Abandoned Groceries - Rainbow Foods - Blaine, MN

Rainbow Foods is a defunct chain of Minnesota grocery stores. Rainbow made its debut in 1983, founded by Sid Applebaum, of Applebaum's Grocery Stores and D. B. Reinhart, of Gateway Foods. Quickly growing to 40 plus stores throughout Minnesota by the mid-1990's, Rainbow Foods was the second-largest grocery chain in the Twin Cities, behind Cub Foods.

And you know how we feel about Cub Foods...

Applebaum and Reinhart sold Rainbow Foods to Texas-based wholesaler, Fleming Companies, in 1994. Fleming Companies held onto Rainbow until 2003. Flirting with both Safeway and Albertsons, before selling their 31 stores to Milwaukee based Roundy's, for 82.5 million. Fleming closed the other 12 locations not involved in the sale, cashing out on the grocery store business completely.

On May 7, 2014, Roundy's sold 18 of the Rainbow Foods stores to a consortium of their own competition for 65 million dollars. The new owners included Lund's and Byerly's, about six smaller, local grocers, and of course Cub Foods. More accurately, Cub's parent company, SuperValu Foods. Most stores were converted into Cubs and Lund's and Byerly's, but six stores stayed branded as Rainbow Foods. For a little while...

Roundy's could not find a bidder for nine of the Rainbow Foods stores, so they just closed them permanently, on July 22, 2014. That included stores in both Coon Rapids (Riverdale) and Blaine (Northtown).  

But it's the Northtown location that is the focus of today's little adventure!

Rainbow Village is the retail center named after Rainbow Foods, it's one time anchor on the east side. The Village's other anchor tenant, Marshalls, would close up shop in 2016. I'm still not clear of Rainbow Foods first appearance by the Northtown Shopping Mall. According to real estate records, Rainbow Village was built in 1990. But the grocery store could have existed here before 1990. I do not know. I have zero memory of this land before Rainbow Village.

This photo from September 24, 2011 is the only one I have of the Blaine Rainbow Foods, when it was still open. Years back, I posted this picture on Facebook, and someone said that was their truck parked out front. Hopefully they see this story and have another chance to recognize the now significant role that truck plays in documenting Rainbow Foods history. Well, maybe not... Either way, your truck is now semi-famouser!

Depending on when this location opened, it may have not been the first Rainbow Foods in Blaine. 

Rainbow Foods previously anchored the north end of Blaine's Northgate Mall, located at the intersection of highway 65 and county road 242. Their store had no exterior entrance. You had to go inside the mall in order to shop at the Northgate Mall Rainbow Foods. The mall was probably built in the mid 1970’s, and would be demolished in July, 2004. Shortly before major bridge work would drastically change that immediate area. I showed up to photograph the mall in mid-demolition on July 29, 2004. Unfortunately it was more than half demolished on this day. Including no trace of Rainbow Foods.

One of the original Rainbow Foods stores anchored an in-line shopping center directly west of Target’s old Coon Rapids Blvd. store. Part of that Target included an Applebaum's grocery store, inside the same building, but with a separate exterior store entrance. As Applebaum's developed into Rainbow Foods, the store moved across the parking lot in 1983. Target sealed off the Applebaum's segment of the building. Using it for storage instead of expanding retail into their space.

In 1998, both Target and Rainbow left this area for Riverdale. After Rainbow moved out, their space was taken by Jubilee Foods for a few years. After they failed to make a name in the crowded grocery market, the building became a Big Lots. Big Lots closed in either 2009 or 2010. The entire shopping center of Target, Rainbow Foods, the (dumpy) strip mall and several satellite fast food buildings were all demolished in the fall of 2011. 

You can read about all of that here, if you want!

The Riverdale Rainbow Foods (photo taken September 21, 2011) lasted until July 2014. Since Roundy’s couldn’t find anyone to buy this piece of Riverdale, they closed the store. Today, it's an Xperience Fitness Center. One of many Ghosts of Riverdale Past... 

Rainbow even operated their own gas station in the parking lot. It was fully operational in this September 2011 photo, but I’m not sure when it closed. On July 11, 2018, I was in the right place at the right time and was able to photograph the tail end of the Rainbow Gas demolition. Today, it's just another part of the parking lot. If you didn't know it was there, you'd never know there was a gas station in the parking lot.

Take it away Steve and Karen and skeleton looking guy!

Just days after the Riverdale and Blaine Rainbow Foods stores closed, my mom had taken photos of both stores, and sent them to me in Colorado. In 2014, I had no idea that I'd be doing this blog, but this type of content was always welcome. Even if I didn't have a designed purpose for it... Yet...  

My next visit to Minnesota, came in September, 2015. Abandoned Englewod (Wasted Quarter issue 70) had just been printed, and my plans for a massive Wasted Quarter issue covering all things Coon Rapids were still in full effect. I'd hoped to gather more photographs during that Minnesota vacation to write about for WQ. One of the new photo targets was by Northtown, in Blaine. 

