IronTiger Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 I understand that Lewis & Coker ran grocery stores next to Kmart and they disappeared a long time ago, but how were they? Were they any good, did they go out of business or bought up, and when did this all happen? It seems that L&C were all gone by the late 1980s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 There were Lewis and Coker stores all over, I think. I dont recall seeing one next to a Kmart. There was one on Holcombe at Greenbriar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted December 30, 2013 Author Share Posted December 30, 2013 There was somewhere on the HAIF that mentioned the Kmart Foods stores were operated (and later became) Lewis & Coker stores. There was even one in College Station for a while next to the Kmart. This I've definitely confirmed. It became a Piggly Wiggly later on (Six Star Foods operated), but that doesn't help as to their fate in Houston. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave W Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Lewis & Coker stores were around long before Kmart. As a teenager I worked at the Holcombe at Greenbrier and Palm Center stores, and later at the store adjoiining the Kmart on Van Fleet off South Park. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FilioScotia Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 My wife's family bought groceries at the L&C on Memorial several blocks west of Gessner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucesw Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 (edited) Turned up online: Lewis and Coker was founded ca. 1903; that not only predates KMart but goes back almost as far as SS Kresge. It went into bankruptcy in the 1990s and never emerged. It was a family owned chain; that surprised me as I always thought it was a grocer's association sort of deal, like Super-Valu stores. I've only been in 3 KMarts in my life, a delapidated one on Beechnut at 59, a new one a few years later on BW8 around Beechnut,and ,I think, one in Meyerland Plaza later. There were no L&C's near any, rather obviously in the latter two instances. I can remember the L&C name going back decades, from newspaper ads if not radio, but the only store I remember was the one on Holcombe @ Greenbriar mentioned upthread and I never went into one. Edited January 1, 2014 by brucesw 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted January 1, 2014 Author Share Posted January 1, 2014 Kmart never owned L&C, it was an agreement that they would build and operate "Kmart Foods" stores next to Kmarts (before Super Kmart). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 This thread has given me a terrible earworm - the "who put the hop in shopping" jingle from ages ago. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted January 1, 2014 Author Share Posted January 1, 2014 I found an article about Lewis & Coker. Grocery store firm files for bankruptcy shield Houston Chronicle - Saturday, September 23, 1995 Readability: 5-6 grade level (Lexile: 910L) Author: GREG HASSELL, Staff Lewis & Coker Super Markets, one of the city's oldest grocery companies, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company is continuing to operate its only store, located at 12516 Memorial Drive, while it negotiates with its creditors. "We intend to fight this thing," said Eugene Lewis , the sole shareholder of Lewis & Coker 's stock. "We are going to continue to operate our store. Our shelves are full. We'll do everything in our power to give our customers and our employees the same good treatment they are used to getting from us." [snip] Lewis & Coker started out 53 years ago with one store in the Heights. In the years that followed, the company operated as many as 35 stores in Houston and in surrounding communities. The company has gradually retrenched to one location, the Memorial Drive store that first opened in 1963. [snip] The Lantern Lane Shopping Center did have the last Lewis & Coker. Another 1997 article states that Rice bought the last store (the grocery store, not the university), closed it on May 20th, 1997 and reopened it a day later. It would last, of course, until 2013. Such a conversion suggests that Lewis & Coker was at least a mid-line grocery store. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little frau Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 As mentioned earlier here, there was a Lewis & Coker in Palm Center in the early 60s. It may have dated to the time that shopping center was built in the 50s, I don't know, but I do remember going there with my aunt in at least 1963. I'd describe it as comparable to a Henke & Pillot of the same time period. Those stores might be considered small by today's standards, but they were large back then. They were nothing like the HEBs or Krogers we have today though. There used to be a K-Mart in the 3300 block of Telephone, near Wayside. If I remember correctly, I believe that the grocery store next to it was a Lewis & Coker when the center was built. The grocery store is now a Sellers Brothers however the former K-Mart is many different businesses. Weingarten Realty now owns that center. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purpledevil Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 I don't know how many of you are old enough to remember them, but Lewis & Coker's stores were comparable to Henke & Pillot stores in building size. For the younger crowd, it was it a little smaller than a regular sized Kroger's, such as the one on W. 20th in the Heights, or Airline in the northside.It was one of those hometown stores that, if they knew you well enough, would slide an accidental hot check. There were employees at the Memorial store that had literally made a career at Lewis & Coker. I grew up with the produce manager's daughter. He and his daughter, who was a boothie and cashier, worked there clear through the end when Rice bought it and flipped it to an Epicurean Market, even then staying another couple of years in the store under the Rice banner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share Posted January 3, 2014 I suppose that with The Fresh Market taking over all but one of the Rice stores, any trace of the old L&C has been obliterated, presumably with extensive renovations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaxConcrete Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Can anyone identify the location of this Lewis & Coker? LInk to higher resolution image http://oscarmail.net/photos/lewis_coker.jpg The sign in the distance might say Tanglewood Pharmacy. That could place this on Woodway maybe? