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61-455: Valu-Mart was a chain of discount stores founded in Seattle in 1958. Its parent company was Weisfield's Jewelers . For many years Weisfield's was a store that carried jewelry, as well as televisions (many Seattle residents purchased their first television set from them), radios, stereos, and other consumer electronics products. Once Valu-Mart was put into place, Weisfield's strictly became

122-717: A big-box store ; many have a full grocery selection and are thus hypermarkets , though that term is not generally used in North America. In the 1960s and 1970s the term "discount department store" was used, and chains such as Kmart , Zodys and TG&Y billed themselves as such. The term "discount department store" or "off-price department store" is sometimes applied to big-box discount retailers of apparel and home goods, such as Ross Dress for Less , Marshalls , TJ Maxx , and Burlington . So-called category killer stores, specialize in one type of merchandise and sell it in big-box stores . Examples include: When membership

183-649: A clause in the JOA contract that three consecutive years of losses allowed it to pull out of the agreement. Hearst sued, arguing that a force majeure clause prevented the Times from claiming losses as reason to end the JOA when they result from extraordinary events (in this case, a seven-week strike by members of the Newspaper Guild). While a district judge ruled in Hearst's favor, the Times won on appeal, including

244-489: A state referendum to legalize same-sex marriage . The newspaper's management said the ads were aimed at "demonstrating how effective advertising with The Times can be." The advertisements in favor of McKenna represented an $ 80,000 independent expenditure, making the newspaper the third largest contributor to his campaign. More than 100 staffers signed a letter of protest sent to Seattle Times publisher Frank Blethen, calling it an "unprecedented act". From 1983 to 2009,

305-434: A Jafco and Best store before that). The Georgetown location operated as Gamel's outlet store during the mid-70s but became vacant for sometime until Treasure House took over the site in the 1980s to make it a flagship store for their crafts business. Micheal's craft store acquired the company and used the site for some time until it was converted into office space. The building is vacant at this time. The distribution center

366-485: A NW section for the day, Sports, and any other sections listed below. Friday : NW Autos; Weekend Plus Saturday : NW Homes Sunday : Business; ShopNW; NW Jobs; NW Arts & Life; NW Traveler; Pacific NW Magazine Pacific NW is a glossy magazine published every week and inserted in the Sunday edition. For decades, the broadsheet page width of the Times was 13 + 1 ⁄ 2 inches (34 cm), printed from

427-443: A chain of discount stores called Prange Way , and Atlanta-based Rich's owned discount stores called Richway . During the late 1970s and the 1980s, these chains typically were either shut down or sold to a larger competitor. Kmart and Target themselves are examples of adjuncts, although their growth prompted their respective parent companies to abandon their older concepts (the S. S. Kresge five and dime store disappeared, while

488-500: A jewelry store. The chain also had stores in Oregon , where they originally were named Villa-Mart . Separate grocery sections in the stores featured curbside grocery (or parcel) pickup by placing the grocery bags into numbered bins that rolled onto a conveyor allowing the customer to drive up to the front of the store to pick them up by giving the attendant a plastic card with the numbered bin they used. The groceries were then loaded into

549-720: A local family (the Blethens). The Seattle Times Company, while owning and operating the Times , also owns three other papers in Washington , and formerly owned several newspapers in Maine that were later sold to MaineToday Media . The McClatchy Company owns 49.5% of voting common stock in the Seattle Times Company, formerly held by Knight Ridder until 2006. The Seattle Times has received 11 Pulitzer Prizes , most recently in 2020 for its national reporting of

610-538: A new store, gas station, and additional space to lease in 2007. The Greenwood location (used in Fred Meyer commercials in the late 1970s) has gone through an extensive renovation throughout most of 2012 with additional space added for a grocery section. The Greenwood and Bellevue (after acquiring the White Front site) locations weren't built with a grocery section in the same building. The Greenwood location had

671-469: A plant for Fluke Electronics. Built in the same design as the original Midway store, this building still stands on Evergreen Way a few blocks south from a Fred Meyer that was built in the 1970s. The original Tacoma store is used by Pierce County as their annex offices for county services while the second store they acquired after White Front left the Seattle market is used by Michael's at this time (formerly