As far as that possible WQ issue about this area, my bank of writing material was completely outgrowing Wasted Quarter. And I didn't want another Abandoned Englewood... 100,000 plus words, crammed in amongst over 1,000 images, on just 150 pages.

Rainbow Foods is closed.

However, Guarantee Bank inside Rainbow is still open!

Very little trace of a Rainbow Foods label scar...

But the bank inside is still being open... Why, that means I get to walk right inside this closed up grocery store, pretend I'm there to do a little bankitising, stealthly snap some photos and get out before anyone cares! Which is exactly what I did, in front of a security guard paying very little attention to me or what I was doing.

You used to be able to buy peas, lettuce and watermelon here. 

Off behind this little shack was a stand-alone Deli.

A look out at the sales floor, being secured by two short sets of rope barricades and an uncomfortable looking bench.

Looking in the Rainbow Foods exit door. With a little popcorn cart peeking out from the corner.

Walking away from that exit door...

Walking away from Rainbow Foods, across the parking lot. Complete with confusing lines and poorly applied pavement sealant. If you look beyond the lot, and the trees beyond it, there's MGM (Scary) Liquors. Neat.

Well, I'm off to my next photo destination. At least there's no bottleneck getting out of this parking lot...

Luckily, the old Spring Lake Park Amusement was still standing at the time. Really thought it was gone by September, 2015. It was still for sale at this point, but I'm not sure when it was demolished. By the time we moved back to Minnesota, the Penisaurus Rex had been turned into a giant apartment building. Guess that's evolution for you... 

Anyone got a photo of the old wooden waterslide that was a part of this park, back in the 1980's?

A few days after taking these pictures, I had driven back to Denver alone. Laura stayed in Minnesota for a couple more weeks, before coming back home. Ten days after I took my Rainbow Foods pictures, she went back and took a few more for me.

Better look across the sales floor, toward the dairy area.

Part the checkout lanes, toward the meat department and deli.

Down to the pharmacy, beyond the bank and that little popcorn cart.

The little shack by the entrance doors, with a partially obscured security guard hiding behind the respect sign.

With the four photos Laura took of the Blaine Rainbow Foods interior, combined with the four I took, I was highly satisfied with the look inside a closed up grocery chain. Happy to get this much, as it was already more than I could have expected.

Hey dumbass... You can make more than one trip...

The Rainbow Village Shopping Center was built in 1990. Seems older than that to me. I'm not sure if Rainbow Foods existed here before the shopping center was built, added on to the Rainbow building. Laura's memories of the Blaine (Northtown) Rainbow seems to date a lot further back than 1990. So I'm just not sure. Our family didn't shop for groceries in this part of town, so I don't have any real memories of seeing Rainbow Village, other than driving by it.

Probably on my way to Shinders.

I don't know if the sign lights up anymore, I haven't driven by here at night in many years. That same many years ago, when it did, it looked pretty cool. This picture was taken in August, 2016. Rainbow Foods was represented by the top billed black rectangle. But Marshalls was still open!

But Marshalls was done by October 31, 2017, when I drove by for a few pictures of Rainbow Village. Marshalls was in the larger space between Amazing Spa and Papa John's Pizza. The Marshalls sign now just a large green rectangle, attached to the façade.

Marshalls appeared to be quite busy on September 24, 2011.

Which was the early stages of the retail landscape drastically shifting from in-store to online purchasing.

The Blaine Rainbow Foods on October 31, 2017.

Vacant, yet still rainbowey...

The opposite end of Rainbow Village is a Jimmy John's. They make a tasty sammich if you can get past the deplorable corporate ownership. That's actually a hurdle I haven't yet cleared. Beyond taking advantage of their employees, after the "trophy hunting" stories started coming out, I've given neither Jimmy nor John much money at all. For what I still believe to be a very tasty sammich.

I also feel that same about Jimmy John's father, Papa John's. Loathe the people running it, but unlike their son's sammiches, Papa's pizza is hot garbage. 

It's even worse than Ted's BBQ...

******

Laura had flown to Minnesota in December, 2015, to visit her family for the holidays. One night she called and told me that she got me a really cool X-mess gift. Earlier that day, she had gone to the Blaine Rainbow Foods, and was given permission to walk about the building and take pictures. Some of them were pretty poor looking, but there would be something I could use.

Four Baggers wasn't a thing in 2015, and I was looking at this as more material for that long planned Wasted Quarter issue about this area. As the sheer volume of subjects I wanted to use increased, that project fell apart completely. However, pieces of that project will fuel this website for years to come.

In October of 2024, I had warned her that work had begun on this story, and she was to expect an assignment when we would go through each of the photos I wanted to use. She protested: "I don't remember anything about those pictures!" Don't worry, it'll come back to you, once you start looking at them. This story was put on hold as we both got busy with our own stuff, and I pretty much only wrote about baseball for two months.

But on January 1st, 2025, I declared that we were going to look at Rainbow Foods pictures tonight! Laura had not seen these pictures since she took them on December 22, 2015. I wanted to get her thoughts on what she remembers from the pictures, and what might have been in the photographed areas when Rainbow Foods was still open. I'd record our conversation on my phone, then type it out to add into the rest of the story. 

