It was an advertisement in the newspaper that made me curious. Kaune’s Foodtown – an old time Santa Fe grocery store – claimed to be the last locally owned grocery store in the city. Somehow that didn’t sound true. In my lifetime, I had known a dozen or so little grocery stores in as many Santa Fe neighborhoods. Surely not all of them had gone. So I set out to discover the truth.
My method was not particularly scientific. I just picked a year in the past, within my lifetime, and examined easily available records in the form of newspapers, maps and business directories. Then I did the same for this year, 2008. Here’s what I learned.
In 1949, the Santa Fe City Directory listed 68 grocery stores operating in the city. The largest ones advertised regularly in the Santa Fe New Mexican – Safeway on Grant Avenue, Batrite on Lincoln and Paul’s Market on Agua Fria. These stores offered a variety of groceries, meat and produce, employed multiple cashiers and offered free parking but they were far from the big box store model we see today.
A half dozen smaller stores occasionally advertised in the paper, among them Mansion Market and Theo’s Zigzag Groceteria, both on Galisteo; Martinez Market on Agua Fria; Johnny’s Market on Tesuque Street; Larriba’s on Irvine and Jose E. Roybal Store on Canyon road (then called Cañon). The other 55 or so grocery stores never advertised at all. They didn’t have to. They usually knew their customers by name. Their customers were their neighbors.
Most Santa Fe grocery stores were small family operations, selling staples and snacks from behind a counter in a store posted on a neighborhood corner. Dozens, large and small, were located in the thick of Santa Fe’s many small neighborhoods. For example, Tito’s Market served Acequia Madre residents, Frank Ortiz had two stores on Galisteo, Castellano’s and Larriba’s competed for customers at opposite ends of Irvine Street, Gormley’s, Friently Market and Roybal’s vied for the custom of Canyon Road residents and Johnny’s Market on Tesuque served the Indian School area.
Even smaller ones dotted the city streets, most without proper names, simply known by the name of the proprietor – Pete’s on Fayette Street, Lujan’s (or Papatin’s) on Manhattan and Romero’s on Agua Fria. Some stores, the smallest, were simply someone’s house, just a front room with some shelves and a freezer. Their customers were literally their neighbors.
Most neighborhoods enjoyed more than one store. West Manhattan had three stores within 2 blocks; College Street had four grocery stores within 4 blocks; Galisteo had six stores in 6 blocks; seven stores ran the length of San Francisco Street and nine stores were scattered along Agua Fria Street.
Why were there so many stores? Perhaps, some speculate, Santa Feans demanded many stores conveniently located to their homes, because automobiles were scarce. Research reveals that there were between 11,000 and 12,000 motor vehicles registered in the city that year. So there’s a plausible argument that at least some residents apparently walked to the grocery store out of necessity. In any event, only the biggest stores, Safeway, Paul’s and Batrite offered parking. The typical neighborhood store in Santa Fe had little or no space for cars.
Perhaps it was Santa Fe’s size that made many local stores a more desirable economic model. Santa Fe was a small town in 1949. Santa Fe’s estimated population in 1949 was just over 27,000 and the city’s limits were still set at the traditional one league (about 2.6 miles) in each cardinal direction from the Plaza. The stores were concentrated along the major streets – College, Galisteo, San Francisco, Canyon Road and Agua Fria – precisely where Santa Fe’s population was most dense. It would have been convenient for most Santa Feans to walk to the neighborhood store.
Over time, Santa Fe’s population and city limits have grown considerably. Today Santa Fe has a population considerably north of 75,000 and the city limits reach all the way to Airport Road.Most of the grocery stores of 1949 have long gone. Some – like Tito’s Market on Acequia Madre and several on West San Francisco Street -- have reverted to their origins as family homes. Many, like Rocky’s on Alameda or Gormley’s on Canyon Road – are re-purposed as art galleries, shops and offices. A few – like the Pecos Trail Grocery on old College Street – were razed to build parking lots or other structures.
The small local grocery stores gradually disappeared, giving way to the modern big box supermarket and the ubiquitous standardized convenience store. In 2008, Santa Fe has 32 grocery stores, seventeen of which are convenience stores of the Allsup’s or 7-11 variety. That’s less than half the number of stores operating in Santa in 1949.
All very interesting you might say, but what about Kaune’s claim to be the last locally owned grocery store in Santa Fe? Don’t bet on it. Here are the facts.
As it turns out, of all the 68 grocery stores listed in business in 1949, only two have survived the years. One is Kaune’s Grocery, founded in 1896 by Henry Kaune (the same year he introduced Santa Fe to Coca Cola). Kaune’s Grocery was located on the south side of the Plaza in 1949, between J.C. Penney’s and the Spitz Building. Kaune’s did not appear to be locally owned in 1949, as it regularly advertised itself as a “Richelieu” store.