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732-536: A recommended painkiller in state-supported care. In April 2010, the Times staff won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting for its coverage, in print and online, of the shooting deaths of four police officers in a Lakewood coffee house and the 40-hour manhunt for the suspect. A tenth Pulitzer Prize was awarded in 2015 for breaking news coverage of the Oso mudslide . Times photographer Jerry Gay won

793-483: A separate building being leased by Lucky Stores when the California-based grocery chain was operating in the Seattle market. The original grocery store (known as Greenwood Market) has been torn down in 2012 for the addition. Most former Valu-Mart stores are still standing today although most buildings have been extensively remodeled. The Burien store is still operating as a Fred Meyer store. This location

854-488: A similar incident that happened with an MSNBC article during the Winter games in 1998, which was reported on by Times . The newspaper's Executive Editor at the time of the controversy, Mike Fancher, issued an apology in the aftermath of the controversial headline. On October 17, 2012, the publishers of The Seattle Times launched advertising campaigns in support of Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna and

915-654: A unanimous decision from the Washington State Supreme Court on June 30, 2005. Hearst continued to argue that the Times fabricated its loss in 2002. The two papers announced an end to their dispute on April 16, 2007. The JOA was terminated when the Post-Intelligencer ceased publication; its final printed edition was March 17, 2009. The Times contains different sections every day. Each daily edition includes Main News & Business,

976-564: Is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle , Washington . Founded in 1891, The Seattle Times has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region . The Seattle Times Company , which owns and publishes the paper, is mostly owned by the Blethen family, which holds 50.5% of the company; the other 49.5% is owned by The McClatchy Company . The Blethen family has owned and operated

1037-415: Is required, discount superstores are known as warehouse clubs , and often require purchases of larger sizes or quantities of goods than a regular superstore. The main national chains, both of which have operations outside the U.S., are Costco and Sam's Club . Major discount grocery store retail chains in the U.S. include Aldi , Lidl , Save-A-Lot and Grocery Outlet . Currently Aldi and Lidl are

1098-530: The Boeing 737 MAX crashes by reporters Dominic Gates, Mike Baker, Steve Miletich and Lewis Kamb. It has an international reputation for its investigative journalism in particular. In April 2012, investigative reporters Michael Berens and Ken Armstrong won the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for a series documenting more than 2,000 deaths caused by the state of Washington's use of methadone as

1159-541: The Dayton-Hudson Corporation eventually divested itself of its department store holdings and renamed itself Target Corporation). In the United States, discount stores had 42% of the overall retail market share in 1987; in 2010, they had 87%. Many of the major discounters now operate " supercenters ", which adds a full-service grocery store to the traditional format. The Meijer chain in

1220-744: The Hudson's Bay Company started opening Saks Off 5th locations to sell off-price brands. American off-price chain Nordstrom Rack opened its first Canadian location in Vaughan Mills in 2018. Outside the United States and Canada, the main discount store chains listed by country are as follows: Major chains of discount supermarkets in Germany are Aldi , Lidl , Netto Marken-Discount , Netto (store) , Norma and Penny . Italy has numerous discount supermarkets, including Lidl and EuroSpin ,

1281-750: The Seattle Daily Times , it doubled its circulation within half a year. By 1915, circulation stood at 70,000. The newspaper moved to the Times Square Building at 5th Avenue and Olive Way in 1915. It built a new headquarters, the Seattle Times Building , north of Denny Way in 1930. The paper moved to its current headquarters at 1000 Denny Way in 2011. In 1966, the publication changed to its current name of The Seattle Times . The Seattle Times switched from afternoon delivery to mornings on March 6, 2000, citing that

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1342-472: The Times and Seattle's other major paper, the Hearst -owned Seattle Post-Intelligencer , were run under a " Joint Operating Agreement " (JOA) whereby advertising, production, marketing, and circulation were controlled by the Times for both papers. The two papers maintained their own identities with separate news and editorial departments. The Times announced its intention to cancel the JOA in 2003, citing