For the sake of reading this next piece, Laura will speak in "quoted italics".

While I will speak in boring old Times New Roman.

Guarantee Bank... Did you have an account there?

"No, but I was waiting there for a very long time... For something... I have no clue why I was there... Was it a different bank before that?"

Possibly... I've never heard of Guarantee Bank.

"I have no clue why I was there under that name. Unless it was something different. I (had an account with) Affinity Plus... Was it an Affinity Plus?"

Probably not. They've been up at Riverdale since Blockbuster closed. Did you just go here for pictures?

"That's right! I did! And I had to ask the security guard for something.... Was I waiting for the security guard? Waiting for him to get back? Are these my pictures?"

Yes, you took all of these and gave them to me when you got back to Denver. This was December 22, 2015.

"Oh, that's right! I had to wait for the security guard. I was waiting for them (the customers at the bank counter) to get done, so I could ask them (bank employees) if I could take pictures. And they said I had to ask the security guard. Then I had to wait for the security guard, or something. Something like that. I just know I had to wait there a long time, and I was sitting on that (naughty word) bench, waiting... And it was cold. Because the doors kept opening and shutting. But they (bank employees) were warm. The security guy had a thick jacket on, and my hands were freezing. See, things are coming back now. It's starting to register."

Was there any popcorn in the little popcorn cart?

"Oh, no... I wonder why that was there. Leftover from the Rainbow days? It looks like something that Rainbow would have had. Maybe they just took it for like... snacks. And they're like, maybe it's too cold today, we wont make popcorn. I like how they try and make it (the bank) look so professional and stuff... Oh wait, was that there when it was Rainbow?"

I'm assuming it was, but I didn't live here then. I don't think I was ever in that Rainbow more than 3 or 4 times. 

"We went there all the time, but once I moved out of mom's house, I didn't go there. I don't know that I went there much, since I was a kid. Because they started going to Cub, once they moved in (to the Northtown Mall parking lot). Rainbow was there before Cub, right?"

Cub Foods, Northtown, September 30, 2012.

I don't remember the exact year Cub opened, and I don't remember the exact year this particular Rainbow opened, but it couldn't have been before 1983. Because that's when Rainbow was founded. I'm pretty sure Cub had opened (at Northtown) by 1983, but I'm not positive. This was a newer Rainbow, because it was built as part of the whole shopping center (Rainbow Village, in 1990).

"I wonder what happened there... (the large gouge in the security shack)."

I'd assume as they were moving shelves and fixtures out, they probably ran into the sheetrock.

Or whatever that booth was.

"Or somebody got mad at the security guard... And they had a fight..."

"Oh pretty! It looks like a.... Oh... Rainbow... You know... I never noticed that while I was in the store. It didn't look very rainbowey in the store because there was so much other stuff in it. What was what now? You remember this and I don't?"

I'm not going by memory, just from what I was able to figure out while choosing pictures for this story. The purple on the far left is the restrooms, some windows for office or security or whatever. The middle purple was the pharmacy. Behind that was the bakery. 

"The red was where the meat was, right?"

Yup, red was the meat department.

I just liked how filthy the floors were underneath the shelving.

"I did a pretty good job taking these pictures. Although I should have went up a little more on that one."

There's a lot that were blurry, I tried to clean then up as best as I could. You'd said the lighting was bad and you were taking quick shots on your phone.

"Yeah... They were watching me... But it's not like there was a lot I could do in there. At the same time, they're looking at me like 'why is some chick in here taking pictures of this?' Those colors remind me of a nightgown I had when I was little. It made me look like a clown, but it was one of my favorites, because it had the primary colors and was polka-dotted."

"That one's blurry... That was the Deli... Or the Tire Center... If were like a Wards, or that kind of store, that's where the Tire Center would be. And it's blue. Okay, anyway... All I can think of is donuts now. Donuts and bagels. Because tires, donuts and bagels... In the Deli. And sandwiches..."

"Oooh! That would have been... Like where the... Canned goods were."

I thought that was Produce.

"Yeah, I think it was produce... There's P R O D U C E right there (label scar on the wall). That says produce. And you see the diagonal produce (marks on the floor where they previously stood), and you can see on the floor how everyone walked around them in an oval. Everybody's tracks, and how they came in the doors..."

What was the little shack there in (right side of) the picture?

"I don't think that was original. I think they added that in later. You could tell it was kind of an afterthought. Or it was where they put carts and stuff. Because the entrance is right here. So it was either like a door guard where it would stop drafts from coming in, or where they put carts or something. The security guy was sitting in front of it. So maybe it was something temporary. I don't think it was new, and after Rainbow closed, they added it in later."

Maybe it was like a small courtesy desk where they sold cigarettes and lotto tickets...

"That really is rainbowey.... And that was supposed to be blue and purple (Guarantee Bank and the pharmacy), but they didn't get the colors right. They redid the bank part, because that wasn't originally like a bank. That was like customer service. And I think later, this area was more for customer service. (The area between the restrooms and pharmacy window.) You can see on the wall here, where it's not as faded. I think they had customer service counters here... Like temporary counters, where you see the lines set up with the ropes. I think they had counters set up here, once the bank came in."

