Rite Aid or Colossal Market

The RiteAid across the street was once a sprawling grocery store opened by Portland grocer Fred G. Meyer in 1931. He remodeled an auto garage and built a giant storefront that took up an entire block! There was even parking on the roof. This massive Fred Meyer was not only the first store of its kind in Portland but in the entire United States. Meyer's friend Sam Walton was so inspired by this one-stop-shopping model, he would pattern his future Walmart stores after it. One might say the store was so big it was...colossal!

Henry Huggins, his parents, and his entire neighborhood excitedly attend the Grand Opening of the Colossal Market in Henry and Beezus. Free samples! Free gardenias for the ladies! Free balloons for the kiddies! It was the event of the year!

Thanks to some quick thinking, Henry sells off the beauty salon coupons he wins and finally earns enough money to buy his long wished after bicycle (a boy's bike, of course!) Do you remember how he gets the other kids (and especially Scooter McCarthy) to stop laughing at him? Would you be brave enough to try a spoonful of Woofies dog food?

Click the links below to learn more about the delectable canine treat Henry would have sampled and to see what this storefront would have looked like in Beverly's childhood. Maybe she bought dog food there too!

https://www.thefarmersdog.com/digest/the-history-of-commercial-pet-food-a-great-american-marketing-story/

https://vintageportland.wordpress.com/2010/05/21/ne-sandy-41st-1934/