Rite Aid Lunch Counter Asheville, NC closes

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Rite Aid Lunch Counter Asheville, NC closes

Post by storewanderer »

I guess Walgreens was not interested in operating a lunch counter. I'm a little shocked Rite Aid was...

https://www.citizen-times.com/story/new ... 475698002/
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Re: Rite Aid Lunch Counter Asheville, NC closes

Post by BillyGr »

Probably neither is really a big surprise.

Rite Aid has seemed to have been more into doing things like this (also keeping the ice cream out west in those stores that had that, and if I remember correctly hearing that they even added it into a few places).

On the other side, Walgreens was well known for their counters over the years (in the early days it may have been more popular than the store itself) but closed all of theirs back when there was still a Walgreen running things (the grandson) so not surprising that they wouldn't keep one they inherited.

The only hope (perhaps) would be that they close the store as well (the article mentions another Walgreens across the street, and they did say they would close some locations like this) and someone locally takes the space and wants to preserve a bit of history...
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Re: Rite Aid Lunch Counter Asheville, NC closes

Post by BatteryMill »

Whatever happened to lunch counters? This may be a basic question to ask, however I don't seem to find any information via Google. Past the 1950s/60s, I believe they were commonplace until drug stores changed in the 90s.
They could certainly be innovated upon in today's world, especially in urban locations.
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Re: Rite Aid Lunch Counter Asheville, NC closes

Post by rwsandiego »

BatteryMill wrote: April 3rd, 2018, 7:03 pm Whatever happened to lunch counters? This may be a basic question to ask, however I don't seem to find any information via Google. Past the 1950s/60s, I believe they were commonplace until drug stores changed in the 90s.
They could certainly be innovated upon in today's world, especially in urban locations.
When I visited the flagship Walgreens in downtown Chicago I thought "Wow - all this place needs is some chairs and we'd have the cafeteria that used to be in the basement."
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Re: Rite Aid Lunch Counter Asheville, NC closes

Post by Super S »

A lot of stores have either been gradually removing or have completely done away with lunch counters and restaurants. Some owned by the store, some which are chains renting/leasing from the store. Some that come to mind are Kmart, Macy's (where acquired stores often had restaurants beforehand), Walmart (which doesn't always keep them after remodels), Woolworth (which closed many of the remaining ones about a year before the chain shut down) There were even scattered restaurants in stores like Montgomery Ward and Sears.

Then you have chains like Costco which can make a go of it because of the volume, and having their food courts strategically placed near the exit helps.

I do find it interesting though that Rite Aid has kept the ice cream counters out of the acquired stores in Washington and Oregon, some of which were Thrifty at one time and had ice cream counters. Especially since some stores in Oregon sell the ice cream.
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Re: Rite Aid Lunch Counter Asheville, NC closes

Post by rwsandiego »

Super S wrote: April 4th, 2018, 9:33 am A lot of stores have either been gradually removing or have completely done away with lunch counters and restaurants. Some owned by the store, some which are chains renting/leasing from the store. Some that come to mind are Kmart, Macy's...
I believe it was a former chairman of Hess's who said the problem facing department stores wasn't simply online retailers but was terribly-run stores. One of the things that (I think) attracted shoppers to the better department stores was the experience, including restaurants and salons. When I go to the mall Nordstrom is packed. Macy's not so much. Nordstrom creates an experience. macy's does too, but it is not a very favorable one.
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Re: Rite Aid Lunch Counter Asheville, NC closes

Post by storewanderer »

Personally, I've never seen a drug store with a lunch counter before. The closest thing I saw (and experienced at a very young age) was the Woolworths one. Which looked pretty similar to this Eckerd one... right down to the little opening from the main store.

I am quite surprised this counter lasted this long. I have to assume the counter attracted customers and that is why it stayed open, even with limited hours.

A Sears in Stockton, CA had a restaurant inside the store operated by a third party until very recently when the third party closed/retired. Before the third party took it, which was quite a few years ago, it was actually operated by Sears. Even under the third party, the restaurant used the Sears cash register.
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Re: Rite Aid Lunch Counter Asheville, NC closes

Post by babs »

Restaurants do quite well in retail stores as long as it's a match. That's why you always see a line at Target's Starbucks. Look at Ikea. Nordstrom does well with their restaurants because it's a place for people shopping to take a break with friends or get a drink as some stores have bars. Macy's totally misses the boat. Restaurants seem to do well at their Herald Sq location in NYC and the Cheesecake Factory in SF. Some sort of small footprint coffee shop or similar would do well at Macy's and might just help lift sales.
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Re: Rite Aid Lunch Counter Asheville, NC closes

Post by rwsandiego »

babs wrote: April 5th, 2018, 1:27 pm...Macy's totally misses the boat. Restaurants seem to do well at their Herald Sq location in NYC and the Cheesecake Factory in SF. Some sort of small footprint coffee shop or similar would do well at Macy's and might just help lift sales.
Their restaurants at State Street are always packed, as is the food court in the basement.
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Re: Rite Aid Lunch Counter Asheville, NC closes

Post by SamSpade »

babs wrote: April 5th, 2018, 1:27 pm Some sort of small footprint coffee shop or similar would do well at Macy's and might just help lift sales.
Ron J. wanted to put Caribou Coffee in as part of the Community Square at JCP. I wish that would have happened. Although most northwest malls have several coffee house opportunities, some even at every anchor store entry (Puyallup, Wa).
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