"Express Deli... er, no... Fresh Deli. And that was definitely not a tire there. (Inverted triangle shape between the words.)"

I bet it was a rainbow.

"That's just a mount, for the lighting, If it was back lit. I bet that's where the cash register was... (The island in the center.) And the display cases (around the perimeter). That big opening was probably where they put carts and stuff, they move to the back for stock."

"Was this (the open door behind and cut out sheetrock under the red) for the meat refrigerators?"

I'm not sure. I couldn't figure out what the blue part was. My theory is seafood. But I don't know. I can't figure out what the tan part is either. Because, as you go around the corner, it's blue, tan, then red again, and then the green for produce. And there's not enough marking left to really tell.

"I'm confused where we are in the store."

This would be the northeast corner. Uhhh... Give me a second...

"Map out the Rainbow."

That's what I'm going to do...

All sortsa not to scale!

"Natural Foods... I think it bugs me that the space is so big in between them, but it would make sense if there was actually stuff around them. But it's natural. I wouldn't cut off the picture in the middle of a word."

"Sea Food."

Okay, yeah... Blue is a tough color on my broken monitor. I need a new computer.

(Someone stole the fire extinguisher...)

Didn't you say that when they asked you had told them you used to work here, and you wanted to check it out because you remembered the place, or something? Pretty sure you told me that when you called and said you took these pictures.

"I may have... Because that sounds like something I would say. I've been known to say stuff like that. I think that I asked the security guard first, and he said 'go ask them'. And that's why I had to wait for the bank people for so long. Because they worked there and the security guard was hired to... Uhh... Make sure no one... Uhh..."

Wandered around the building, taking pictures?

In my notes from (September) 2015, I wrote specifically that the security guy seemed disinterested. Now, I don't know if it was the same guy, and I just snapped a few pictures quickly and left.

"The one I talked to wasn't disinterested. He said to ask them, because he didn't know. He was very unsure. So that's it. I had to ask the bank people, because they were there all the time. They thought it was their building. That kind of thing."

"Are those bathrooms? Or the way to the back..."

No, here you can see where the hall splits.

The one side had the double doors...

And the other opening was the entrance to the butcher area. Before going down the back area of Rainbow, go take a quick right turn, into a dark corner of the building. The photos were very dark, and out of focus. There's little detail to prove anything, so Laura described how this part of the store felt like to her.

"Oh... That corner scared me. I wonder if that's where they hung the meat or something? It felt very ghostly and haunting to me. And I didn't like it. Now I feel like that ghost show. You know that one I watched all the time, back in Denver? Yeah... See the floor? Just... I didn't like it at all. I got very uncomfortable, and scared... Look... See that outline? (on the floor) Almost reminds me of a concentration camp." 

Okaaaay...

"Because it had... Not the same kind of bricks, but it was very brickish. It had outlines on the wall like that. And it had burn marks... These aren't burn marks, they're just dark spots I know. And the floors were different like that. Just outlines and the dark marks. I had the same ghostly feeling, like spirits were there. And they might not have been the same kind of spirits, but I got very bad feelings from them."

"That doesn't feel much better, because I can see it right next to it."

Moving on...

(Trash compactor?)

"Do not attempt to alter safety switches."

We spent a long time trying to read these warning stickers.

They've obviously had to take down some walls to remove stuff back here. You're looking across to the pharmacy, through that door.

(Pushing on the screen with the mouse...) "I was going to try and navigate like it was Google Maps... Cause I saw the arrow and thought I could move up the hall..." 

There's the loading dock.

"Was this meant to be an arch (the ripped off piece of sheetrock on the wall (at the left side of the picture), or did it just happen to look like it? So this is just a big open area where they put stuff... Being a big store, they'd have pallets of shit all over."

"That is an exit. Can't tell you anything more about that. Just what I see... And it's an exit. I never went out that door.."

An alarm would have sounded.

"Well that's blurry..."

I just wanted to use this picture to show looking out the meat doors, at the Deli and the red whatever zone and the produce... I don't know what that red area was.

"Wait a minute... Let me see that map..."

So you'd be looking through this door, at this angle, in that picture.

"Oh... At what I thought was like ham. But now I don't think so because that would be a big ham area. That would be like a quarter of the store would be just ham."

What would make sense to stock between produce and Natural Foods? Maybe like bulk food? Like candy, grains and rice and shit. Brach's bulk candy bins.

"Like the big bags, and bins of like taffy and stuff. With the big scoops... You know, it's coming back to me. I remember my dad scooping out little taffy's and Halloween candy. With twist ties and then writing on the tag. We had to write the price and the name on it. They didn't have price tags for that. You just wrote the code down for the register. Unless it had the code on a sticker. Like on the nanners... It's coming back to me... I haven't been to a store in a while..."

"More thoughts... There was a higher display case here (pointing at the areas the red paint didn't go as far down). They must have painted after they put in the fixtures. Why wouldn't they have done it before?"

