White Front, the first Walmart

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Do you remember the Country Boys Market with its wooden floors? Walter Smiths was the place to go for clothes on the Fulton Mall. Penny Candy had great blacklight posters and don't forget Whitie's Pet Store on Blackstone. What vintage retail do you remember growing up in Fresno?
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Big J
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Re: White Front, the first Walmart

Post by Big J » Wed Aug 18, 2010 9:32 am

Where was this White Front store located, anyway?

Lost Fresno
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Re: White Front, the first Walmart

Post by Lost Fresno » Wed Aug 18, 2010 3:18 pm

White Front was located on Blackstone and Ashlan. From reading your other posts, it's just up from where you live now. Of course, its long gone - just like a lot of other good stuff.

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Re: White Front, the first Walmart

Post by Lost Fresno » Sat Aug 21, 2010 7:58 am

I remember White Front being across from the gas station on the corner of Blackstone and Ashlan. The building itself was set back quite some distance from Blackstone for increased customer parking. My girlfriend pumped gas in HOT PANTS at the gas station on Aslan and Blackstone, hired by the owner to help lure customers. She was cute in those short, shorts and I gassed up my 68 corvette there a few times just to say hi. One bad incident for me occured in the White Front parking lot when an old lady backied into by vette when I couldn't find the horn button fast enough.
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Big J
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Re: White Front, the first Walmart

Post by Big J » Tue Aug 24, 2010 9:39 am

Great story! I see, so they knocked down the White Front building to put in Mervyns etc. Thanks for the illo. An old gentleman who I think probably ran that station was a pal of mine when I was a kid. My mom would pull in and he was always friendly, telling me a joke and whatever. Nice old guy. One day he gave me a baseball glove - was actually my first baseball glove, as I was about 4 or so. Used it for years - and being a huge baseball fan that's something I'll always remember. Always wonder what happened to him when the station went away a few years later.

Mike

Re: White Front, the first Walmart

Post by Mike » Wed Nov 03, 2010 4:24 pm

No, White Front didn't burn down, probably thinking about Gemco at first and Shields. Right before the grand opening in mid 60,s it burned down, rebuilt it and was very successful for many years. there is now a Target in that location.

Framus
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Re: White Front, the first Walmart-all-in-one shopping

Post by Framus » Sat Nov 13, 2010 2:12 pm

My family shopped at the Fresno White Front for several years, in the 60's since we were usually floating right at the poverty line, it was a way to stretch the family budget. It seemed like a gigantic modern building to me at the time. Things I remember spending my allowance to buy at White Front:

1. AMT plastic model Kit of the Monkee Mobile - 1966 - had real hollow rubber tires.
2. Plastic model kit of the 'Sea View' submarine from the TV show 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea'.
3. SLURPEES ( or the industrial equivalent) in the Restaurant section.

As I got older I my tastes grew more sophisticated:

1. Hippy flowers (bunches of tiny dried flowers in brilliant colors) seemed that Flower power required you to have some of these if you were 'groovy' - along with sandalwood stick incense - all from the record dept. of course.
2. My first record albums like Cosmo's factory (Creedence Clearwater Revival) and later on 'Tower Of Power'.
We also bought a Black and White TUBE Admiral Console TV in 1965 that was very unreliable ($90.00).

My parents indulged me and bought My first Classical guitar (for the princely sum of $21.00) in the Record Dept. and a few months later my first Electric guitar and amp ( tube) Both being horrible quality and a complete waste of $$. I think the combo cost a total of $100.00. But hey the guitar was RED so it just had to be a good one, right? Looking back - I spent many hours wandering around inside White front, after having blown my meager allowance, just waiting for the rest of the family to finish up their shopping, It was a lot cooler than waiting in the car.

boomerboom
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Re: White Front, the first Walmart

Post by boomerboom » Thu Dec 30, 2010 8:24 pm

Wow!! what memories. I remember I took my sister to the opening of the store. I was very excited because 'Debbie Reynolds', was going to open the store. I have a signed photograph of her...she was beautiful and short. I think at that time lots of people were excited about a new store. Good Times!!

billwelshsf
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Re: White Front, the first Walmart

Post by billwelshsf » Wed Jan 12, 2011 9:59 am

Whoever that dude is who bashed White Front should know that was a classic store in Fresno at the time. There was nothing like it. My mom or I would go there all the time to buy anything. It was different than Kmart way out Blackstone. It was better especially because it was closer to where we lived at Cedar and Shields. Whenever we had a big rain I would take my Moms Corvair and broadslide it thru the puddles in the parking lot there. That was so fun. We went there from when it opened to when we left Fresno in 1973. But my best memory of White Front is stealing records from there, I would steal 10 or 15 records at a time from there, Im not proud of it now but at the time it was a thrill and it was so easy. Dont remember the in store food at all.

jeremi08
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Re: White Front, the first Walmart

Post by jeremi08 » Sat Apr 30, 2011 1:25 am

i was there at the opening! memories

Rodney
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Re: White Front, the first Walmart

Post by Rodney » Wed May 04, 2011 10:04 am

Several years before White Front came on board in Fresno, there was a large retail store on Blackstone called CBS, which stood for Consumer Buying Service (or something similar). It would have been late 50s or early 60s. I may have gone in all of once since my parents never shopped there, but my older brother did a lot. He got his driver license in 1959 and I think shopped for car parts there. Don't have anymore info about CBS -- did a Google search and came up blank. It was long gone when White Front opened.

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