Until its closing in 2010, Simon David was the oldest gourmet and specialty foods store in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

. Simon David was a long-time specialty retail brand and division of Tom Thumb Supermarkets. Tom Thumb became a division of

Randalls Randalls operates 32 supermarkets in Texas under the ''Randalls'' and ''Flagship Randalls'' banners. The chain consists of 13 stores located around the Houston area and 15 stores located around the Austin area as of May 2020. Randalls today form ...

in 1992, which itself became a 112-store division of

Safeway Inc. Safeway is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, d ...

in 1999.

History

Named for its founder, Simon David opened in 1889 as the first food retailer and deliverer in Dallas to specialize in out-of-season items and imported merchandise. Originally a small brick structure adjacent to Mr. David's home in

Uptown Dallas Uptown is a PID (public improvement district) and a dense neighborhood in Dallas, Texas. Uptown is north of and adjacent to downtown Dallas, and is bordered by US 75 ( Central Expressway) on the east, N Haskell Avenue on the northeast, the Katy ...

' historic State Thomas neighborhood, the business expanded to 4311 Oak Lawn Avenue in the 1920s and thrived under the supervision of second-generation owner Delmer David, who opened an additional wholesale outlet along with separate packing and shipping facilities that distributed Simon David products nationwide. The third location opened October 19, 1961, on Inwood Road, where the founder's grandson, Stanley M. David became the first grocer in Dallas to offer a liquor department before selling the franchise to

Tom Thumb Tom Thumb is a character of English folklore. ''The History of Tom Thumb'' was published in 1621 and was the first fairy tale printed in English. Tom is no bigger than his father's thumb, and his adventures include being swallowed by a cow, tangl ...

in 1963. A larger building replaced the original Inwood Road location in 1985 at the same address. While Tom Thumb would later market a statewide chain of Simon David stores, only the Inwood Road location retained the name of its founder.

Randall's Food Markets

Tom Thumb and its Simon David division were acquired by the Randall's Food Markets chain of

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

in 1992. Randall's retained the Tom Thumb and Simon David names in the Dallas/Fort Worth market, but would convert the seven Tom Thumb stores in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

, to Randall's in January 1994, when it also converted nine newly acquired

AppleTree Markets AppleTree Markets was a supermarket chain in Texas formed in 1969 when Safeway opened its first stores in Houston, which were spun off under the AppleTree name in 1988. The division once had 100 stores in Greater Houston and Greater Austin. By Ja ...

. The Simon David in the Arboretum Market (opened in 1987) was not converted, but it would close in December 1996 and would be converted into a

Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (originally Saks & Company; Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in New York City and founded by Andrew Saks. The original store opened in the F Street and ...

. Though after many customers lamented the loss of the city's only Simon David, Randall's decided in 1998 to make its Bee Caves store a Flagship Randall's supermarket, the first in the city and the eighth in the chain.

Safeway

In 1999 Randall's and its Tom Thumb/Simon David divisions were acquired by Safeway. Safeway retained the Randall's name in Houston and Austin and the Tom Thumb and Simon David names in Dallas/Fort Worth. Safeway announced plans in May 2010 that the Inwood Road location, the last to use the Simon David banner, will be replaced with a Tom Thumb, pending permit approvals.Last Simon David in Dallas closing; new Tom Thumb to replace it
''Dallas Morning News'', May 26, 2010.

References

Historic Uptown Dallas/Simon David *Simon David expansion plans revealed on anniversary, ''The Dallas Morning News'', October 10, 1960. *New Simon David opens tomorrow, ''The Dallas Morning News'', October 18, 1961. *Simon David notes its 74th anniversary, ''The Dallas Morning News'', February 24, 1963. *Cullum Co. buys David food store, ''The Dallas Morning News'', September 28, 1963.

External links

Tom Thumb Food & Pharmacy
Official website
Official mobile site
{{Supermarkets of the United States Safeway Inc. Defunct supermarkets of the United States Retail companies established in 1889 Retail companies disestablished in 2010 Companies based in Dallas 1889 establishments in Texas 2010 disestablishments in Texas