I'm assuming the store had been many colors over the years, and then as it was remodeled... And the last one, they didn't move anything, they just painted around it.

"What if they got paint on the products? Or did they take the products out first?"

I'm sure they didn't leave fresh hamburger in the case as they were painting the wall red. 

"This probably slopped on top of the freezers and stuff... They didn't exactly line the walls."

Although with a store that size, they probably saved some money on not painting below where the wall would be covered by shelving and displays. That'll probably save you quite a few gallons of paint, by not going all the way to the floor. And of course labor cost as well.

"I'm just thinking it's not primary, but it's made of primary colors, and green is one of my favorite colors."

As a side note, I was kind of bummed out that pictures of the former meat department ended up being blurry, thanks to the lack of light back there. This area was of particular interest because of the two months I spent as the worst butcher in all of Cherry Hills, Colorado. The coolers have been removed, which is understandable, but sucks from my perspective. I would have liked to seen what this Rainbow meat department looked like in comparison to the snooty, uptight, natural grocery store I worked at briefly in 1997.

Part of a torn off roll of Wild Oats butcher paper, I scribbled some Wasted Quarter notes on during my break.

Just as I failed miserably as a butcher, Wild Oats failed miserably as a natural grocery store chain...

"It's a cleaner part of the store. I get the idea of a bunch of supervisors, with loading docks and a bunch of stuff sitting around. Cause there's really not much store there. So I don't get much from it. I never saw the back when I was a kid, unless it was a peek here and there. Because that's what I did."

"Same here... And I only took these because it was of machinery. Kind of blurry... What camera did I have then?"

Your phone. And you didn't have a really good phone in 2015.

"Oh that's right... Yeah. It's hard to look at. I bet you tried to sharpen it up too..."

Yup... I included a few really terrible pictures, just because I wanted to include them for what they show. Even if it's not clear. It was something I felt was important. It says something...

Like this picture! The door says MEAT.

"I get something from this. Yeah it does... That's the first thing I saw. Other than the feeling that I got. Which I got before I saw MEAT. I'm telling you, I felt it because it was MEAT. (Huh?) A spirit thing..."

The spirit of meat...

"No! The carcasses! See what I'm saying? The carcasses came through here. See the dark here? I think it was the dark corners and it has something to do with it. And I think... I don't know. As soon as I saw this picture again, because when I first saw it, I thought it said HEAT. Not MEAT. And when you said MEAT, is when I first read it as MEAT. But I was going to say I get something from this, and I was going to mention the feeling from the first picture. (The Rainbow Foods Concentration Camp) Then you pointed out MEAT, and I'm like ah, that's it! So it's that spirit thing. Now where would this be in the map?"

You're back here. This is the MEAT door (pointing out the back loading dock area, on my quick store sketch).

"And where was that other area? (Pointing out the other part of the building that creeped her out.) Why would they have the MEAT door so far away from the other area?"

Well, this is the only loading door. So they'd have to unload the meat and move it to where it would be stored.

(I should have said loading DOCK. Because now the conversation went in this direction...)

"That was the only loading door? Then why did it say MEAT, if it was the only loading door?"

They can load whatever they want through it. Writing MEAT on the door doesn't mean they can only bring meat through the door..."

"Then why would they just write MEAT, if it was the only door? Someone just decide that it would be funny to write MEAT on the only door?"

I would find that funny...

"That makes no sense."

You're not me.

"So... These are the only doors they to bring stuff through... No, they have three doors here. So this much have been the meat door."

It's whatever the truck parked at this door unloads. Someone just happened to write MEAT on it.

"No... This must have been, out of the three doors, this is the meat door."

Possibly.

"They liked their primary colors. I get it. It's what makes up the rainbow. Somebody was thinking, in the planning of their color scheme..."

What was stupid, in their last few years they changed the logo to take out all the colors, and go with just a dark green Helvetica Rainbow. I tried, but could not find any examples of the mid-1980's Rainbow Foods logo, on the Googles. That one was all lower case, blocked letters, with a rainbow coming out of the top of the R. 

"Not the updated logo and look that was put together by corporate, after the sales, but the original Rainbow rainbow, was thinking. Going with primary colors, which make up the rest. But I don't like how they laid out the final color scheme. That blue-ish purple and red-dish purple is just no..."

"There's a lot going on here. Too many doors. There's a lot that doesn't say much. Other than there's an exit door here, and something to move something there. Some kind of pneumatic something there. A track for a door here... A shelf..."

"Whoah! That one is really hard to look at. Looking back at the meat department... I was gonna say something about this bugs me too. I see they modified, granted they took a lot of stuff out too, but they probably moved shit around a lot. Did they have a few different owners?"

The original owners of Rainbow Foods sold it in 1996. Then it was sold again in 2000, I think... It was sold a few times. The last owner of Rainbow was Roundy's. Then it was sold to that whole Cub/SuperValue/LundsByerlys/and others conglomerate, in 2014, with a few staying around as independent stores. 

"How many stores did Rainbow have?"

