Gemco was an American, particularly California chain of membership department stores that was owned by San Leandro-based Lucky Stores, a California supermarket company which has since been acquired in the 1980s by American Stores Company, which was later acquired by Albertsons in 1999. It operated from 1959 until closing in late 1986. A number of the west coast stores were sold to Target which fueled their entry into California. Gemco had a version called Memco, also owned by Lucky Stores that operated stores in Chicagoland and the Washington, D.C. areas.
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| Company type | discount membership store |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1959 |
| Headquarters | Anaheim, California |
| Products | clothing, footwear, housewares, sporting goods, hardware, toys, electronics |
| Website | None |
History
Gemco was first established in Anaheim, California in October 1959. A year later, the company was purchased by Lucky Stores, which added the supermarket element and expanded Gemco into a chain. Business and profitability continued to be healthy for over 20 years until a series of unsuccessful leveraged takeover attempts from other companies were made on its parent company, Lucky Stores. Lucky, to avoid such hostile takeover attempts, eventually decided it was best to liquidate Gemco entirely. This liquidation occurred in early 1987. Target has since taken over and remodeled many of Gemco's former prime business locations.
Name, colors and logo
"GEMCO" never was an acronym, despite rumors ("Government Employees' Merchandising Company," etc.) to the contrary. The letters were simply an easily pronounced and remembered name. Brown (with tan accents) was Gemco's original main exterior background color, and the letters "GEMCO" were originally in red. An early 1980s redesign changed the chain's main exterior background color to blue (with light blue accenting), and its letter coloring in its logo to white (adding a yellow diamond on top of the "M"). The name may also be associated with the jewelry-camera concessionaire, Gem Distributing Company, which was based in Long Beach and which began operations during WWII by selling jewelry and engagement rings in particular to sailors on leave. A small number of Gem's earliest employees were transferred to Gemco locations near Long Beach.
Offerings and innovations
An early example of what would become a hypermarket, Gemco offered one stop shopping for everything from garden supplies to groceries, and regular department store offerings as well. Its concessionaires included gasoline (located outside and away from the front entrance) and jewelry. One innovation the store offered - found nowhere else at the time - was the storing and delivery of already purchased groceries when the member was through shopping the rest of the store. A numbered plastic card was placed on the cart(s) and its match was given to the customer. When the member was done shopping and ready to leave the premises, the member merely needed to drive to the side of the store where the plastic card was given to the security guard. The guard would call for a courtesy clerk to deliver the groceries, and the clerk would load them into said member's vehicle gratuity-free. Niceties such as this won many new members to Gemco, and created repeat business, adding to Gemco's success.
Gemco was a preferred employer in many of the locations in which it did business. Unlike may other "discount" chains (e.g. Payless) Gemco employed union members of the UFCW (United Food and Commercial Workers.) The benefits and wages offered to Gemco employees helped it attract and retain a more highly qualified workforce than was typical of "discount" stores at that time. Vestiges of the longer-tenured employees of Gemco can still be found today at many Costco stores (also a membership department store)in the San Francisco Bay Area, where management includes many former Gemco management employees.
Gemco also offered a credit department to help increase sales. It was particularly busy each year during the Christmas shopping period.
As a trial few Gemco stores offered free babysitting while an adult was shopping in the store. The adult would drop of the child in the designated area of the store and would be given a ticket with a number on it. When the adult is done shopping they would give the cashier ticket who in return called the babysitting dept and a clerk would bring the child out to the parent. The parent could also pick the child up directly as well. After about 1 year of trial Gemco ceased operation of this trial. California law required a caregiver in a commercial operation to be licensed and insured as a daycare.
Memco
The East Coast stores, located in the Washington, D.C., area, were called Memco instead of Gemco to avoid confusion with an already existing area chain called GEM. Memco stores had a blue color scheme on its walls and signage. Memco honored Gemco membership cards, and vice versa.
Memco entered the Washington, DC market in 1969 with a store on Little River Turnpike in Annandale, VA and a store on Allentown Road in Camp Springs, MD. When the chain announced its exit from the market in December 1982, there were 13 stores (including one in Richmond, Virginia, and two in the Baltimore area), two of which had opened just two months earlier, and a 14th store was under construction. All of those locations were converted to Bradlees upon Memco's closing. Several of the former locations are currently open as Home Depot or Kmart.
Former locations
This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. |
- Phoenix: 4 locations
- West Thomas Road store, which sat vacant for nearly a decade is now an indoor swap meet
- Northwest corner of 43rd Avenue and Thunderbird Road; store was converted to office space as a regional accounting center for Albertsons
- Northeast corner of McClintock and Baseline in Tempe; now a Target
- Southeast corner of 19th Ave and Glendale; later a Smitty's, then Smith's and now a Fry's Marketplace
- Tucson: 2 locations
- Speedway and Kolb North East corner; torn down and now a Lowes
- Oracle and Limberlost South East corner; torn down and now a Lowes
- Alhambra: Now a Target. Maintained same layout as Gemco until mid-1990s renovation.