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave W Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 That looks like the store on Westheimer in front of Tanglewood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucesw Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Definitely a sign for a pharmacy, and a Jack and Jill Liquor. There's a 56 Olds and maybe three 57 Fords so that dates the picture. Anybody got a phone directory from that era? Was Westheimer @ Chimney Rock that developed by 57? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnu Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 My 1957 phone books lists 5600 Westheimer as Lewis & Coker Store #3Tanglewood Pharmacy is at 5654 WestheimerJack & Jill Liquor at 5614 Westheimer Looks like the right spot with the curve in the photo. other Lewis and Coker locations:1: 1329 Arlington2: 2266 W. Holcombe4: 250 W. 19th5: 5238 Palm Center Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Specwriter Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 The fifth and sixth cars on that row nearest the street are a 1959 Ford and a 1959 Buick so that pushes the date to at least late 1958 (assuming those cars were very new at the time the picture was taken). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Interesting comparison with the current view on Streetview. There is still a telephone pole at the same location as on the far right in the picture. I'm guessing the current strip center is the same structure as in the picture, with heavy re-facading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blue92 Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 (edited) I remember the Lewis & Coker located at Holcombe & Greenbriar in the 60s my mom worked for a dress shop in that center I think the name was Scheps. My family left Houston in 68, I moved back in 75 to open my own watch repair service and did work for a jewelry store in that same center named Klor's and witnessed the Lewis and Coker there change into a Rice store that catered to upscale and Kosher foods. Edited January 9, 2014 by blue92 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArchFan Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 From that era, my most prominent memory of entering a supermarket -- being a kid -- was the aroma of barbecued rotisserie chicken and also sometimes of hot popcorn too. Seems like they were always placed near the entryways. They smelled great and really put people (well, me at least) in an enthusiastic consumer frame of mind! One time, the popcorn machine had caught fire and the smokey smell was pretty bad ... I think that was at the Lewis & Coker you mentioned at Holcombe & Greenbriar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
readam Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 If memory serves me ( who knows if it will) before the Lewis and Coker was in the strip center on Westheimer there may have been one on the sw corner of Alabama and S. Rice Ave ( near what is now the Galleria and in the past, the kiddie amusement park Wee Wild West.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purpledevil Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 There was a Lewis & Coker at 1329 Arlington?? That'd be right across from Reagan, wouldn't it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 There was a Lewis & Coker at 1329 Arlington?? That'd be right across from Reagan, wouldn't it? Yes, it would. On Google Earth, there are houses there in 1944, a building that looks like a store in 1953 and 1978, then houses after that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plumber2 Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 If memory serves me ( who knows if it will) before the Lewis and Coker was in the strip center on Westheimer there may have been one on the sw corner of Alabama and S. Rice Ave ( near what is now the Galleria and in the past, the kiddie amusement park Wee Wild West.) That was a Minimax grocery store and it anchored the Lamar Terrace Shopping Center. W. Alabama was originally Westheimer Rd at that location however the large S curve was removed in the late 50's. The curve in the Tanglewood Center photo shows that the new alignment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vstroud Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 We used to go to the one on Chimney rock and Westheimer. It was small not like the grocery stores we have now. The last one I saw was on Memorial, I think it was there until the 90s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted October 12, 2014 Author Share Posted October 12, 2014 Yeah, the last L&C lasted into the 1990s, and it was bought by Rice Epicurean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle C Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Yes, it would. On Google Earth, there are houses there in 1944, a building that looks like a store in 1953 and 1978, then houses after that. Yes, the L and C grocery was located at Arlington and 14th across the street from Reagan. My parents shopped there from time to time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NenaE Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 My mom infrequently shopped at the Lewis & Coker on Southmore & Richey, Pasadena location. NW corner, in a shopping strip. 1950's, built sometime after 1953, per GoogleEarth. It was big, but not as colossal as Weingartens. A Washateria is there now. I vaguely remember those poles that kids like to swing around, out front, supporting the canopy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggieengineer Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 There was a Lewis & Coker at the southeast corner of Hillcroft and S. Braeswood when I lived in that area from the mid-'60s until the '80s. My mother shopped there, claiming it was cleaner than other stores. In the same shopping center were an auto parts store (formerly a drug store), The Taxco Inn mexican restaurant, and a Schwinn bicycle shop owned by a rather stern man. It certainly was a nice area to live in back then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucesw Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 ^Interesting. That was before I moved to this part of town. Must've been the space on the corner. That was a Blockbuster for a long time, then vacant for a few years and just recently became Flooring for Life. I think I've been around long enough that there was something there before the Blockbuster and after Lewis and Coker but I can't think of what it was right now other than I'm sure it wasn't a grocery. Not to hijack the thread but do you recall what was in the strip center on the SW corner of S. Braeswood and Chimney Rock where there is a small, dumpy HEB now? Must've been a grocery, 5 & 10 or hardware in that space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.