At one time it was around 45. They were the second biggest grocery store chain in the Twin Cities in the mid 1990's. Rainbow was started by Sidney Applebaum, of the Applebaum's Grocery stores, in 1983.

"When did Applebaum's close?"

1983, when all of the stores converted into Rainbows.

"The (grocery) store next to Target, T-42 (the old Coon Rapids Target, which you can read about here), was Rainbow. I got them mixed up for a moment."

Applebaum's used to be open as part of that Target, but closed when they moved across the parking lot, to open as Rainbow. Anchoring its own set of in-line retail, in 1983.

"I remember being a little tyke, and they were redoing what must have been Applebaum's, into something else. Dad was working at Target, and I was all excited because they were making a Rainbow. Loving rainbows, I asked 'Dad, let me see the rainbow', because I knew they were doing something on the other side of the wall. But I was forbidden to see it. Until one day, dad let me look through the wall somewhere or something, that I wasn't supposed to see. Or nobody was supposed to see. But he knew of a hole in the wall and let me peek through it."

That all happened in the summer of 1983. Applebaum's was dismantled and moved, in order to become Rainbow. Then Target used their space for storage. They never expanded retail into that space, which I thought was kind of odd. When Goodwill opened in the Target building, they used the space that was set aside for Applebaum's.

"We'll have to go back and see... Wait. I was going to say we'll gave to go there, so I can see. But we can't go back and see because it's not there... Is it?"

It's an ice arena and large vacant lot. Has been since 2012.

"But it was behind where Walgreens is..." 

Yup.

"I don't have much to say about this picture, other than... Something tells me, just by looking at this and the way that our back rooms and warehouse and everything changed over the years. With ownership and such, it looks like they may have changed things around in the back. You can see how the walls look newer in places."

A little side note about Sidney Applebaum, that I did not know until I started this story...

In 1979, there were about 30 Applebaum's stores in the Twin Cities, and one in Duluth. That year, Sid sold the company to National Tea Co. Applebaum worked for them until the chain was sold to Wisconsin-based Gateway Foods. Applebaum and Gateway Foods CEO, D. B. Reinhart, launched Rainbow Foods in the fall of 1983. Many of the old Applebaum's stores were converted to Ranbow's, but the Applebaum's grocery store chain itself was gone.

Sidney Applebaum remained as president of Rainbow Foods, until leaving the company in 1996. In 1997, Applebaum bought four Holiday Foods stores in Bloomington, Fridley, Plymouth and Burnsville. Within two years, he sold them to SuperValu, and they became Cub Foods.

I always wondered what happened to those Holiday superstores. I wasn't living in Minnesota when this went down, so I knew when I left what Holiday was. When I came back, they were all just crappy Cub Foods stores. Those Holiday superstores of the mid-1980's were absolutely awesome. Full sized grocery store with a full size WalMarts style department store built in. With a pet store, barber shop, McDonalds, video arcade, and some REALLY creepy restrooms, lining the front of the store. 

"Allright... Ehhhhhh... Yeah, I don't like this picture either. Is this that same MEAT door? (Yes) You can't see it there, but I just felt something weird about that corner... This is where snooty supervisors would go up. (Stairs on the right side of the picture.) Were there windows up here or something?"

I think there was... Maybe the next picture...

Oh, there's a door above the door.

"There used to be something here, where they could step out, and uh... oversee something. At (her old job) they had a room like this but you could walk out on a platform, and it had an elevator to bring stuff up. It had something to do with something, but it was in the loading area. Above here, there was some more controls that we couldn't have at the lower level... It had something with... I don't know. I can't remember. But I dream about it all the time though. When I saw that, it reminded me of it. And I keep falling off it. Into the haystack. Which is right here. In my dream. Not in reality."

There wasn't a big haystack behind the Rainbow Foods?

"Not at (her old job) either. But in my dream, I always fell back into something that feels fluffily pillowey. But in reality, that would be either... Anyway. I can't remember what was here. Ask Wally, he would know... Oh, computers! IT stuff! That's it! See, ask Wally. Wally was in IT, and I put together what it was. Some kind of computer control system for the back rooms, and the loading and shipping areas."

(Zooming in on the photo, the sign on the door does indeed say: "Computer Room". It's just really hard to get to...)

"Okay! My dream just told me something! Ask Wally! That color! The Haystack! Alright, see I'm not crazy."

"Yup... That's where supervisors go. To supervise... The people beneath them. There weren't windows to the store up there... I didn't see any. Was the store even that high?"

Yeah. It was 2 stories throughout. Obviously it really only had one floor, but it was 2 stories tall. The sales floor just had the tall ceiling overhead, but there was offices above the bank and exit doors. Those would have been the grocery store offices. You can see the windows looking out at the sales floor. I'm not sure where the stairs to reach those were at.

"It looks like they took something out here... Would this have been a second level? This would be the meat area again. Looks like stuff has been taken out. There used to be something here. It looks like there used to be no thoroughfare here. So it looks like there may have been an office or something here, and this was closed off... Doesn't look like there was any traffic here, and this looks like it was well travelled."

"Clipboards? They had to outline where to put clipboards..."

