IronTiger Posted October 20, 2014 Author Share Posted October 20, 2014 I would venture to say a small Safeway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnu Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 ^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. My old '66 directory says it was a Rice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucesw Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 (edited) That makes sense. I don't remember that at all and it has bugged me for a long time. Rice built a much bigger store on Hillcroft, just south of S. Braeswood (address on Hillcroft although it's back behind a strip center) that was a Rice Epicurean and is now a nice Walmart Neighborhood Market. For aggieengineer, it's still a very nice neighborhood. Meyerland, after all. Houses immaculately maintained on the outside, anyway. Interesting boutique businesses - The Russian General Store in the center where the L&C was, probably the biggest selection of salamis in Houston and lots of import goodies, My Pita, a Kosher bakery that makes fantastic pitas, and the New York Coffee and Bagel Shop with probably the best bagels in town. Edited October 20, 2014 by brucesw 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marmer Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 There was one on Dixie Drive at 332 in Clute, next to (you guessed it) K-Mart. It was gone by the mid-80s, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted October 21, 2014 Author Share Posted October 21, 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.Say, you didn't work at the College Avenue Albertsons did you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plumber2 Posted October 25, 2014 Share Posted October 25, 2014 Arlan's is family owned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceGhost Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 are there any family owned grocery stores still around in the Houston area or are they all apart of big chains or owned by grocery supply, Ive always liked to see the old grocery stores bc it reminds me of an era gone by. The last Rice Epicurean is still family owned. In addition to that Food Town, and Food Fair are still owned by Gerland's. Sellers Bros. is still independent as far as I know. Also a bunch of the Asian grocery stores are independent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucesw Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 I think a some of the Indian grocery stores are chains but many are independently owned. Likewise Pakistani grocery stores. Belden's in Meyerland. Phoenicia - 2 locations. I wonder about Hong Kong Market in Hong Kong City Mall. Pyburn's - the original in Almeda has been around for probably 50 years but four years ago they opened a second location in Fondren Southwest and they're set to open another in a food desert. I don't know what all the stores are this Vuong owns but one is Jim's Supermarket on Yellowstone. Pyburn's is known for their meat department. Sometimes I think there are more butchers milling around behind the counter waiting on someone to serve than there are customers in the whole store. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 Note a post about family-owned grocers got its own topic here:http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/31340-any-family-owned-grocers/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiger198619 Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 Thanks guy I knew i could count on yall to point me in the right direction , im semi-new to the fourms. Im still learning how to use it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggieengineer Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 Say, you didn't work at the College Avenue Albertsons did you? No, but I did work at Belden's Food Giant at Post Oak and West Bellfort while I was in high school, and during Christmas vacations while I was in college - 1974 until about 1980 probably. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggieengineer Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 That makes sense. I don't remember that at all and it has bugged me for a long time. Rice built a much bigger store on Hillcroft, just south of S. Braeswood (address on Hillcroft although it's back behind a strip center) that was a Rice Epicurean and is now a nice Walmart Neighborhood Market. For aggieengineer, it's still a very nice neighborhood. Meyerland, after all. Houses immaculately maintained on the outside, anyway. Interesting boutique businesses - The Russian General Store in the center where the L&C was, probably the biggest selection of salamis in Houston and lots of import goodies, My Pita, a Kosher bakery that makes fantastic pitas, and the New York Coffee and Bagel Shop with probably the best bagels in town. I remember when the New York Bagel Shop opened. I'm pretty sure I was in high school at the time. None of us had ever had a bagel, so my dad took us there one morning to try it out. We were hooked! Anyone remember Zinnante's Delicatessen in the same area? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucesw Posted November 7, 2014 Share Posted November 7, 2014 I went to Zinnante's just once; Robb Walsh wrote it up in the Press, praising the meatball sub as I recall. I had never been aware of it and went to try it out. It was closed in less than a year. The power of the Press? That is now My Pita which seems to have frequent ownership changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zenjive Posted May 14, 2016 Share Posted May 14, 2016 I used to go to the Ranchester and Bellaire L&C with my mom in the 70's. I think it closed in the early to mid 80's. I went inside a few years ago. It's totally different except towards the back, it still sort of has the old interior deco. I think I saw a couple of the old chilled display racks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gurgis Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 (edited) I was going to mention the Lewis & Coker on the southeast corner of Hillcroft and S. Braeswood, but aggieengineer beat me to it. To address brucesw though, the grocery store wasn't on the corner of the two sides (i.e. the old Blockbuster location). It was at the far south end on the side facing Hillcroft. In other words, if you faced the Hillcroft side of the center, Blockbuster would have been at the far left (the corner), and Lewis & Coker was at the far right. The large space of the grocery store was later divided up into smaller sections for the later tenants. I remember going to that strip center for different purposes over time: in the early years (Lewis & Coker with my mother), teen years (game room - Gold Dust Saloon??, Blockbuster), and later for haircuts on the Braeswood side. Rice Food Market was a completely different and unrelated venture on the opposite (west) side of Hillcroft. I used to work there. I also remember Zinnante's Delicatessen. Was that in that small strip center at Hillcroft and Queensloch? Edited June 10, 2016 by Gurgis clarification 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted June 10, 2016 Author Share Posted June 10, 2016 On 10/12/2014 at 4:34 AM, vstroud said: 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. Yeah, it looks like they lasted until 1997. The Chron mentions that L&C went bankrupt in 1995 so Grocers Supply Co. took it over, and in 1996, the Randalls at Town & Country Village opened, causing the older Lewis & Coker to lose money hand over fist (about $3500 every week) until it was sold to Rice Epicurean in May 1997, which quickly reopened it as its own name. With the closure of The Fresh Market, it ends a legacy of the 50+ year grocery legacy at that location. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted January 10, 2018 Author Share Posted January 10, 2018 Where did Lewis & Coker have its locations before they closed the last one in the late 1990s (Memorial Drive, which became Rice Epicurean/Fresh Market/Total Wine)? All I can find is they had one other location in Kingwood in the late 1980s. From reading the articles it seems like at least their later days they skewed upscale despite the fact that they operated the Kmart grocery stores in the 1970s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceGhost Posted January 11, 2018 Share Posted January 11, 2018 A bunch were found in this thread: http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/29412-lewis-coker/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted January 11, 2018 Author Share Posted January 11, 2018 11 hours ago, SpaceGhost said: A bunch were found in this thread: http://www.houstonarchitecture.com/haif/topic/29412-lewis-coker/ Oh man, and that was my own post too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrispy Posted September 23, 2018 Share Posted September 23, 2018 I hate that I am limited on how big my picture has to be and I don’t know how to resize them. I was throwing out a lot of stuff my father had saved and came across a bag from Lewis and Coker. Just thought it was funny to come across it after reading this post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drooper N. Snork Posted October 29, 2018 Share Posted October 29, 2018 Hillcroft at South Braeswood hasn’t been mentioned yet. Primary source of S&H Green Stamps. We’d be warmly greeted by C.W. wielding a big broom, Mom’d chat with him but I only cared about scoring a penny to obtain a gum ball from the machine in the lobby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jbonjorno Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 Yes I remember going to Lewis and Coker to shop with my mom. Mom shopped at the Hill croft Store. Many fond memories as my mom and Mrs Coker were good friends. Therefore mom shopped there often and also at Weingartens in or near Bellaire. Now I shop a lot at Rice Epicurian on Fountain View. Guess my favorite store now. Great meats and friendly staff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mari Arenson Posted March 25, 2020 Share Posted March 25, 2020 Lewis and Koker had a store at Westheimer and Chimney Rock. I remember because my mom was crossing Westheimer to pick up a picnic lunch before we went to a swim meet at Briarcroft (??) swim club. She was wearing high heels and fell down in the middle of the street. That store burned down, maybe in 1979. I was little. My memory is faded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Creek Tx Posted May 15, 2020 Share Posted May 15, 2020 All my high school spending money ($1.25 an hour to start) was earned at Lewis & Coker in Lantern Lane. In June of 1970, L&C even let me pull an 80 hour week the week I got married. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Creek Tx Posted May 15, 2020 Share Posted May 15, 2020 Although you can't really read the sign on the building, at 1:05 is a shot of Lewis & Coker which was in the middle of Lantern Lane. Although our house was directly behind Interurban it wasn't built until 1965 so I missed all the fun of the '64 Protest. I would think that these are all Memorial HS kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ttboy Posted May 19, 2020 Share Posted May 19, 2020 There was a Lewis & Coker in the same shopping center as the K-Mart on Pruett St. in Baytown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frogprof12 Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 We used to go to a Lewis & Coker near my grandparents' house on Sherwood Forest Road (no idea where the store was but it was close-ish -- maybe in or near Town and Country?); the main thing I remember about the store was the mini-cinema they had near the front door where kids could watch cartoons while their parents (read: moms 😉) shopped. If it cost anything it was maybe a nickel or dime. We lived in Shreveport, LA, at the time and thought it was so fancy to have a movie theater in a grocery store! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tjoya Posted September 4, 2021 Share Posted September 4, 2021 Yes, I remember the Lewis and Coker in Palm Center. I am pretty sure it closed in the late 70’s or possibly early 80’s. I also seem to remember that this location had an area where kids could sit and watch cartoons on a screen on the wall while their mother shopped, this may have been in the 60’s because eventually it was removed. Also remember the Henke Pillot on OST and Scott street that became a Rice then HEB which closed in 2020 once HEB opened a new mega store a few minutes away off Hwy 288. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poppi Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 The Lewis and Coker near Town and Country was on Memorial near Tallowood in Houston Tx, my brother was employed there and I picked him up multiple times after work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 5 hours ago, Poppi said: The Lewis and Coker near Town and Country was on Memorial near Tallowood in Houston Tx, my brother was employed there and I picked him up multiple times after work. If my memory isn't failing me, there was a Book Stop in that same strip center. Or a Crown Books, one of the two. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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