White Front

White Front was a chain of discount department stores in Southern California and the western United States from 1959 through the mid-1970s. The stores were noted for the architecture of their store fronts which was an enormous, sweeping archway with the store name spelled in individual letters fanned across the top.

White Front
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryDiscount store, Retail
FateBankruptcy of parent company
Founded1929 (1929) in Los Angeles
Defunct1975 (1975)
HeadquartersLos Angeles, California[1]
Area served
California, Oregon, Washington
Productsclothing, footwear, housewares, sporting goods, hardware, toys, electronics, groceries
ParentInterstate Department Stores

History

The name White Front was said to refer to the practice of lining up appliances (so-called "white goods") like washers, dryers and stoves in front of the store, giving it a "white front." Another feature of each store was that each had a separate key booth located in the parking lot.[2]

In 1929, the company was founded and opened its first store at 7651 S. Central Avenue in Florence, South Los Angeles[3][4] In 1950 it expanded this store. In a 1950 advertisement, the company tongue-in-cheek explained that its lone location was in a "low rent area".[5]

Its second store opened in October 1957 at 16040 Sherman Way in Van Nuys.[6] In April 1959, the two stores were acquired by Interstate Department Stores, Inc., for $1,650,000 in cash and shares.[7] Interstate expanded the chain to other California locations and broadened its retail mix beyond the original housewares.[8][9] In September 1960, Interstate also acquired Connecticut-based Topps Discount Stores, which at the time had 10 stores in the Eastern United States, but always kept Topps as a separate business entity.[8] For several years, White Front was the leading discount store in the U.S.[10]

Entering the Portland market

In 1970, the company made an attempt to expand into Oregon market at the Mall 205 in Portland, Oregon.[11] The store had its grand opening on September 19, 1970. The grand opening ceremony featured Allen Ludden of Password fame (most store openings were promoted by Hollywood stars).[12] The Portland store failed largely due to competition from other retailers. Plans were made to construct additional stores in Beaverton and Milwaukee but they never materialized.

Entering the Puget Sound market

White Front entered the Seattle/Tacoma market on October 19, 1967, with the North Seattle location in a 155,000-square-foot building and a parking lot with a capacity for 1,000 vehicles. The grand opening was hosted by the stars of Petticoat Junction, Howard Duff, and Sharon Vaughn, the former Miss Washington of 1958, who was known as Miss White Front for the opening. It was televised live for three hours on KING-TV.[13] Four additional stores were built in high-traffic areas in Burien, Tacoma, Bellevue, and Everett.

All but the Everett location were closed by January 19, 1973.[14] The last ad for White Front appeared in The Seattle Times on December 9, 1972. The Everett and Portland stores remained open (the only two locations to remain open outside of California) while the remaining stores' merchandise was liquidated until February 1973.[15] According to a December 14 article in The Seattle Times, the company stated that "the five stores hadn't begun to turn a profit".[16] While the company was quiet about the closures, local factors including the "Boeing Bust", could have played a role in the downturn of the chain in the area. Archives about the company doesn't indicate a local distribution center in the Northwest.

In an article published by The Seattle Times (on June 16, 1972) General Manager Walter Craig, explained that the stores had yet to make a profit in the Northwest but wanted to retool the stores for the customer base by adding more lights, widening aisles for better traffic flow, repainting the exterior of the building, and restriping the parking lots spending $250,000. The company implemented a "Friedlee" program complete with an elf like mascot to improve customer service.[17]

Three of the four closed stores were acquired by Weisfields to become Valu-Mart/Leslie's stores by the end of 1973. The grocery sections were leased to Associated Grocers. The Tacoma store had seen many ownership changes: first as a Valu-Mart/Leslie's store (acquired in February 1973),[18] later a Jafco and then a Best store (currently Michael's). The Burien store became the flagship store for Valu-Mart/Leslie's (currently Fred Meyer). It was acquired from White Front in February 1973.[19] The Burien location is one of the larger stores in the Fred Meyer chain. The North Seattle store became a Kmart (closed in January 2013).[20] The Everett store (appears to have remained opened until the company's complete liquidation in 1974 according to Everett Mall leasing records) was integrated into Everett Mall in 1977 to become a Bon Marché and then Macy's (Macy's recently closed the store). The Bellevue store was acquired by Valu-Mart/Leslie's in November 1973[21] and became a Fred Meyer as well. The towering store signs used for the locations remain visible at the North Seattle and Tacoma sites.

