Big Chain Grocery in Shreveport

Big Chain, founded in 1922, was a subsidiary of the Weiner Loeb Grocery Co. In 1922, the Weiner Loeb Grocery Company opened its first “cash and carry” store in a rented room in the M. Levy building (the Petroleum Tower sits there now) in downtown Shreveport. They chose two of their employees as manager (Ed Wile) and checker (D.R. Sandifer). A year later, Wile and Sandifer, along with Louis Levy, bought out Weiner Loeb, and the rest is history!

We love this kind of history and even included a picture of a Weiner Loeb horse and wagon in front of the old Battle house on Edwards Street!

The Lakeshore Drive location was opened in 1949, and Jack Barham was on hand to photograph the new store. Its “ultra modern” look was very eye-catching! We found several photos of it taken by various local photographers. Robert Menasco and Thurman C. Smith both had some really good photos of it in their collections just waiting to be found! That building, by the way, is still standing on the corner of Lakeshore and Jewella Avenue.

© Northwest Louisiana Archives at LSUS
Historic photos of Big Chain grocery store researched by Twin Blends photography courtesy Northwest Louisiana Archives at LSUS.

Teammate Brennan Hussey reached out to us recently. Here is what he sent us:

“My maternal grandfather, Ed Wile, along with his friends, Levy and Sandifer, were the founders of The Big Chain, and I procured from my father’s house original Grabill photos (circa 1929) of the first Big Chain away from downtown (now the Harrison paint building across the street from the state office building on Fairfield Avenue). I also have a framed rendering of the store. My grandfather was the first cousin of Bill and SG Wiener, and they designed the building, which had a much different facade than it has now. We still also have framed issues of The Shreveport Times, with all of the openings of The Big Chain-Broadmoor Shopping Center (Youree and Ockley), Uptown Shopping Center on Line, Lakeshore (Lakeshore and Jewella), etc.

Thanks Brennan for reaching out to us! We love uncovering history and can’t wait to show more Big Chain photos! Photos Courtesy Northwest Louisiana Archives at LSUS and Thurman C. Smith.

This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Twin Blends Photography History Corner: Big Chain Grocery in Shreveport