THE IUP Football Thread

[IUPNation]

Yeah the old Giant Eagle near campus was a dump.

The Giant Eagle Express was fantastic. One stop shop.

The other BILO is still hanging on. Martin's (in Regency Plaza) is very nice.

Martins is Giant in Central and Eastern PA. I guess using the Giant name would confuse too many yinzers. :-)

Yeah that Giant Eagle was pretty beat even in the 80’s. That Martins would have been nice when I lived in Oakland Hall. There was no grocery option on the west side of town back then…

[Fightingscot82]

I believe they did eliminate GE Express altogether. The closing of the store in Indiana had much to do with a lot of product getting legs. It was a nice model. I think it could succeed in a town like Indiana, or a college town in general. It had a nice ability to pull in all sorts of customers.

Great small grocery store for those on-campus or just off campus who did not have a car. Expansive menu of already prepared hot and cold items. Made to order touch screens like Sheetz, Wawa, Getgo, etc. Seating that it managed to be used as a study area/coffee shop for the yuppie/hipster type students. It had a very nice draw and appeal. I remember going there to get food with friends on weekend nights when other things were closed.

I think the concept would work well in an urban area where a standard grocery store doesn't make much sense. But then again, I thought the same thing about the gas-less Sheetz and those don't seem to have worked either (they've also closed the same concept in Morgantown and State College).

[Fightingscot82]

Martins is Giant in Central and Eastern PA. I guess using the Giant name would confuse too many yinzers. :-)

Yeah that Giant Eagle was pretty beat even in the 80’s. That Martins would have been nice when I lived in Oakland Hall. There was no grocery option on the west side of town back then…

Giant Eagle used to have a lot of stores that were locally owned franchises. Then the corporate entity (owned by the family of the PASSHE board chair) started buyin them up. I've noticed that the last franchise holdouts are noticeably "different" than the corporate ones. The one in Slippery Rock still is locally owned and I laugh because they block off the self checkout lanes forcing EVERYONE into just one or two cashier lanes.

[IUP24]

I think the concept would work well in an urban area where a standard grocery store doesn't make much sense. But then again, I thought the same thing about the gas-less Sheetz and those don't seem to have worked either (they've also closed the same concept in Morgantown and State College).

Unless you increased the size of the "store" component of those gasless Sheetz locations, I'm not sure how they were going to be successful. I could count on one hand the number of times I actually bought something at that Sheetz at the corner in Indiana. That GE Express was massive compared to it. Not sure why anyone would choose Sheetz over the GE Express at the time simply based on the size of the location and offerings.

I see what you mean about the urban area factor, but I've also never understood why cities don't at least attempt to try to put more grocery stores into downtown/urban areas. Columbus has two in the downtown area. Both are extremely nice stores. One is a Giant Eagle Market District in a highly residential urban community that is literally steps away from downtown Columbus. The other is a Kroger towards the campus area. Both have adequate parking and are full service grocery stores.

[iupgroundhog]

I see what you mean about the urban area factor, but I've also never understood why cities don't at least attempt to try to put more grocery stores into downtown/urban areas.

They do and they are. But the decision to locate the store is not made by the city, it's made by the company.

[IUPNation]

Giant Eagle used to have a lot of stores that were locally owned franchises. Then the corporate entity (owned by the family of the PASSHE board chair) started buyin them up. I've noticed that the last franchise holdouts are noticeably "different" than the corporate ones. The one in Slippery Rock still is locally owned and I laugh because they block off the self checkout lanes forcing EVERYONE into just one or two cashier lanes.

I think the franchisee mode was a standard model for stores in rural areas back in the day. A lot of IGA’s in small towns too.


Growing up in Norristown, we had the family owned Genuardi’s Markets and they were hard to beat. They were like Wegmans and had grown to several stores in the Philly Metro area. Then Safeway bought the chain in 2001, promptly ruined it by stopping what made the stores popular and would wind up selling most of them off to Ahold to become Giants and a few to Weis Markets in 2013.

