Stores with nicknames

Back when I was in high school in the 80s the nearest McDonalds was in a nearby African-American-dominated neighborhood and everyone called it Black Macs...which I suppose is actually not as racist as it could have been.

There is a thrift shop on Lake Geneva called "GloryLand" and we homos all call it the Glory Hole. Because its filled with gays and its a seedy dark basement hole. Is that what you mean?

Houston lost its Disco Kroger on Montrose, but it still has Combat Kroger on Polk. When I was in high school, the Richwood Food Market on Richmond was known as Freaky Foods. It's long gone, now a gas station convenience store.

I remember one of the McD's in Pittsburgh was called the Blackdonald's.

Even by the local alt weekly newspaper and the people that worked there.

And one of the CoGo's (convenience stores) was referred to as the CokeGo's.

R2 yes, that's an example

Wally World for Walmart

The Telephone Company for Taco Bell

Houston queens in the house! 😀 I've shopped at both the Disco and Combat Krogers in the past. I don't think it's got a nickname but the Kroger on Main by NRG (Med Center area) is pretty entertaining/scary at times.

Disco Kroger in Atlanta used to be the Limelight. Houston's Disco Kroger?

I call the grocery store Unsafeway because it’s very crimey.

The 24 hour Ralphs of The Damned in Hollywood. If you go in after midnight you'll understand

In college in Pennsylvania we referred to the Giant Eagle grocery store as the Big Bird.

[quote]Disco Kroger in Atlanta used to be the Limelight.

Incorrect.

Disco Kroger was near the Limelight on the same side of the shopping center. Limelight has long since left, but the name for the Kroger remains.

As far as I know, Atlanta had three named Kroger:

Disco Kroger (near the Limelight)

Crisco Kroger (in then very gay Midtown)

Murder Kroger (in then very dodgy Ponce area, which is now is pretty gentrified. In fact the new Kroger there is the basement of a highrise)

There's a Kroger in Knoxville that everyone I knew when I lived there called "Fellini Kroger" because the people who frequented it were so bizarre (even for the South, which is really saying something).

I roll my eyes when people still refer to any Target as "Tar-Zhay." A very tired joke long past its expiration date.

R11, I was just about to mention that, lol. Except we called it The Dirty Bird.

In Colorado we call Whole Foods "Whole Paycheck"

South Beach has Spaceship Publix, Retro Publix, and Mall Publix

In Bloomington, IN back in the late '80s, the Kroger on 3rd Street was known as Creepy Kroger since it was closer to the part of town with, um, interesting families. I don't know if the one on the other side of town by the mall had a nickname.

When I lived in Brooklyn, I used to call the drugstore down the street from me Wrong-Aid, because the customer service was so terrible.

Well, let’s see, there’s the stab and grab up the street and , the murder mart around the corner. Which still have their names even though it’s long been gentrified. But the store owners are slumlords and refuse to clean their buildings or parking lots.

Neiman-Marcus was called "Needless Markup"

[quote]I roll my eyes when people still refer to any Target as "Tar-Zhay."

My mother did that once and I told her, "Take my advice and never say that joke. It makes you sound as if you're recycling material from painfully unfunny people from 30 years ago."

r10, that used to be known as the "Rock n Roll" Ralphs in the 90's and early 2000's because a lot of musicians used to shop there after shopping at the Guitar center or recording at the one of the studios nearby.

r21, I used to work at Neimans, and we the employees used to call it, "Demon Carcass".

Ghetto Kroger in one of the sketchy parts of town has been spruced up, and the gentrification appears to be closing in.

"My mother did that once and I told her, "Take my advice and never say that joke."

And that's why I want my son cut from my will. Put in, "For reasons he will understand."

Back in the 90's, there was a Gay Target in Orlando but I always found that odd as it didn't seem any more or less gay than other Targets and naming it Gay Target actually seemed redundant. But glad it was Gay Target and not Gay Tarjay.

I'm also in Houston. I live near a black Walmart and a Mexican Walmart. I call the Target on Westheimer the Arab Target. That's just me though.

Rock-n-Roll Ralphs was my supermarket for many years! The prissy WeHo snobs who didn't shop at Pavilions (before Hole Foods) on Santa Monica went to the Gay Ralphs at Fountain/LaBrea.

Gonzalez Northgate Markets (chain of "Hispanic" grocery stores in SoCal) are called "El Norteño" by people who shop there.

Bag-n-Save was nicknamed "Bag-n-Slave" or "Bag-n-Gag."

The King Soopers grocery store in Denver’s gay neighborhood is locally referred to as Queen Soopers. Or at least it was when I was there 20 years ago.

I heard it as the "Rocker Ralph's", R23. It's on Sunset, isn't it?

There is a fair amount of out-of-date information on this thread, but I don't mean that as a criticism—this is quite enjoyable.

Three Krogers in Charlottesville, all within a 5 mile radius.

Big Kroger Hydraulic Kroger Little Kroger

Of course we would go thrifting at Sal’s and Will’s.

Club Pub (Publix grocery store) in Tallahassee. Possibly so named by Playboy(?).