Stores built before 1970 contained a "Discount Foods" grocery store department. Safeway Inc. took ownership of the grocery section in some markets, and newer-design stores, such as those in Everett and Bellevue that were built without the arch, also did not have a grocery store.[22]

Bankruptcy

In 1966, Interstate acquired the toy store chain Children's Supermart, predecessor of Toys "R" Us.[8][23] White Front was closed after Interstate filed for bankruptcy in 1974.[24] Some of the locations were changed to Two Guys, another discount chain. Two Guys soon failed as well, and the stores became relabeled as FedMart stores, which eventually were purchased by Target. The Target store in San Bernardino, California sported the archway across its facade for many years until a recent remodeling.

The White Front store on California Avenue in Bakersfield, California, was taken over by Zody's. Later it was purchased and remodeled by Mervyns, which soon went out of business.

A number of independent local pharmacies continue to carry the White Front name in Costa Mesa and elsewhere, having inherited it from their former host stores, but are otherwise unrelated.

See also

References
  1. "President Is Selected By Interstate Stores". New York Times. November 9, 1968. p. 53. ProQuest 118307290.
  2. "White Front - Under the Familiar Arch". Pleasant Family Shopping (blog). September 3, 2007.
  3. "White Front Stores Note 34th Birthday" (PDF). Torrance Herald. April 25, 1963. p. 8. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 17, 2013. Retrieved October 1, 2018.
  4. "White Front Set to Open Ninth Store" (PDF). Torrance Herald. May 16, 1963. p. 38. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 17, 2013.
  5. "White Front classified ad". Los Angeles Times. December 10, 1950. p. 89 – via newspapers.com.
  6. "White Front Salutes the San Fernando Valley". Van Nuys Valley News. August 29, 1961. p. 45.(subscription required)via NewspaperArchive.com.
  7. "Interstate Department Stores Acquires Los Angeles Concern". Wall Street Journal. April 28, 1959. p. 12. ProQuest 132514230. Interstate Department Stores, Inc., announced it has acquired White Front Stores, Inc., Los Angeles, a two-unit low markup operation with volume of more $20 million a year.
  8. "Interstate Department Stores Inc". Lehman Brothers Collection, Twentieth Century Business Archives, Baker Library Historical Collections, Harvard Business School. 2010.
  9. White Front, Memories, Torrance High School Class of 1973. Archived December 8, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  10. "Handleman in Separation with White Front". Billboard. 86 (26). June 29, 1974. p. 3. ISSN 0006-2510 – via Google Books.
  11. The Oregonian (photo of grand opening of Mall 205 with White Front store) September 18, 1970
  12. See Password episode from September 18, 1970
  13. "Ribbon-Cutting With a Flair Signals White Front Opening". The Seattle Times. October 19, 1967. p. 66.
  14. "Weisfield's buys White Front store". The Seattle Times. December 19, 1972. p. D5.
  15. "County posts writs against White Front". The Seattle Times. February 2, 1973. p. E6.
  16. Parks, Michael J. (December 14, 1972). "White Front stays mum on closures". The Seattle Times. p. B3.
  17. "How to turn stores to profit?". The Seattle Times. The Seattle Times. June 16, 1972. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  18. Seattle Times December 19, 1972
  19. "Weisfield's may buy Burien White Front". The Seattle Times. February 6, 1973. p. D6.
  20. McNerthney, Casey (January 28, 2013). "Kmart in North Seattle to close soon: Store has been on Aurora Avenue North since 1970s". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
  21. Seattle Times November 11 1973
  22. "Seattle Area White Front Stores". Grocerteria.com. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  23. "Toys "R" Us, Inc". Reference for Business.
  24. "Interstate's Chapter XI is tops in shops: Interstate Chapter XI is retailing's biggest". Women's Wear Daily. 128 (102). May 23, 1974. pp. 1, 14. ProQuest 1627404149. Interstate also plans to dispose of its 15 remaining White Front discount stores and its six White Front appliance centers in California.
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