| Type | Discount store |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | Started in 1955 as a division of Weisfield's Jewelers. Name was changed to Leslie's in 1974 |
| Headquarters | Originally headquartered in Seattle (Georgetown), Washington. Relocated to Burien, Washington in 1973 with store locations in Oregon, Alaska, and Washington. Distribution center was located in Kent, Washington |
| Products | clothing, footwear, housewares, sporting goods, hardware, toys, electronics, drugs, groceries |
| Website | None |
Valu-Mart was a chain of discount stores founded in Seattle in the 1950s. 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 a jewelry store.
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Started as membership stores (similar to Costco) this requirement would disappear by the mid 60s as the stores would try to switch from a no frills warehouse look to a full service and more upscale look. Each store contained clothing, variety, toys, sporting goods, pet (mostly fish), home and garden, electronics (mostly a record department at the time), notions, pharmacy, groceries, 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 (Georgetown-off of Corson St.), Tacoma (off 35th St.), and Spokane. The Georgetown location served as the flagship store for the chain until 1973 when the chain acquired a former White Front store in Burien and relocated their offices to the new site and shut down the Seattle location.
During the 1960s, stores were built in Kent (Midway), North Seattle (Greenwood), Shoreline (Aurora), Everett, Yakima, Richland, Anchorage, as well as five stores in Oregon. Their distribution center was located in Kent (212th and East Valley Highway) in the newly built Benaroya Business Park.[1]
In 1973, Valu-Mart acquired the former White Front store in Burien and remodeled the main portion of the store to create a mall environment that included a Hallmark store, a state liquor store, laundry mat, arcade, cafeteria, beauty salon, and a Pirates Plunder Import store. The corporate offices were relocated to the new location at the back end of the store and the Georgetown location was shut down. The arch was covered with a vinyl siding naming the location Valu-Mart Shopping Plaza. The tall White Front street sign was retooled with 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. A new commercial campaign was started featuring Joe Conley (general store owner, Ike Godsey from The Walton's) marketing the store as "Leslie's, America's general store". It was an unsuccessful marketing move and the inflation woes at the time didn't do the company any favors. By 1976 the chain was acquired by Portland based Fred Meyer and the stores were added to their chain while the property was still owned by the owners of Valu-Mart with Fred Meyer signing long term leases for their locations. The Everett location was only used for a short time until Fred Meyer built a newer store nearby.
Separate grocery sections in the stores featured curbside grocery 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 loaded into the car. Grocery sections were no longer managed by the stores in 1972. Instead they leased the area to other grocers to run. Most were acquired by AG (Associated Grocer) Member stores and 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. Sweet shops were eliminated after the Leslie's name change leasing additional space to other businesses such as vacuum cleaner and sewing machine retailers. The restaurants and beauty salons were re-leased to become independent businesses that operated within the stores. Some of them even after the Fred Meyer conversion. Most of the restaurants were converted to Eve's (Fred Meyer's dining brand) after the conversion.
The stores were a direct competitor to another Seattle based membership chain founded by Joe Diamond called Gov-Mart/Baza'r.
The company even sponsored a hydroplane in the early 70s that was known for having a unique hull design for its days. 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 the early part of the 21st century since Kroger wanted full control of their interests. After the sale of the properties, The Midway location was eventually torn down and redeveloped adding a new store, gas station, and additional space to lease in 2007.
Most former Valu-Mart stores are still standing today although most buildings have been extensively remodeled. Greenwood, Burien and Bellevue stores are still operating as Fred Meyer stores. The Burien location 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 Bellevue location, also a former White Front but without the distinctive arch, still operates as a Fred Meyer. The Greenwood store (used in Fred Meyer commercials in the late 1970s) still looks the same today while the Everett location served as a plant for Fluke Electronics. Built in the same design as the original Midway store in the mid 1960s, this building still stands vacant on Evergreen Way a few blocks south from a Fred Meyer that was built in the 1980s. 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 a Jafco and Best store before that). The Georgetown location operated as Gamble'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 sometime until it was converted into office space. The building is vacant at this time.
The distribution center 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 the 1990s to add groceries to the store, it became one of Fred Meyer's larger stores in terms of square feet. Former office space used by 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 the second floor of the Midway store (where the former beauty salon operated) until being moved to another shopping center nearby.