moore boxes

[Jay]

The one on 4th street is a former Buchanans store. They used to be one of the true hometown grocers for Moore and South OKC. When I was in high school I met Steve Buchanan. He was always there to lend a hand when the school needed something.

I remember I made a request to coca-cola for a fountain setup for an outdoor school event. The day of the event Coca Cola only delivered the syrup and the CO2. Steve Buchanan just happened to be around that day and caught wind of are dilema. He called one of the stores and had thier soda serving trailer delivered to the school. Along with the tralier came lots of ice and plenty of cups.

Both Moore and Westmoore used the Buchanans stores for pep rallies. The 4th and Eastern store adopted Moore High School and the 119th and Western store adopted Westmoore. The Buchanan family was dedicated to the local community.

Steve Buchanan sold the stores to fleming in the late 90's. He was quoted in a newspaper article stating Wal-Mart was killing their business and he wanted out before the losses became to heavy.

As we all know Fleming went bankrupt and along with them went many independent grocery stores which they either owned or supplied. Most where known as IGA Superthrift. The remaining IGA Superthrifts have either changed affilations or just dropped the IGA Superthrift name from thier store.

As far as something moving in thier goes its hard to tell. I think the center will probably be raised and rebuilt as something else. Just because thier is a large amount of growth on the east side of Moore these days. Thier going to need the same kinds of stores Norman and North OKC have.

[Jay]

BTW is the old Pratt's store on 12th and Eastern still vacant. A few years ago Albertson's supposedly bought the property. They were going to tear down the old Pratt's store an build a new Albertson's.

For all we know they may have changed thier minds since Crest is right across the street.