[iupgroundhog]

Here is a link to Supermarket News in case anybody wants to keep up with the latest in groceries.

https://www.supermarketnews.com/

[IUPNation]

There is actually going to be a Hills Snack Bar Food Truck out and about in The Yinzerlands for you older yinzers who used to shop at Hills. I don’t remember the snack bar at the Hills that used to at Regency Mall. I really didn’t go into Hills that much..I didn’t do discount in the 80’s. :-)

https://www.wtae.com/article/hills-s...GBRYefUMkMcto#

[Fightingscot82]

There is actually going to be a Hills Snack Bar Food Truck out and about in The Yinzerlands for you older yinzers who used to shop at Hills. I don’t remember the snack bar at the Hills that used to at Regency Mall. I really didn’t go into Hills that much..I didn’t do discount in the 80’s. :-)

https://www.wtae.com/article/hills-s...GBRYefUMkMcto#

The whole store smelled like popcorn, Icee's, and hot dogs on rollers LOL

[IUPNation]

The whole store smelled like popcorn, Icee's, and hot dogs on rollers LOL

Well now you have a food truck bringing it all back. I can probably count on one hand and have more than one finger not used in the number of times I set foot in the Indiana Hills. I still never been in the Valley Dairy if it’s still there.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Well now you have a food truck bringing it all back. I can probably count on one hand and have more than one finger not used in the number of times I set foot in the Indiana Hills. I still never been in the Valley Dairy if it’s still there.

The Valley Dairy is actually kind of booming. It does very well with the older crowd and also with the students. They didn't price gauge like just about every one of their competitors did (Eat-n-Park, for example, got ridiculous for the quality of what you actually get). VD has also opened several new locations in the past couple years. Obviously it's not four-star dining, but as far as diner food goes it's not too bad.

Romeo's (basically on campus) is the best kept secret in Indiana. I think many see it as a pizza shop but it's evolved in to a full-blown restaurant -- with really good quality food and a great drink menu. The location is tricky for business -- great for a pizza shop per se but perhaps not so great for a higher quality restaurant (most locals don't like to get near campus while in session).

[iupgroundhog]

The Valley Dairy is actually kind of booming. It does very well with the older crowd and also with the students. They didn't price gauge like just about every one of their competitors did (Eat-n-Park, for example, got ridiculous for the quality of what you actually get). VD has also opened several new locations in the past couple years. Obviously it's not four-star dining, but as far as diner food goes it's not too bad.

Romeo's (basically on campus) is the best kept secret in Indiana. I think many see it as a pizza shop but it's evolved in to a full-blown restaurant -- with really good quality food and a great drink menu. The location is tricky for business -- great for a pizza shop per se but perhaps not so great for a higher quality restaurant (most locals don't like to get near campus while in session).

I always loved those Valley Dairy milkshakes.

[iupgroundhog]

The Valley Dairy is actually kind of booming. It does very well with the older crowd and also with the students. They didn't price gauge like just about every one of their competitors did (Eat-n-Park, for example, got ridiculous for the quality of what you actually get). VD has also opened several new locations in the past couple years. Obviously it's not four-star dining, but as far as diner food goes it's not too bad.

Romeo's (basically on campus) is the best kept secret in Indiana. I think many see it as a pizza shop but it's evolved in to a full-blown restaurant -- with really good quality food and a great drink menu. The location is tricky for business -- great for a pizza shop per se but perhaps not so great for a higher quality restaurant (most locals don't like to get near campus while in session).

Wasn't there also a Valley Dairy on the campus side of Leininger Hall, below the radio station, back in the olden days?

[IUPNation]

The Valley Dairy is actually kind of booming. It does very well with the older crowd and also with the students. They didn't price gauge like just about every one of their competitors did (Eat-n-Park, for example, got ridiculous for the quality of what you actually get). VD has also opened several new locations in the past couple years. Obviously it's not four-star dining, but as far as diner food goes it's not too bad.

Romeo's (basically on campus) is the best kept secret in Indiana. I think many see it as a pizza shop but it's evolved in to a full-blown restaurant -- with really good quality food and a great drink menu. The location is tricky for business -- great for a pizza shop per se but perhaps not so great for a higher quality restaurant (most locals don't like to get near campus while in session).

Where is Romeo’s?

[IUPNation]

Wasn't there also a Valley Dairy on the campus side of Leininger Hall, below the radio station, back in the olden days?

Not in 1984. We had Foster and Folger.

We did get a Dennys along Grant at University Square in 1987 which was open 24 hours and would have students in there studying and drinking coffee all night long. I don’t think it lasted that long after o graduated.