1403-758: The 1970s, space was being leased to other companies with hopes of acquiring the space at a later time focusing on general merchandise needs only. Each store contained clothing, variety, toys, sporting goods, pet (mostly fish), home and garden, electronics, appliances, notions, pharmacy, groceries (in most locations), a sweet shop, automotive (with repair), a restaurant, beauty salon, and a jewelry department (similar to Weisfield's). The original stores were built in Seattle (in Georgetown off of Corson St.), Tacoma (off 35th St.), Spokane (5204 East Sprague), North Seattle (185th and Aurora), Yakima (905 E Mead), and Bellevue (140th NE and Bel-Red Rd). The Georgetown location served as

1464-462: The 1975 Spot News Photography prize for " Lull in the Battle ", an image of firefighters resting after fighting a house fire. In 1982, reporter Paul Henderson won the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for his coverage of the case of Steve Titus . Titus had been wrongfully convicted of rape, and in a series of articles Henderson challenged the circumstantial evidence in the case, convincing

1525-491: The 1980s. Both discount chains (Fred Meyer and K-Mart) would have control of the Seattle/Tacoma market until Target would locate in the late 1980s. Started as membership stores (similar to Costco), the requirement would disappear by the mid-1960s as the stores would try to switch from a no-frills warehouse look to a full-service and more upscale look, taking efforts to change its status as a junior department store. By

1586-453: The 1990s to add groceries to the store, it became one of Fred Meyer's larger stores in terms of square feet (180,000 square feet). Former office space used by Valu-Mart/Leslie's to operate the company was remodeled and used as Fred Meyer's Northwest Regional Offices until the space was relocated to the Midway store after the early 21st century remodel. Fred Meyer's Credit Union was relocated to

1647-654: The Greenwood location (100 NW 85th St.) was opened. It was a very modern store with underground parking for 150 cars with two floors for shopping. This store wasn't built with a grocery store but shared the parking lot with a Lucky store on the property. This store was a 75,000 square foot store that contained an escalator to move customers between the levels of the store. In 1971, fabric sections were added to all 21 locations. In 1973, Weisfield's sold all five of its Oregon Valu-Mart stores to Portland-based Fred Meyer and pulled out of Oregon. The same year, Valu-Mart acquired

1708-621: The Midway store (located at 252nd and Pacific Hwy So) was the only discount store between Seattle and Tacoma when the 100,000 square foot location opened. It featured a second floor snack bar with a view of the Puget Sound from the dining area. In 1965, the membership requirement was eliminated. Stores were also constructed in Great Falls, Montana and Reno, Nevada. Their distribution center was located in Kent (212th and East Valley Highway) in

1769-518: The Midwest consists entirely of supercenters, while Wal-Mart and Target have focused on the format as of the 1990s as a key to their continued growth. Although discount stores and department stores have different retailing goals and different markets, a recent development in retailing is the "discount department store", such as Sears Essentials , which is a combination of the Kmart and Sears formats, after

1830-564: The Portland-based company became a major retailer with its major expansion of the chain in the Puget Sound area. The company even sponsored a hydroplane in 1974 built by Ron Jones and piloted by Billy Schumacher (U-74). The hydroplane would later carry the Weisfield's name in 1975. Valu-Mart continued to own the properties of their locations leasing the space to Fred Meyer until the properties were sold to The Kroger Corporation in

1891-461: The Seattle/Tacoma area when Weisfield's acquired White Front locations after the chain closed most of the Puget Sound locations. In 1974 (after Gov-Mart/Baza'r would be acquired by PayLess/House of Values) the Valu-Mart name was eliminated and changed to Leslie's to compete with other retailers such as Fred Meyer and neighboring malls by providing a more upscale format that didn't work so well as

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1952-532: The Valu-Mart name and could be seen from several miles away. Improvements were made to the stores by adding one of the first computerized point of sale systems (created by Singer) for a regional retailer in the Northwest. In 1974, the company decided to change the name of the company to Leslie's (named after Weisfield's president Leslie Rosenburg). A new commercial campaign was started featuring Joe Conley (general store owner, Ike Godsey from The Walton's) marketing