- Anaheim: Located on Lincoln Ave. Expanded and converted into a Home Depot until it (the Home Depot) moved to its current location on Brookhurst St. Became Daniel's Home Center (Furniture-Appliance-Electronics). Demolished 2004-2005, now Housing Tract.
- Bakersfield: Now Target. Still mostly in Gemco configuration.
- Carson: Now a Target.
- Cerritos: Now a Target. The store was remodeled and slightly expanded in the early 2000s.
- Chico: Now a Target.
- Chino: Later a Pavilions, Vons, and Pak & Save. Now a Superior Super Warehouse.
- Colma: Now a Target. In the mid-1990s, the store was expanded and extensively remodeled, removing any trace of the former Gemco.
- Culver City: Now an Albertson's/Sav-On location (formerly Lucky).
- Cupertino: Now a Target.
- Downey: This Gemco building became a Sams Club in the 1990s. Location closed in the late 90s and is now a House of Decor.
- Duarte: This store has been remodeled as a Target, but still sports the original blue Gemco tile.
- Dublin: Now a Target. In the early 2000s, the store was expanded and heavily remodeled, virtually eliminating any traces of its original incarnation as a Gemco.
- El Cajon: Now a Target. In the mid eighties, the building was gutted and the front entrance was relocated, but there is still and indenture where the original entrance was.
- Encinitas: Became a Target, then when Target moved down the street, became an LA Fitness.
- Escondido: Torn down and rebuilt as an Advantage and later became an Albertson's. Building is now vacant (2007).
- Fountain Valley: Became a Sams Club store.
- Fremont: The former Gemco became a Target in 1989, however in the early 1990s Target moved to a new location. Strangely enough Gemco's parent company would move into the space and open a Lucky/Sav-On combo store. As of April 2006 the store operates as an Albertsons.
- Fresno: The former Gemco has been remodeled and is now a Target. Located on the northeast corner of First St. and Shields Ave.
- Fullerton
- Harbor Boulevard: Most of the property converted to a Lucky supermarket in 1987. Smaller niche shops and Staples office supply are utilizing the remaining space. Supermarket portion later converted to an Albertson's store in the mid 1990's.
- Yorba Linda Boulevard: Now a Target store.
- Gardena: Now a Target.
- Glendora: This store was converted to a HomeBase, then into a House2Home, only to stand vacant for several years upon the demise of that chain. In 2005, the facade was demolished, revealing the original Gemco sign underneath. Since then, the building has been converted into a Los Angeles County Family Services office complex.
- Huntington Beach: Became a Lucky's Supermarket (now Albertson's) and a Toys-R-Us. Albertsons closed the supermarket October 2007.
- Indio: Now a Community college extension ( College of the Desert ) although the shell of the building remains, the interior of the building has been drastically remodeled.
- Lancaster: Now divided between Toys "R" Us and a HomeTown Buffet.
- La Mirada: A Home Depot now sits at that location.
- La Puente: The second Gemco store in the company and was issued store number 502.
- Long Beach: Now a Target.
- Los Angeles
- Arleta: The former Gemco building was used by a private company for over a decade along with the 76 gas station and a coin-op laundromat within the lot still in operation until 2003 when the land was bought by the Los Angeles Unified School District to be used to construct Arleta High School.
- Granada Hills: Now a Target. Target closed this store in 1/07 and will demolish the existing building and build a brand new Target slated to open in 10/07.
- North Hollywood: Now a Target. Extensively remodeled and added on to in 2005 removing any trace of the original Gemco.
- Northridge: Now a Target.
- Pacoima: Now a Target.
- Woodland Hills: Now a Target.
- Mission Viejo: Now a Target.
- Modesto: Now a Target.
- Mountain View: Now a Target.
- National City: Lucky converted the GEMCO location into a high-end prototype supermarket called Advantage. The store remained operational for many years until it was converted into a low-end Super Saver Foods in the late 1990s. The Super Saver Foods closed in 2003. Mervyn's is the new occupant as of July 2006.
- Oceanside: Now a Target.
- Pleasant Hill: Now a Target.
- Pomona: Remodeled into a Vons and split withBig Lots, Vons became Expo (Vons warehouse style market) before being demolished and turned into condominiums.
- Rancho Cucamonga:Was turned into a Target discount outlet [had a different name] then and currently an Orchards Hardware
- Redwood City: Building was demolished and a strip mall inclusing a Target, and Marshall's was built.
