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Posted by Rich on 10/21/2005, 2:59 pm, in reply to "Trading Stamps and Supermarkets" Trading stamps got their start in department stores at the end of the 19th century, which owned the stamp plans they used. Schuster's Department Store in Milwaukee is usually credited with being the first. Other chains with stamps included May (May Co. in Cleveland and its Famous Barr chain in St. Louis--which used them for decades until the early/mid-80s; May also used them briefly in their Strouss' stores in Youngstown and their May D&F stores in Colorado Springs in the 70s), the Bailey Co. in Cleveland (which had Merchants Red Stamps, for decades until the mid-60s--for a short time they had S&H green stamps). A number of dept stores also gave S&H Green Stamps, I believe The Fair in Chicago was one. May's Eagle stamps were one of the few proprietary stamp plans to spread beyond a dept store---it was estimated that 90% of households in the Cleveland area saved them during the 60s & 70s--they also were given by Pick-n-Pay super markets, the Leader Drug coop and numerous gas stations and dry cleaners. S&H began by servicing a group of collaborating small businesses in New England. There was a short period in the 1910s & 1920s when stamps were popular with groceries--A&P gave S&H Green stamps in many of its stores. Safeway helped organize the Blue Chip Stamp company in LA in retaliation to S&H's entry into the market with Mayfair. Grand Union owned Triple-S stamps, although it used S&H stamps in its DC area and New England stores. Food Fair owned Merchants Green Stamps. Top Value was owned by a conrostium that included Kroger, Stop & Shop (New England), Giant (DC), and Penn Fruit (Philly). Allied Supermarkets (based in Detroit) owned a stamp company (?Gold Bell) which they used in Cleveland & Detroit; they used S&H in other markets and when they reintroduced stamps in the late 70s. Almost all chains gave stamps during the late 50s and early 60s. Except for St. Louis (where they had Eagle Stamps), National gave S&H Green Stamps. Their sibling, Loblaw, also used S&H. Acme used S&H stamps everywhere exc. Pittsburgh where Thorofare had the franchise. First National, as well as a host of smaller chains used S&H in New Enland. Winn-Dixie used S&H in most of their stores, although most switched to Top Value after Kroger dropped them. Colonial used S&H In most markets, except Atlanta where Big Apple gave them, so they used Gold Bond. Publix used them in its Florida stores until the mid-80s. At one time, almost all Southern California stores gave Blue Chip Stamps, although at various times, Mayfair, Alpha Beta, Big Bear, and Smits gave S&H. In the end, S&H outlasted the others and bought its remaining competitors: Top Value (spun off from Kroger, which was the last of the original co-op to drop them) and EF MacDonald (a Dayton dept store that issued Plaid Stamps which had beeen made popular by A&P--a chain that was late to adopt stamps). --Previous Message--
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