2013-574: The area with newly built stores (including acquiring the former North Seattle White Front location in 1977) as well as acquisitions of the PayLess (before the chain was considered a drug store) House of Values, and Value Giant (the names used in locations in Pierce, Kitsap, and Thurston counties where the PayLess brand overlapped the original Tacoma drug store brand founded by the Skaggs family) stores during

2074-431: The car usually by store employees. The stores were a direct competitor to another Seattle based membership chain founded by Joe Diamond called Gov-Mart/Baza'r. When Joe Diamond sold Gov-Mart/Baza'r to new owners that relocated the company to Portland, this was the start of Valu-Mart becoming more upscale shedding the discount store image while Gov-Mart/Baza'r continued as a full service discount store with both chains using

2135-693: The chains with the largest number of stores, and Aldi , Discount Dial , Dpiù , MD Discount , Penny , Todis and Tuodì . Japan has numerous discount stores, including Costco , Daiso , Don Quijote (store) and The Price (owned by Ito Yokado ). Action , Euroland , Solow , Big Bazar and Zeeman . In addition, the German discount supermarkets Lidl and Aldi both operate in the country. Discount supermarkets cover about 30% of food sales in Poland. Main chains include Biedronka , Lidl , Netto , and Aldi . The Seattle Times The Seattle Times

2196-613: The companies' merger as Sears Holdings Corporation . Woolworths entered Canada in the 1920s, the stores were converted to the Foot Locker , Champs Sports and other stores in 1994. Kresge's , a competitor to Woolworth's entered the Canadian market in 1929. Zellers was founded in 1931, and was acquired by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1978. Giant Tiger opened its first store in Ottawa in 1961, modeled on Woolworths . Winners

2257-787: The curbside pickup of groceries at the front of the grocery sections of their stores. Both companies eliminated the membership policies by the mid-1960s while having a major presence in Washington and Oregon until Fred Meyer aggressively expanded into both markets during the mid-1970s. The store chain grew to 21 locations with most locations in Washington and Oregon (known in Oregon as Villa-Mart at first) covering every major area from Bellingham to Eugene and Eastern Washington. Locations were also constructed in Anchorage, Reno, and Great Falls Montana. During 1973, some older stores were replaced in

2318-439: The early part of the 21st century since Kroger wanted full control of their interests and needed to tear down or rebuild most of the properties to eliminate separation between the grocery sections and main portions of the store, better lighting and climate control systems, Ethernet network systems, better parking, and gas stations. After the sale of the properties, The Midway location was eventually torn down and redeveloped adding

2379-539: The flagship store for the chain until 1973, when the chain acquired a former White Front store in Burien and relocated its offices to the new site and shut down the Seattle location. During the 1960s, stores were built in Kent (Midway), Everett (9028 Evergreen Way), Richland, Anchorage, Spokane (E 525 Francis), as well as five stores in Oregon. According to a September 22, 1965 article in The Seattle Times ,

2440-539: The former White Front stores in Tacoma, Burien, and Bellevue, remodeling the locations to create a mall environment while keeping about a third of the space for themselves. Copying a similar model that Nordstroms did at the time, portions of each of its 21 stores were leased to add such things as Hallmark stores, furniture stores (known as Furniture Mart), liquor stores, laundry mats, arcades, cafeterias, jewelry, beauty salons, and Pirates Plunder Import stores. The aisles in

2501-477: The judge to reverse Titus' conviction. In February 2002, The Seattle Times ran a subheadline "American outshines Kwan , Slutskaya in skating surprise" after Sarah Hughes won the gold medal at the 2002 Olympics . Many Asian Americans felt insulted by the headline because Michelle Kwan is also American. Asian American community leaders criticized the subheadline as perpetuating a stereotype that people of color can never be truly American. The incident echoed

