Red Owl's popularity in Sioux Falls lasted nearly 7 decades:Loooking back

Red Owl grocery stores were a nearly constant presence in Sioux Falls from 1925 through 1989. Through the years, the number of stores surged and waned. Some were little stores, others were among the first supermarkets in Sioux Falls. Let’s look a bit deeper into the history of Red Owl.

In the early 1920s, the Red Owl chain began as, of all things, a coal company. It was a wholly-owned entity of General Mills, based in Hopkins, Minnesota. The first Red Owl “groceteria” opened in Rochester, Minnesota, prior to 1922. The stores were called groceterias to emphasize their self-service nature, which was a fairly new concept in the grocery industry. Up to that point, people would ask their grocer to pick their products from behind a counter. In no time, the stores were showing up in Mankato and New Ulm. Red Owl exploded into the Sioux Falls market with three stores.

These early Red Owl stores moved into established groceries purchased from Robert Moore, a local grocer who had built his stores up over the previous five years. His stores were called, somewhat awkwardly, In-Serve-Out Stores. The first was at 113 W. 10th Street, in the ground floor of the old Masonic Temple at 10th and Phillips. The store opened on Sept. 5, 1920. A meat market opened next door at 115 W. 10th on June 24, 1922. Its proprietors eventually started calling the store Colonial Meats, in honor of the Colonial Theater across the street.

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Robert Moore bought Colonial Meats, absorbing it into the In-Serve-Out store in March 1923. Moore then purchased an established grocery at 206 N. Main, where the Holiday Inn now stands, from the Foster Brothers. This one he named The Thrift Store, perhaps thinking In-Serve-Out was awkward. He did end up changing the name to In-Serve-Out by January of 1924, when he opened his third store at 323 S. Phillips, around the spot where J. L. Beers is now. He celebrated five years in the business on Sept. 1,1925, then after receiving a lucrative offer, sold all three stores to Red Owl.

The following year, Red Owl purchased Sanitary Meat and Grocery Company at 215 N. Phillips. It had become apparent to the company that there was money to be made in Sioux Falls. Red Owl was experiencing extensive growth in the Midwest, with 53 stores spread across Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and the Dakotas by 1925. Two years later, Red Owl opened its 100th store, located in Tracy, Minnesota.

In 1928, the store at 115 W. 10th moved to 125 W. 10th, as the Masonic Temple was being razed to make way for Kresge’s new Sioux Falls store.

The number of Red Owl stores in Sioux Falls increased and decreased over the years. As the store sizes grew, the number of locations shrunk. It was the dawn of the supermarket. Sioux Falls boomed in size after World War II, and grocery stores were needed to feed this growing population. In 1948, there were eight Red Owl stores in Sioux Falls. For years, the largest of these stores was at the northwest corner of 14th Street and Minnesota Avenue. In 1959, this store was closed for remodeling. Two lots which formerly held homes were purchased to make way for the store’s expansion. Shoppers were encouraged to go to the only other Red Owl store open at the time, which was at 1101 N. Main. This store was 10 years old, and when the store at 14th and Minnesota was enlarged, there would be no need for it. It reopened in 1959 as a Piggly Wiggly.

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The store at 14th Street was purchased by former Red Owl big-wig Merle Getten in 1967, and became Getten’s Red Owl. This move represented a change in Red Owl’s business model. The stores were no longer solely owned by the company. This store broke free from Red Owl’s apron strings by 1971, becoming Getten’s Country Store. Getten owned this store until 1976. In 1977, it reopened as Granny’s Ice Cream Parlor & Family Fun Center, later becoming Piccadilly Circus, then Gigglebees.

Red Owl’s last hurrah in Sioux Falls was at the Western Mall. In 1979, the company opened a 60,390 square foot store there, and ran it until 1985, at which point it became a Country Store, which lasted for about a year. On Aug. 12, 1986, Red Owl resumed ownership of the store and ran it as Red Owl Country Store, and later Wise Buy, until it closed in 1989.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Red Owl's popularity in Sioux Falls lasted nearly 7 decades:Loooking back