Grand Opening of Barlow Foods 1969

Cities Largest Supermarket -
Barlow's Foods, Rochester's largest supermarket including a restaurant, delicatessen, bakery, fresh fish market and florist shop, is scheduled to open Sunday in it's 26,000-square-foot location at 1315 6th st. NW.

The store is owned by Stephen Barlow, veteran of more than 20 years in the grocery business and most recently owner of a supermarket at Crystal in suburban Minneapolis...

New Supermarket Mobbed on Opening- Barlow's Foods, the city's newest and largest supermarket at 1315 6th St. NW opened Sunday with an estimated 10,000 people crowding the store and 175-car parking lot steadily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Above is a portion of the crowded lot in front of the store Sunday while below, Stephen Barlow, left and Kirk Whelston, stand in the foreground of a section of the store which is fully carpeted around an international theme...

Barlow Plaza construction on schedule -
Construction on the $4 million Barlow Plaza Shopping Center adjacent to Barlow Foods is on schedule, owner-manager Steve Barlow said today. The Center will add 46,000 square feet to the existing 40,000 square feet. It will contain a Weber and Judd Drug Store, Brown Liquors, Barlow Gardens Restaurant, a bakery and six other retail shops...

Barlow Plaza construction on schedule -
A shopping center, including drug and liquor stores, will be added to the Barlow Foods super market at 1315 Sixth St. N.W., and the grocery store itself will be expanded by 31 percent. The $4 million development to called Barlow Plaza was announced this morning by Steve low of Barlow Foods at a press conference. The 46,590-square-foot shopping center will be adjacent to the present 46,590-square-foot grocery store...

Press Release 1991 -
In July of 1969, seven days after Neill Armstrong landed on the moon, a 25,000 square foot Barlow Foods supermarket was built on its present site. Our concept of offering convenience, quality, variety, personalized service, and low prices was well received by the Rochester community and we quickly outgrew the facility. To satisfy our customers, we needed to expand, and the store grew to 40,000 square feet in 1976. After 12 years and one remodel, our concept of super marketing continues to be well received in spite of changing economic conditions and new competition, and we have again outgrown our facility. This is what I wish to speak about today. The shopping center, which will be called Barlow Plaza, will be adjacent to our existing supermarket and contain our new 8,000 square foot restaurant, 4.500 square feet of bakery production, a 12,000 square foot drug store, a 3,600 square foot liquor store, and up to six other stores which are not yet rented...

New-look Barlow's project done -
Barlow Foods Inc. has completed an expansion and remodeling of its flagship store at Rochester that placed the supermarket among the largest in Minnesota. President Stephen R. Barlow and Rochester Mayor Chuck Hazama this morning cut a ribbon to mark the new look of the grocery at 1315 Sixth St. N.W. The $5.5 million project enlarged the store to 78,000 square feet, a 50 percent addition. It also replaced conventional displays for several departments with a "European style, open marketplace" featuring freestanding islands for products. The remake brought some back-shop operations, such as meat cutting, out in view of customers. It also added improvements such as a breakfast bar, juice bar, smokehouse and a food court. Ethnic and health food sections were enlarged; a video section and child-care area were added. The remodeling, done over the past five months, features a new, two-story glass entry. Barlow said earlier the store also would change business strategy with lower grocery prices to meet tough competition in the area market. In the past, Barlow Foods has concentrated on variety and premium service...

Barlow Plaza to close street, increase parking -
What was once a street will soon be a parking lot. Barlow Foods PIaza is adding 200 parking spaces by closing most of Sixth Street west of 11th Avenue Northwest and turning the area into an expanded lot. The project will increase parking at Barlow Plaza by about one-third, said Steve Barlow, president of Barlow Foods, "Our No. 1concern has been a lack of parking," he said. As part of the expansion, Barlow's recycling center, which had been south of the grocery store, has moved west of the store...