Directly to the left of where that picture is cropped, would have been the entrance out into the store. Between the meat and the dairy sections, the red and yellow. So I'm guess that's where they put checklists and stuff for each department, as you go from the back to the store.

"You'd think if they were that specific they'd write down which clipboard... I wonder what these stickers said, and what exactly was here, in these spots. And why did they decided to hide that sticker?"

It was pro-union.

"It was big and red, and obviously meant to be seen, but it was covered up with a clipboard. Doesn't look like they measured... That just perplexes me. Why they had to be so precise, and then, not."

One says Milk Crates and one says Milk Pallets.

"This says BULK. It's not Milk at all. Looks like it's L A K Pallets. Back Pallets?"

It doesn't matter... I'm going with Milk, because it's opposite the dairy section.

"It's not Milk."

Okay...

"Is that where that arch is? (chunk of missing sheetrock on the other side of the wall) Cause it seems to match the other side... But that's where it's red..."

That's Fresh Meats. Which would be here on the map. There's the door to the back, and the clipboards, and the dairy section.

"Dairy seems weird under yellow. Unless you think cheese. But dairy, I think blue for milk."

That would make seafood yellow. Fish and Milk, the color blue.

"No, I still think of water as blue. But, I don't know. Nevermind... I wonder what made that? It's the cow's blowhole. Oh wait, we're in meat. Well, it still could be a cow... No it couldn't, because the cow is a female... By the time they get to the meat department, they've lost their spirit."

"Ewwww! Creepy! That looks like a face with eyes! See what I'm seeing? I didn't see that when I was in the store, I just saw spiritless meat packages. And I'm not looking at that anymore."

"Oh, the blue and the red are intermingling! Oh, that's the Deli canopy. The tire department. Yeah... That looks like someone just puked on the wall (the tan color), well it was Natural Foods. Some baby went in there... Their natural Beech Nut... Gross... This is kind of a good overall picture of a lot of it happening. I get more from this picture than I did from the front. One that showed the lanes and you know... When I think of the store, and being a kid in it, I think of being kind of in this area. But in the front, looking towards this area. So it's like more of the store. But from the front, looking that way. So it's more of an overall picture. I wonder what everybody stopped to look at here... (the more heavily worn spot on the floor) That made it so popular..."

Free samples.

"This must have been where the meat people went to go back behind the counter. And this is why the Deli and the meat people are so close... 'Hey! Could you throw me some more cow?"

Heheheheheh... I'm sure they said that all the time.

"I wonder how many carts banged into that..."

Most of the poles were put between shelves, that one is stuck in the middle of the walkway.

"That's why I'm saying I wonder how many carts banged into it. It looks like that one is too. And I wonder how many fights were started in there. Now I'm starting to picture like ghost people walking around... Bumping into each other and carts running into each other, and little old ladies walking slow, and teenage boys trying to get around them, and little kids flicking boogers and stuff... And doing things that people do at stores. Wondering how many people were like stealing things... Kind of watching it like a TV show. But only in my own security surveillance, as it were a TV show. So it would be entertaining and not boring... You know?"

Mmm-hmm...

"So I could do anything that I want... But then I wonder how true to life it would be?"

"To me, this is just a burned match, in the middle of a rotting banana."

Hmmm... I could see it.

"I mean puke and pee. Why did I say peanut butter and pee?"

I have no idea...

"Now this (pole) was in the middle of a shelf, that's for sure. That didn't have a metal plate. It was rated X! I wonder what they were rated for and what the X's mean. So this is not the dairy area?"

I think some of it would have been. These were likely freezers in the aisle and maybe the dairy, cheese, butter, eggs, etc. were along the wall. Under the yellow paint.

"Wait, where are we now, I'm confused. (I point out the location on the map) There's no tan on here, but there's tan on the wall..."

That would be the Bakery. 

"You didn't write tan on here. I was still thinking it was purple. I didn't see the tan in the other picture. That's why I was confused. I thought we were still at the yellow/tan here. Or no... There is no yellow/tan over here. I don't know. I'm confused. Darn Rainbow people! See, what I mean is they had the primary colors right, but the execution of the actual Rainbow was a little bit... They had the prism off..."

I think they lost interest in the rainbow concept as the years went on.

Think that's where they milk coolers were removed. 

"That says dairy... Just trying to make that other word out... (Probably Fresh) Yeah I know, that's what I'm thinking it says, but I'm like, 'please don't say Fresh'... Because that's just boring. It did say Fresh Meat and Fresh Other Stuff. I'm seeing an SH here, and an FR over there... Yup... Boring Rainbow."

"Whoa! That looks much better! Except there's the puke splotch... And the green... There's not enough yellow in this picture. See on the ratio of the sizes, the blue just isn't enough. It looks too Christmassy. Apparently this aisle had issues..."

That's why I'm thinking they were freezers. The X's are probably covering drains or plumbing. Would have been frozen pizzas and ice creams and stuff...

"It was the naughty aisle... And there's the lime shack. Just a faded shade of produce... Instaflexapants? (What?) See now that red area looks so much bigger looking out that door... Now that looks like it could be a Ham area, but in reality, still not a ham area, knowing that is Natural Foods now... Oh, what?"