In the Knoxville area there is a chain of convenience stores called Weigels. One Weigels is colloquially known as “Stab and grab Weigels”. There is also as mentioned before, “Fellini Kroger”. Going to Fellini Kroger is more of an adventure for the locals than going to Dollywood.

Is Rock N Roll McDonald’s still around in Chicagoland?

Holy shit, a store with the original Dazzler painted on it? They’ve got my business!

Soviet Safeway in DC

Kind of stupid, but we call our Fairway (NYC area supermarket) “Scareway” because there’s a homeless shelter right next door and it’s got a busy loading dock/area right on the sidewalk and sometimes drive the forklift on the busy Manhattan East 86th Street sidewalk. You’ve got to have your wits about you, over there.

There is a deli-type place in Ohio called W. G. Grinders. There is one location in Dublin that seems very skeezy. My husband and I call it Dirty Grinders, which actually makes it sound a bit naughty.

Speaking of stupid, there was a chain of convenience stores called Li'l General. We called them Li'l Genital.

Back in high school some of the guys who worked at the local McDonalds took to sarcastically calling it Mac & Don's Supper Club. They even wore jackets with that on the back.

Decades later, we still call it Mac & Don's.

[quote] I roll my eyes when people still refer to any Target as "Tar-Zhay." A very tired joke long past its expiration date.

It's been around since the 60s and the chain even named its womenswear lines after that for a while, so it's not as new/recent as you may think.

I remember a particular Caribou Coffee in Chicago was known as the Cruisiboo.

The Starbucks up the street was known as Starbears.

[quote] Is Rock N Roll McDonald’s still around in Chicagoland?

It got renovated. No longer music themed.

The Suburban LA town I grew up in had a "Gay Denny's" where most of the gays and theater kids in high school would hang out.

We had the Gherkins, the Perkins that became gay on Friday and Saturday nights when the gay bar let out.

We used to think it was hilarious to call Pizza Hut pizza slut.

There was also a store that kids used to shoplift from called Brooks Discount, which we of course called crooks discount.

When Value City was still more of a Marshalls type of thing (before they closed it down and just had the furniture one) we called it VC Boutique.

R29 I thought that was the Queen Soopers because it was smaller? Makes sense, either way.

Speaking of Houston, there's a venerable 24-hour diner on Kirby called House of Pies. After midnight it is often full of patrons from gay clubs.

Thus it's nickname, House of Guys.

There was an all night diner called Valley Dairy that were referred to as VD, leaning into the vernal disease implications.

R51 PA, right?

Eat n Park was Eat n Fart, or Eat n Shart.

In a neighborhood of rednecks, my city has a Deliverance Kroger.

There's a Costco in San Diego often referred to as the "Mexican Costco."

What should we call this?

Here in Chicago we have a Jewish Jewel.

Why would Taco Bell be nicknamed the Telephone Company?

I think because Bell Telephone used to be the biggest phone company in the country, in olden days. They were a precursor to AT&T.

R52 Yes, western.

[quote]There's a Costco in San Diego often referred to as the "Mexican Costco."

There's a Costco in the south area of Sacramento, bordering Elk Grove, that is heavily stocked with Asian products and easily has the most chaotic parking lot in N. America. I went there only once.

Kum n Go

Dc has (or had) a bunch of nicknames for Safeways.

The Soviet Safeway in Dupont Circle for long lines and empty shelves.

The Social Safeway in Georgetown which was known as a hetero pick up joint

The Secret Safeway for a tiny Safeway between Dupont and Kalorama that nobody ever shopped at.

The UnSafeWay by Eastern Market located near a public housing project.

There may be others.

r62 - My friend calls Kum and Go by another name: Ejaculate and Evacuate. That always made me laugh.

Back to Atlanta, there was a 99% Gay apartment complex on Monroe we called "Vaseline Alley"... for reasons well known to them

In California My husband and I call be BJs Brewhouse blow jobs. It’s just too easy not to.

There's a mall in Gurnee, IL called Gurnee Mills.

It has a large minority customer base from nearby towns, so some refer to it as Ghetto Mills.

There's a Trader Joe's in Northbrook, IL that has a lot of Jewish customers from neighboring towns, so, naturally...Trader Jew's.

Marks & Sparks.

In New Orleans French Quarter, the Quartermaster Deli is called the Nelly Deli. It’s even on their street signage.

@r40, "Speaking of stupid, there was a chain of convenience stores called Li'l General. We called them Li'l Genital. "

In Atlanta "Publix" is often referred to as "Pubics"

When I lived in Memphis, there was the Kro-ghetto (Poplar/Cleveland) and The Little Jewish Kroger (Poplar/Perkins). I would shop at both of them from time to time.

1. I can't believe it took 67 posts to get Marks & Sparks. 2. There were (still are?) grocery stores in San Diego called Alpha Beta, that people called "Ate A Potata". And no, I don't know why..... 3. Used to call eat-in sections at McDonalds the "Golden Arch Room at Mickey D's"

R65 in Chicago there's a series of buildings in the downtown/West Loop area called Presidential Towers.

Most locals call it the United Nations, because it's almost entirely filled with foreign born workers.