Today, the store -- now called Kaune’s Foodtown -- operates at 511 Old Santa Fe Trail and is locally owned and operated by Santa Fean Cheryl Pick Sommer, lawyer turned grocer. The store has grown since 1949 – 40 employees in 8800 square feet – still offering quality meats, fresh produce and an excellent selection of specialty foods. Kaune’s is a great Santa Fe store but it is not the last locally owned grocery store in Santa Fe.
As it happens, there’s Johnnie’s Cash Store on Camino Don Miguel, a crooked street winding north from San Acacio to Acequia Madre, just east of Camino del Monte Sol. Johnnie’s Cash Store began as a neighborhood store by Johnny and Bertha Armijo in 1946 and it’s been operating continuously ever since. Johnnie’s Cash Store is still a small family operation, less than 1200 square feet in size, just large enough for two aisles and a counter top. Bertha Armijo, in her nineties, still owns it and you’re likely to find one or another of the grandchildren at the cash register. Today, just as in 1949, Johnnie’s Cash Store stills sells bread, milk and Popsicles to its neighbors from behind a worn wooden counter, one of the last locally owned grocery stores in Santa Fe.
List of Grocery Stores in the City of Santa Fe in 1949
| Tito’s Market 512 Acequia Madre |
| |
Sanchez Grocery 428 Agua Fria |
| Quintana, Alejandro 606 Agua Fria |
Larragoite Grocery & Liquor Store 803 Agua Fria |
| Park & Shop Market 838 Agua Fria |
| Castellano Jose C. 929 Agua Fria |
| El Monte Grocery 1101 Agua Fria |
| Gonzales, Juvencio A. 1275 Agua Fria |
| Romero, Richard Box 37 Agua Fria |
| Castellano Grocery No. 2 Box 43 Agua Fria |
| |
| Independent Grocery 468 W. Alameda |
| Rocky’s Super Market 700 W. Alameda |
| |
| Louis Grocery 531 Alto |
| Vigil’s Grocery 719 Alto |
| A & J Grocery 923 Alto |
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| Montoya, Richard 600 Armijo |
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| Rios, Jesus 324 Camino Monte Sol |
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Roybal’s Store & Bar 656 Cañon Road |
| Friendly Market 830 Cañon Road |
| Gormley’s 670 Cañon Road |
| New Canon Road Grocery 1027 Cañon Road |
| Duran Trading Post 1136 Cañon Road |
| |
| Furr Food Stores 537 Cerrillos Road |
| Indio Mercantile 1908 Cerrillos Road |
| Wigwam Food Market 1802 Cerrillos Road |
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| Gonzales, Mrs. Nazarena B. 227 Closson |
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| Hillyer’s Grocery & Market 312 College |
| Health Food Store 316 College |
| Pecos Trail Store 529 College |
| Griego’s Grocery 620 College |
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| Foodline, The 601 Cortez Place |
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| H & H Grocery 1001 Don Juan |
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| Johnnie’s Cash Store 420 Don Miguel |
| Padilla, Sam 410 Don Miguel |
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| Tzeranis, Peter 808 Fayette |
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| Roybal Store, Theo 212-14 Galisteo |
| M & S Super Market 232 Galisteo |
| Mansion Market 312 Galisteo |
| Capitol Food Shop 316 Galisteo |
| Ortiz Food Store 600 Galisteo |
| Galisteo Food Market 740 Galisteo |
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| Safeway Stores 123 Grant Avenue |
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| Hillside Grocery 367 Hillside |
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| Manuel Grocery Store 324 W. Houghton |
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| Larribas, prop. Herberger, Thos. 220 Irvine |
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| Cordova, Estevan 539 Juanita |
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| Romero, Lorenzo 204 N. Jefferson |
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| Batrite Food Store 135 Lincoln |
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| D & L Grocery 701 W. Manhattan |
| Martinez, Antonio 729 W. Manhattan |
| Lujan, Martin 816 W. Manhattan |
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| Sullivan’s Grocery 308 Montezuma |
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| El Pueblo Grocery 208 Navajo Blvd. |
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| Cash & Carry Grocery 110 E. Palace |
| Palace Grocery 855 E. Palace |
| Corner Grocery 880 E. Palace |
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| Moore, Samuel A. Sam St. Torreon Addn |
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| Kaune Grocery 54 E. San Francisco |
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| City Cash Market 207 W. San Francisco |
| Dependable Meat Market |
| & Grocery 218 W. San Francisco |
| Spanish Town Grocery 411 W. San Francisco |
| Julian’s Food Store 445 W. San Francisco |
| Santa Fe Camp Ground & Grocery 516 W. San Francisco |
| Tom’s Grocery 554 W. San Francisco |
| Ortiz, Willie Store 622 W. San Francisco |
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| Johnny’s Market 320 Tesuque Dr |
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| Medrano, Benito Box 38 Torcido |
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| G & G Super Market 248 W. Water |
