Grocery stores.

 

Just the mere mention of a new business in Bridgeport and people start screaming the city and whoever needs to put in a grocery store. If the city was in the grocery store business I imagine they would. If "whoever" is the developer of places like Charles Pointe and White Oaks, if it was easy as picking up the phone and calling Whole Foods, Giant Eagle or a Winn Dixie, that would have happened by now. 

 

Let's set aside, for the moment, what you want. Instead, let's take a look at what Bridgeport once had. There's actually been a few more than I recall, but I'll start with the one that most recently ended its run in the city.

 

After becoming addicted to their baked potato salad and determining that a fresh homemade pepperoni roll with cheese was going to become a weekly staple to my lunch excursions, I quickly realized that Food Fresh in Bridgeport was about to close up shop. The store that for so many was the quick and easy convenience in the former Valley Hills Shopping Plaza (now "The Square") was calling it quits.

 

Their last days were in February of 2014, but I still remember going in one last time that cold winter day. My last trip was greeted by dwindling shelves and limited inventory. Parts of the store were closed off by sheets of plastic and a worker was on top of a freezer that wasn't plugged in doing some type of work. Seeing all of this, I didn't even have the heart to ask someone when it was ending.

 

I just knew it was. And it was gone just a few days later.

 

It seemed odd to me that such a vibrant community no longer has a full service grocery store. Granted, there are plenty of grocery options within a few miles, but for as long as I can remember, Bridgeport has always had at least one grocery store and it wasn't until ground was broken on Sept. 10 of 2015 for the Shop 'n Save that today is Price Cutter that the city could again say a grocery store was operating within the city limits.

 

I knew then, as I do now, there many other grocery stores. Back when Food Fresh shut down, I turned to former Bridgeport Community Development Director Randy Spellman, resident Jeanne Unger and local historian Dick Duez to either rekindle or confirm a memory or let me know about one I had never heard about – either due to my own failing memory or the fact that I wasn’t born.

 

My favorite of the now extinct grocery stores is the Giant Eagle located at the old Hill’s Plaza. Perhaps I’m wrong on this, but I always remember that place as being packed when it announced it was heading out to make way for a new grocery story. The grocery store that took its place – Save-A-Lot – didn’t really work-a-lot and eventually went by the wayside. Ironically, the "Save-A-Lot" brand resurfaced in recent years in Clarksburg - first at Rosebud Plaza and then in the Adamston section of the same city. The result was the same as it is now out of business.

 

As for what was an old Giant Eagle in Bridgeport, the actual footprint of that store today, which houses the massive Goodwill outlet, is much smaller than most Giant Eagles I’ve been to out of the area. And believe me, if you ever get a chance to head to the Giant Eagle in Washington, Pa., stop in. The deli makes you feel as if you’ve died and gone to heaven with Oscar Mayer and a member of the Velveeta family (granted not top of the line deli choices, but wanted some names everyone would know, but I digress).

 

Another of my old favorites and one I totally forgot about was the Kroger’s that used to be located in Bridgeport. The store is where Big Lot’s is currently located and was there at least through the late 1980s, but I can’t remember when it departed. I do know I used to love trips to Kroger because we would get a few quarters and my brother and I would head down to the old Electric Playground.

 

At Valley Hills, Unger told me that an A&P was located there in the 1960s and I still remember when it housed a Foodland. She also talked about much smaller places such as C&H Market on East Main Street, Helmick’s Market on Philadelphia, Alkire’s Variety Store at the bottom of the Simpson Creek walking bridge and of course the old Handy Shop that I’ve seen pictured many times.

 

There were others, including the ever popular Pure Food Store at more than one location. The last of which was on Virginia Avenue and provided me – as I’ve blogged about before – the only an only production of ham salad that I not only tolerate, but loved. And there were a few in Clarksburg and elsewhere that I miss dearly. The new WBOY location on Pike Street once was home to an A&P and the Nutter Fort Rite Aid site was once home to a Garden Fresh. One of those stores, I can't remember, used to give out the old S&H Green Stamps.

 

I’m sure I’ve left plenty of other stores – both local and perhaps even of the chain variety – off the list that have been part of the Bridgeport fabric for decades and you can add them in the comments section below. And as you can tell, Bridgeport has survived just fine without them. At the same time, they do indeed make up a big part of what makes the community special and has provided good memories for so many.

 

I’m certain the same can be said for Food Fresh and will for years and perhaps decades to come. Fare thee well to all you old grocery stores. You’ve been good to this community.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows the deli that provided me with plenty of good meals and memories, while the middle section is part of the going out of business effort to clear the shelves. The dwindling stock is pictured in the bottom photo.