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2562-460: The largest discount retailers in the world operating more than 25,000 discount stores worldwide between them. Variety stores in the U.S. today, are most commonly known as dollar stores such as Dollar General , Family Dollar and Dollar Tree , which sell goods usually only at a single price-point or multiples thereof (£1, $ 2, etc.). During the early and mid-twentieth century they were commonly known as "five and dimes" or "dime stores". Stores of

2623-419: The locations were roomy. The apparel sections contained more upscale clothing with carpeting and mannequins added to the sections. These stores shed many of the traditional discount store appearances, fixtures, and merchandise used at the time. These new stores were close to major shopping malls (Tacoma Mall and Southcenter) and Weisfield's used the new modern, contemporary design to compete with them converting

2684-438: The main chains, Woolworth's , J. J. Newberry and S. S. Kresge , lined the shopping streets of U.S. downtowns and suburbs, and starting in the 1950s they also opened branches in shopping malls. These chains originally sold items for 5, 10 or 25 cents, but many later moved to a model with flexible price points, with a variety of general merchandise at discounted prices, in formats smaller than today's discount superstores. During

2745-646: The market because Rosenburg saw the market as "topsy turvy" from the 1970s recessions. Rosenburg saw the additions made to the company within the last five years as overambitious and feared that competing with Fred Meyer would have been a losing battle after noticing new 150,000 square foot locations (the new store design was called "747s") being constructed by the Portland chain in Everett and Tacoma that combined variety, garden, home improvement, and grocery sections under one roof not too far from Leslie's locations. While

2806-419: The move would help them avoid the fate of other defunct afternoon newspapers. This placed the Times in direct competition with its Joint Operating Agreement (JOA) partner, the morning Seattle Post-Intelligencer . Nine years later, the Post-Intelligencer became an online-only publication. The Times is one of the few remaining major city dailies in the United States independently operated and owned by

2867-694: The newly built Benaroya Business Park. In the 1960s, the Oregon stores were branded as Villa-Mart (alternatively written as Villa Mart). The first store opened in the early 1960s, in Portland , with another opened soon afterward in Eugene , in 1963. Additional stores followed in Beaverton and Milwaukie in 1966 and 1969, respectively. A Villa-Mart store also was opened in Salem in 1969. The Oregon stores were eventually renamed Valu-Mart. On September 9, 1970,

2928-651: The newspaper since 1896. The Seattle Times had a longstanding rivalry with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer until the latter ceased physical publication in 2009. The Seattle Times has received 11 Pulitzer Prizes and is widely renowned for its investigative journalism . The Seattle Times originated as the Seattle Press-Times , a four-page newspaper founded in 1891 with a daily circulation of 3,500, which Maine teacher and attorney Alden J. Blethen bought in 1896. Renamed

2989-718: The period from the 1950s to the late 1980s, discount stores were more popular than the average supermarket or department store in the United States. There were hundreds of discount stores in operation, with their most successful period occurring during the mid-1960s in the U.S. with discount store chains such as Kmart , Ames , Two Guys , Gibson's Discount Center , E. J. Korvette , Mammoth Mart , Fisher's Big Wheel , Zayre , Bradlees , Caldor , Jamesway , Howard Brothers Discount Stores , Kuhn's-Big K (sold to Walmart in 1981), TG&Y and Woolco (closed in 1983, part sold to Wal-Mart) among others. Walmart , Kmart , and Target all opened their first locations in 1962. Kmart

3050-572: The properties that Fred Meyer leased, this kept grocery sections leased to Associated Grocers (where Valu-Mart had a grocery section within the store). Most were converted into Mark-it Foods. A no-frills discount store popular in the 1970s that allowed the customers to mark their own prices with a grease pencil as well as bag their own groceries. Stores also contained automotive repair sections which served as Good Year Tire Stores as well. The restaurants and beauty salons continued to keep their leases and operate as independent businesses that operated within

3111-455: The remaining stores were leased by Fred Meyer , and the stores were added to their chain, while the property was still owned by Weisfield's. The Tacoma and Everett locations weren't leased by Fred Meyer since they had recently opened new 150,000 square foot stores a few blocks away from them. The Tacoma location became a Jafco while the Everett location was acquired by Fluke Electronics to become their plant. With Weisfield's continuing to own

