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Former Sam's Club (Downey, California)

USA / California / Norwalk / Downey, California
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This is an abandoned building that used to house a Gemco Department Store. Gemco was a popular chain of club membership department stores that was owned by Lucky Stores (before it was bought by American Stores). The chain existed from the 70's to its closing in 1987.

In the 1990s, this was converted to a Sam's Club, which closed around 1999-2000 when it moved.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   33°56'16"N   118°5'45"W

Comments

  • Oblivion (guest)
    Well said, the information is partially right. The Gemco building did house a Sam's Club in the late 90's. I appreciate your correction. The old Gemco building does still have many features that were not eliminated when Sam's Club took over and can still be seen to this day. I decided to take a closer look at the grounds and I found something very interesting. Behind the building is a large quantity of trash which is never cleaned up. In it I found old catalogs and cookbooks from the 60's and early 70's. I found it strange that these could have survived from the Gemco days. It all adds to the mystery surrounding this as well as many other urban "ruins" in our cities in Los Angeles.
  • Mary (guest)
    Where is this builing located?
  • Class of 71 Excelsior (guest)
    Can you say White Front ?
  • Class of 71 Excelsior (guest)
    Where is this building located ????? ahhhhhh, this is a map sweetie figger it out, DOH!
  • BrettWhipperton
    You belong at Gemco.
  • Guest (guest)
    Gemco is on or off florence ave. in Downey going t words santa fe springs. The building in fact, is very much the same,the store sign is in its original shape and design. it became fedco if anyone remembers? after that,,Sams Club.But the cool thing I remember, is the great french fry's they had at the food counter, along with the other great junk food! As a teenager the trick was to get in without getting caught without a club card, It was only a dollar at the time to join but mom and dad were the only one's with the cards and we wold walk in close with other people in a group so they would think we were with those people, after that the store was ours .As you walked in the store just passed the welcome counter you would find yourself in a whole new world,, sporting goods to the left, household and auto to the right, and grocery's straight ahead. bring back Gemco!
  • Janet Lavoie
    I worked at Gemco frim '77 till closing in '86. Missed it soo much. It was my home right out of high school in '77 Please if anyone worked there at that time live to talk yo you
  • TLU2008
    Here's the old circa 2010 description, re-edited for clarity This is an abandoned building that used to house a Gemco Department Store. Gemco was a popular chain of club membership department stores that was owned by Lucky's Supermarkets(now Albertsons). The chain existed from the 70's to its closing in 1987. This abandoned building is one of the finest examples of what a Gemco store looked like, since it has remained relatively undisturbed and unchanged since 1987. Many old Gemco buildings were converted to other stores like Target. This old building looks the same as it did when it was occupied, except certain obvious exceptions like the signs being gone. (edit) Don't you remember that is was a Sam's Club for a while, before it moved to the Long Beach Town Center (moved 1999-2000). So I don't see how it could look the same except for the signs. Maybe the general "shape" of the buildings is the same. Not to detract from your history of Gemco, however because I agree that history is interesting.
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This article was last modified 10 years ago