What's in a Name?

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Not long ago it dawned on me that throughout this site’sexistence, over six years now, I’ve never taken the time to explain the originof its name. You see, the phrase “Pleasant Family Shopping” is associated withmy earliest retail memories – it’s among my earliest memories of any kind, infact.
From 1962 through the mid-70’s, the phrase appeared on thefacade of nearly all Jewel-Osco combination food and drug stores (“MasterMarkets”, they were called in the early days), in a distinctive orange font ona white background. In my case, at the Des Plaines/Elmhurst Road location, itwas on a white-painted brick section next to the entrance, at what seemed amile above my eye level at the time. If you take a look at our very first post,click to enlarge the photo and squint real hard - you’ll see it.
More common were the “ranch-style” (or as Jerry Lewis wouldput it, “ranch-type style”) Jewel-Oscos, like the Highland Park, Illinoislocation (opened 1962, photographed mid-70’s) pictured above, where the sloganwas displayed front-and-center inside an extra wide gable. A great manyvariants of this design were built.
In the summer of 2007, when I was kicking around the idea ofstarting a blog, I put together a mental shortlist of several names. I camethis close to calling it “Supermarkets Past.” (How lame is that? It would havebeen very limiting as well, since we’ve covered numerous forms of retail overthe years.) Then I kind of liked “More Posts About Buildings and Food” (Yeah, likeI need legal trouble with David Byrne), and finally there was the old standby “Dave’sRetail Reminiscences”. (Or "rumblings" or "rants". Guaranteed to attract sixreaders a year. Leap year.)
Finally, the perfect name came to me – the phrase I’d seenon that wall, week after week, year after year as a kid.  To me it’s broad, yet specific, open to interpretationby individual readers, the way it should be. 

In 2010, I applied for and receivedofficial trademark rights to “Pleasant Family Shopping.”  Jewel, who never trademarked it in the firstplace, stopped using the phrase around 1976. In the 1978-80 remodeling program,it disappeared from most storefronts, hanging on a bit later on others.
So there you have it, O curious ones - an answer to one oflife’s “great” mysteries. Ah, but there are many more, far more importantretail mysteries to explore, and I promise the next posts will be more substantive.Thanks for bearing with me!