MOUNT VERNON — This week we see a blast from the past: the opening of the original Big Bear store on Coshocton Avenue in Mount Vernon in 1961. B
Big Bear revolutionized shopping in the Midwest, having been the first self-service grocery store in the whole region when the first store opened in Columbus in 1934.
That store, on West Lane Avenue, was opened in what had previously been a horse show ring, and before that a roller skating rink. Though the start was precarious, the chain was to thrive in Ohio and West Virginia for decades, lasting until 2004 before folding.
The chain changed retail shopping nationwide when they introduced motorized conveyor belts operated by cashiers at the checkout, an innovation that was soon taken up by almost every rival. They were also one of the first stores to introduce the use of grocery carts for customers to carry goods.
The chain was near its peak when the Mount Vernon store opened, before other chains began gaining on Big Bear. The chain rapidly lost ground in the 1980s and 90s to Kroger and Meijer, and was sold to a holding company which filed for bankruptcy in 2004. Many store locations had already closed before then.
Mount Vernon had the distinction of having had a Big Bear grand opening twice. Jim Delozier came to town in 1983 to manage the original store, then he oversaw the planning and building of the new store, located a little further out Coshocton Road.
He eventually left the company and passed away in Mount Vernon in 2008, according to his obituary.
Someone who is better versed in cars will have to identify the models seen in the photo from the 1961 opening. I would say that they look to be largely (if not exclusively) American-made cars, many quite recent models for the 1961 date of the event — definitely not the description of the cars at any grand opening today!
