Christmas in Buffalo 1954: Grocery Stores

By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo

BUFFALO, NY- Christmas in 1954 Buffalo… As seen in the Pages of the Courier-Express!

Courier Express

As Buffalonians opened up the pages of the Courier-Express and The Evening News, they saw plenty of choices for Christmas shopping around WNY back in 1954.

Included on these pages are a cross-section of the places Buffalonians would have shopped for clothing, toys, food, cars, and appliances in December, 1954.

I’ve also included this page detailing what folks would have been watching on TV (if they had one!) and listening to on radio during that month.

Okay, this is cool…. but WHY?!?!

A few years ago, I was junk shopping at the Salvation Army store on Seneca Street in South Buffalo.

My love for weird records always takes me to that part of the store,
and that’s where I found the mother-lode– boxes and boxes of old 78rpm records, sitting just as they were packed in in 1955.

But it wasn’t the records that caught my eye…– It was the NEWSPAPER the records were wrapped in!

Dozens of sheets of Buffalo Evening News and Courier-Express, all from December 1954. Well, I took the papers, left the records, and this is the result.

Adrian’s Meats Many of the meats offered here I’ve never eaten… And might only in the future on accident.
Bells Check out the “Billy Bell” Mascot
Bells 9 Western New York Locations… Check out where Bells used to be in your neighborhood.
Bells More from Bells… They have Howdy Doody haucking toothpaste.
BesTaste 8 locations around WNY… and “Say Merry Christmas to your dog…”
Bestway Stores… All 7 stores Open Til 9
Culms Market, Suffolk Street. Old Fashioned wieners on sale… 55 cents a pound.
Loblaws There was one on the corner of Seneca and Ryan at one point…
Mohican Markets The one at Seneca and Buffum was most recently a Rite Aid….it is the orginal building though. There used to be a Fotomat in the parking lot.
Noel’s Foods At Delaware and Delavan, the Noels building was torn down… A “box” drug store now stands there.
Nuway The spitting image of post-war Suburbia!
Nuway Bologna “by the piece.”(?!?!)
Orchard Park Juice:  Another local brand no longer available.
Queen-o! The Generic Pop of Buffalo for a generation.
Ralph’s Food Market on Genesee St. That’s a great cigar!
More From Ralph’s!
Red & White… More great 50s clip art from Red and Red Food Stores.
Sattlers Market… Apparently the Scotsman has the best stew meat.
Reformatted & Updated pages from staffannouncer.com finding a new home at buffalostories.com
Reformatted & Updated pages from staffannouncer.com finding a new home at buffalostories.com

Published by

Steve Cichon

Steve Cichon writes about Buffalo’s pop culture history. His stories of Buffalo's past have appeared more than 1600 times in The Buffalo News. He's a proud Buffalonian helping the world experience the city he loves. Since the earliest days of the internet, Cichon's been creating content celebrating the people, places, and ideas that make Buffalo unique and special. The 25-year veteran of Buffalo radio and television has written five books and curates The Buffalo Stories Archives-- hundreds of thousands of books, images, and audio/visual media which tell the stories of who we are in Western New York.