence of Kroger in Henderson. There was some other independent there called Sureway (appeared to be part of a larger group called Food Giant) which was actually a pretty decent store. Rather unassuming from the exterior, but inside had an okay perimeter and some good prices, and mostly fair pricing across the board.
rwsandiego
Store Manager
Store Manager
Posts: 1242
Joined: April 3rd, 2016, 10:57 pm
Has thanked: 23 times
Been thanked: 55 times
Status: Offline

Re: Evansville, IN

Post by rwsandiego »

storewanderer wrote: September 10th, 2018, 8:17 pm Interesting, so Schnucks has been in that market for a long time...

Wesselman's was not too impressive when I went in there. Pricing was high and the store was not the best. They had more employees than customers (place was largely deserted). It was the first time I had seen the Hy Top private label in a while, since WinCo stopped offering it.

I didn't see any evidence of Kroger in Henderson. There was some other independent there called Sureway (appeared to be part of a larger group called Food Giant) which was actually a pretty decent store. Rather unassuming from the exterior, but inside had an okay perimeter and some good prices, and mostly fair pricing across the board.
On a lark, I Googled "When did Schnucks enter Evansville, IN" and found this article which mentions they opened the first Evansville store in 1977 in partnership with Walgreens.
ValuedCustomer
Cart Collector
Cart Collector
Posts: 14
Joined: November 12th, 2014, 8:39 am
Status: Offline

Re: Evansville, IN

Post by ValuedCustomer »

Right, my memory was a few years off and 1977 was the year that Schnucks-Walgreens opened up in Evansville Brand new Schnucks-WalgreensWhat I remember most about this store other than it was bigger and more modern than any store in town was the section of generic products with white packaging with black text. As for Great Scot they were a chain with 4 stores in Evansville and 2 in Terre Haute. The house brand was Scot Lad. This chain was bought out and became Buehler's in the early 90s. There was a Great Scott! chain in the Detroit area that was no relation.
Post Reply