It's a decent, well kept building, not a project, but I think because so many other foreign people are there - and its proximity to the Loop - it became a place where people felt comfortable living.

Needless Markup=Neiman-Marcus

I started to call Trader Joe's Discontinued Alley because every single fucking time I found something I liked there, they would discontinue it within a month.

r30, Yes on Sunset.

Back in the early 80's in Chicago we used to call McDonald's, "Mickey Dee's"

I always heard Rocker Ralphs, too. But Rock-n-Roll Ralphs fits, too.

It was renovated and built out in the late 90's, and the old, dangerous store vibe was gone. There used to be narrow security turnstiles to get in and out. They were removed. The parking was notoriously awful, but they put in rooftop parking. And so on.

There was an Unsafeway in Denver. We were in the parking lot of it for about 30 seconds and when about 10 dodgy looking characters started walking en masse toward us we got the fuck out of Dodge.

Atlanta is a little crazy with the store nicknames. In addition to Disco and Murder (attempting rebrand to Beltine), there’s a Kosher Kroger, Fiesta Kroger, Shitty Center (Citi Center) Kroger, Krogay, Hipster Kroger, Krogadishu…

R75 Trader Joe's bean chips, baby. Loved them. First had them in the 80s, then they were gone.

[quote]I remember a particular Caribou Coffee in Chicago was known as the Cruisiboo.

Broadway & Aldine?

[r39] I thought that Grinders closed? You talking about the one by the strip clubs, right? There's also Ghetto Kroger here but I think it refers to half the Krogers in Columbus. Mine is right across the bridge from Bexley on Main.

My best friend in college used to call Gucci on 5th Avenue "Goofy."

This was after we went in and I asked to see a handbag on a self as a possible birthday gift for my mother. The haughty shop-girl sneered, "Do you have any intention of buying?" And I responded, "Not anymore."

R81 Yes! Near/across from Unabridged Books. Which had that deliciously cruisy spot in its basement.

Oddly the Caribou on Halsted farther north really wasn't cruisy at all. Those bitches wanted to get their coffee and GO.

In my little burg in NJ there used to be a gas station (Shell??) that was always, significantly, higher priced than surrounding stations. It was known as Gucci Shell.

There is also a small Kings (grocery store) at the edge of town, affectionately known as "baby Kings"

R82 - No, that isn't the Grinders I was referring to (though I think I know which one that was). The Dirty Grinders that I know and (against my better judgement) frequent on occasion is the one at Fishinger and Riverside. It never seems that it is ever cleaned, and they have a weird display of overpriced grocery/snack items on the counter that I can't imagine anyone would actually buy.

My parents would call McDonald’s the “House of Scotland”.

There was a chain called Dart Drug around DC in the 60s and 70s. The location in Vienna, VA was affectionately called Dirty Dart.

And JC Penney was either designated Penney’s or Jacques Penney.

Woodward & Lothrop was Woodies.

Jack in the Crack = Jack in the Box

Wenchy's = Wendy's

Booger King or Burger Tsar = Burger King

There’s a shitty Kroger in Covington KY, less than 5 miles from Kroger Corporate HQ that everyone just calls ‘The Bodega.” It always busy with meth’d out, toothless hillbillies, homeless alcoholics and that ilk. Due to shoplifting, it never has much on the shelves. Running in for a loaf of bread can be an interesting experience.

"There is a thrift shop on Lake Geneva called "GloryLand"

My parents have a home on Lake Geneva. Why didn't they tell me? (BTW, they had a condo across the street from Warm Sands in Palm Springs and also neglected to tell me about the neighbors)

The last few nicknames are extremely lame.

Quick trip= quick rip

We refer to the grocery store up the street as Asshole Ralphs, because of how several employees and managers act.

Jack-off in the Box

My mother called now defunct Montgomery Ward store "Monkey's."

Back in the 1970s, the gay area of Philly was concentrated west of Broad Streetr, especially on Spruce Street between Broad and 16th St. There was a convenience store called Magic Market which queens derisively called Magic Markup. The whole area was razed for the Kimmel Center.

Who doesn't like to eat at Dead Lobster?

In New York there is a low rent grocery chain called "C Town" - we put the label "a real C Town Shopper" on certain individuals.

[bold]The Nicknamed Krogers of Houston[/bold]

From Garden Oaks to the East End, here they are in *the* definitive list. By John Nova Lomax

Article at link includes nicknames I'd never heard of, e.g., Road Rage Kroger on W. 43rd.

"Ghetto Vons" also known as "Scary Vons" - downtown on Broadway

"Shoebox Vons" (but I don't know if anyone calls it this anymore) - across town by the pier, very small with very narrow aisles so they don't even have full sized shopping carts. Most people just use hand carts or grab an armful of things and go to the self-checkout. However there is always a line at the regular checkout because alcohol is the top selling item at this location and you can't do that as self checkout.

This infamous video occurred at Shoebox Vons. The guy in the blue shirt must be a DL-er but I don't know who he is.

well?

We like to call Walmart Neighborhood Market stores “Smallmart” and the Supercenter “Bigmart”. They have a total of four locations in my one small city!