- Unincorporated Los Angeles County: Rowland Heights: Remodeled into a 99 Ranch Market and mall, removing any trace of the original Gemco.
- Riverside:Now a Target store
- Sacramento: All but one location in the Sacramento area are now operating as Target stores. The Mack Road location (the last store built in Sacramento) was converted to a Target, which later closed. It is now an Asian seafood store.
- San Diego
- Balboa Avenue: Converted into an Advantage. Now is an Albertson's store.
- Mira Mesa Boulevard: Now a Target store.
- San Gabriel: Became a Target in the late 1980s, but since the late 1990s has become the San Gabriel Superstore anchored by a Shun Fat Supermarket.
- San Jose: Now a Target.
- San Lorenzo: The exterior of the former Gemco remains largely intact despite becoming a Target store in 1989. Building is currently unoccupied.
- Santa Ana: Now a Target.
- Santa Maria: Now a Target store on Betteravia Rd. off Highway 101.
- Simi Valley: Now a Vons.
- South Gate: This store is now a Target.
- Stockton: Now a Target.
- Torrance: This store sat abandoned for almost a decade wearing the Gemco brand. (Local urban legend claims that the site was used for Satanic rituals, thus hindering the site's sale to another vendor.) It has since been reopened as a Best Buy and OfficeMax.
- Vallejo: Now a Target.
- Ventura: On Main Street. Now a Target.
- Victorville: Exterior was orangle tiles. Located on Palmdale Ave., between Park Ave. & Anacapa Rd. Now a Target, though exterior is not greatly changed. The exterior was the same for many years, but they remodeled it and it looks like your basic Target.
- Visalia: Was reopened in 1986 as Target; after Target opened an all-new facility in 2005, building was renovated for new tenants Jo-Ann Fabrics, dd's Discounts, Petco, Anna's Linens, and Professor Toy.
- Walnut Creek: The store was demolished in the mid-1990s after Target decided to make way for a new store.
- Woodland Hills: Now a Target.
- Yuba City: Now a Target.
- Camp Springs: (Memco)
- Catonsville: (Memco)
- Columbia: Dobbin Center (Memco)
- Dundalk: (Memco)
- Fort Washington: (Memco)
- Greenbelt: (Memco)
- Hyattsville: (Memco)
- Rockville: (Memco)
- Reno: Became a Target after buyout, when Target Greatland opened, store remodeled and is now Ashley Furniture and Sportsman's Warehouse.
- Sparks: Now a Target. Store was recently remodeled.
- Las Vegas: W. Sahara Ave. near Jones Blvd. - Now a Burlington Coat Factory.
- Las Vegas: E. Tropicana Ave. at Eastern - Now a Burlington Coat Factory.
- Las Vegas: Boulder Highway at E. Sahara Ave. Was re-opened for some time as "GEMCO Indoor Swap Meet". Has sat closed for nearly a decade along the a gas station and former fast food establishment in parking lot.
- Houston: 5 locations, 1 location became a Fiesta Mart, and another location became a Sam's Club, later a Wal-Mart. The building now houses a Houston ISD facility.
- Alexandria: Beacon Hill Mall (Memco)
- Annandale: 6555 Little River Turnpike (Memco, later Bradlees, now Home Depot).
- Burke: (under construction when Memco left market)
- Fairfax: Fairfax Circle (Memco, then Bradlees, then Hechinger, now Home Depot)
- Reston: (Memco)
- Richmond: (Memco)
Lore and legend
This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (March 2008) |
The store manager of each Gemco was always referred to over the intercom system as "Number 1," and the assistant manager was called "Number 2". The lowest paid staff member, the courtesy clerk, was called "29" or more frequently "29C" (C for shopping cart retrieval). There were not 29 levels of employees, however. The paging of "10 variety" meant help was needed at the check out registers. The paging of a "99" meant a janitor was needed, i.e., "99M" meant a mop to clean a spill or 99B" meant a broom to sweep up a mess.
What the GEMCO paid for an item could easily be discerned by looking at the price tag if you knew the code: THINK GEMCO corresponded to the numbers 1234567890.
Karen Carpenter, of the Carpenters singing duo, lived about a quarter mile from the Downey Gemco. Legend states that she was getting ready to go to this particular store on the morning of February 4, 1983, when she suffered a heart attack in her parents' home and died. Her brother, Richard, was also a frequent shopper at the Downey store.[citation needed]
References
- "Washington-Area Memco Stores to Shut in January," The Washington Post, December 28, 1982
- "But Moods Are Worlds Apart; Memco Executives, Employes Look Ahead," The Washington Post, December 29, 1982
- "Bradlees to enter D.C. with 10 units," Women's Wear Daily, August 8, 1983