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3172-435: The result of the mid 1970s inflation concerns while Fred Meyer continued to increase their presence in the Puget Sound region with bigger stores, lower prices, and updates to their current Marketime locations (Fred Meyer locations acquired in the Seattle area during the 1960s without a grocery section) including leasing Valu-Mart locations and other smaller market discount and department stores while K-Mart would expand further in

3233-481: The sale of the chain made Weisfield's a smaller company at the time, Rosenburg stated "we'll be better off in a business we understand and are comfortable with". Having sold its five Oregon Valu-Marts in 1973, Weisfield's soon also began selling its non-Oregon locations. The Bellingham, Washington , Leslie's was sold to Pay Less Drug Stores in 1975 as well as a store they owned in Reno Nevada. By 1976, most of

3294-491: The second floor of the Midway store (where the former beauty salon operated) until being moved to another shopping center nearby. The Anchorage Valu-Mart was acquired by Fred Meyer as well and became their first store in the state. It is known to be one of the larger retail stores within the chain. Discount store Discount stores in the United States may be classified into different types: Discount superstores such as Walmart or Target sell general merchandise in

3355-541: The store as "Leslie's, America's general store". Sweet shops were eliminated after the Leslie's name change leasing additional space to other businesses such as vacuum cleaner and sewing machine retailers. According to an article published in The Seattle Times on August 10, 1975, Weisfield's 21 department stores accounted for 80 percent of its fiscal revenues ($ 81.9 million) but the company decided to pull out of

3416-417: The stores even after the Fred Meyer conversion (until Kroger acquired Fred Meyer and purchased the Valu-Mart properties). Some of the restaurants were converted to Eve's (Fred Meyer's dining brand) after the conversion. Some food departments were leased to Fred Meyer later on as remodeling happened in the late 1970s (with the exception of the Burien and Greenwood locations). After the Fred Meyer conversion,

3477-460: The stores from a "discount" store to a "junior" department store. The corporate offices were relocated to the Burien location (becoming the flagship store) at the back end of the store and the original Georgetown location was shut down while the original Tacoma location was sold to Yard Birds. The arches from the Tacoma and Burien locations were covered with a vinyl siding and renamed Valu-Mart Plaza. The tall White Front street signs were retooled with

3538-562: Was a venture of S. S. Kresge Company that was a major operator of dime stores . Other retail companies branched out into the discount store business around that time as adjuncts to their older store concepts. As examples, Woolworth opened a Woolco chain (also in 1962); Montgomery Ward opened Jefferson Ward ; Chicago-based Jewel-Osco launched Turn Style ; and Central Indiana-based L. S. Ayres created Ayr-Way . J. C. Penney opened discount stores called Treasure Island or The Treasury ; Sheboygan, Wisconsin based H. C. Prange Co. opened

3599-442: Was extensively remodeled a few years ago to shed the original White Front design of the store including the trademark concrete arch which Valu-Mart covered up with a modern vinyl siding awning after they acquired the store. The gas station originally built by White Front was torn and replaced with parking. A newer self-service station that fits the current Kroger model, was added on the site. The Everett location currently serves as

3660-980: Was founded in 1982 in Toronto, and sells off-price brand clothing. Costco entered Canada in 1986. In 1990, the American chain Walmart purchased the Woolco chain in Canada and converted the stores into Walmarts. Dollarama was founded in Quebec in 1992. In 1998, Zellers bought out Kmart Canada, taking over its stores. In 2011, Marshalls , owned by the American TJX Companies , entered Canada, and Zellers sold most of its stores to Target . Target Canada filed for bankruptcy in 2015, selling its stores to Walmart , Lowe's and Canadian Tire . In 2016,

3721-452: Was used by Ernst for a while until they relocated to the former Pay and Pak distribution center in Kent in the 1990s. After Fred Meyer acquired the Burien store, the grocery section was still leased to Keith Undenburg and operated as a Stock Market Food Store as a separate department until the early 1990s when the company lost its lease and relocated to the former PayLess store in Burien (before being acquired by QFC ). When remodeled in

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