I just like the idea of a grocery store this size dedicating that percentage of its floor space to Ham.

"Oh... Execution of the rainbow..."

"Wow, the pharmacy was really small! Where'd they put all their drugs?"

I'm assuming it was just a really small pharmacy. You have CVS, Walgreens, Cub, Kmart, in its day, as competition, all nearby.

"They must not have had a lot of customers, or selection... Seriously, there's not a lot of room to put anything there. It makes the bakery look so huge, compared to... It's like BREAD! and drugs. Well, even the pharmaceutical companies back then aren't as big as they are now."

"Fresh Bakery! Everything was so fresh! When I thought Rainbow, I didn't think fresh. The smaller the store, the less fresh I think. I don't know... I don't remember much about their bakery. I don't think we got our bread there all that much. I remember mom getting bread from different stores, not much at Rainbow."

We didn't go to Rainbow very often. For us, it mostly was Red Owl, then Festival Foods in Andover, when it opened in 1987. I think Country Club Market closed that year as well. We never went to Cub.

"That's all primary colors. See, if I just looked at that corner of the store... For some reason, I just remember this vivid memory of standing over here more, like by where the pharmacy is, and looking towards that way (towards the Deli), looking for my mom or dad or somebody, scanning the whole area. Trying to look over all of everything, and I just get images of that. Like I did from the other side. And this picture reminds me of that even more. Except I can see more and I'm not seeing anything. Except that image of me trying to find them. And people being in the way. Just reminds me of being a kid. I don't know. So this is in front of the bakery?"

This picture would have been taken from right in front of the emergency exit doors.

"I don't remember being in the bakery area much at all, but looking towards the dairy department and everything, that does remind me of being there. I remember looking at ice cream bars and shit, and getting milk and cheese and stuff. That kind of stuff we did get there."

"Yeah, I do remember getting cakes here... Not like buying cakes for birthday parties, but looking at them. We didn't get anything here, much to our chagrin. We may have gotten the occasional muffin... But not like a cake or anything. I can't imagine letting mom or dad get away from here without buying us a muffin or a donut or something. But not like a cake that we'd get at Target."

Good ol' McGlynn Bakeries!

"Their bread cases, when they made their bread, would be right here. And their other cases would have been here. I don't see us getting anything frosted here either."

"Whoa..."

Yeah, it got really dingy as you went back in to the bakery. Everything had been taken away, but the lighting was bad so the pictures were blurry, and everything looked creepy and gross back there. 

"I don't like the floor, because it reminds me of all the meat crap behind the store. That looks like a lot of oil and icky stuff all over the floor."

"What was back there?"

You just took a couple pictures up above where the sheetrock ended. That's above the bakery.

"Seems like a lot of wasted space."

"Oh... Okay... That's where they would have a lot of their ingredients and stuff. They probably had some kind of exhaust or ventilation system, that would keep air moving throughout the kitchen. Not overwhelm the people that worked there. It wouldn't be like a huge bakery, where they would actually convey the flour through... That's not what I'm trying to say. Like for packaging cake mixes, nothing like that... But something that would make sure excess powders were removed from the air. That's not necessarily what this is..."

"There's a lot going on here... There's electrical shit... There's pneumatic shit... There's plumbing... There's so many different systems going on that I can't really comment on all that is going on. Because I didn't specialize in any of them."

And what they were attached to is gone...

"This was from the bakery, looking out..."

From between the buns, straight towards the Fresh Meat...

"This is where they kept all of the cakes and stuff, behind the counter. And the dirty footprints of the employees. Eww... Flour residue..."

"Oh, hello! Oven... Pull bumper... Proofer..."

"That must be some exhaust thing... I guess it was important enough to be really big. I wonder what smooshed it (the plate covering the switch). I want to know the story behind that."

"Oh boy... Again, I don't know... That's just from use, but there's a lot of residue."

I like that picture.

"Because it's dirty?"

No, I like the angle, I like how it partially shows what's behind it, only in one place. I like it.

"The composition?"

Yeah.

"Thank you! Wow, a compliment!"

"I wanted to stand where the cookies were. And all the fresh baked goods. I still do. But I really want to bake right now. This isn't helping. I wonder what was there? (Floor scar from a shelf/display that is missing.) See what I mean? Why was it placed in such and awkward position? Was it maybe... They couldn't put a floral department there... Like a floral display?"

No idea... The last time I was in this store was November of 2003. 

"I don't know why, but I find it kind of interesting that this wall is a kind of rainbow in itself... (the purple wall of the pharmacy) See what I mean, how it's just different sorts of faded? It's much more faded up here than down there. It a lot more red here, than it is up here. Which makes me wonder.... It's more purple here than here, and here it's more of an indigo."

The lower parts could have been covered up by who knows what...

"Heheheh... The popcorn machine. There it looks like it's in between doors, in the other picture it looks like it was up against the wall. I see where the wall was, and it looks like it was in between doors there. (Looking at the lime green shack on the left side of the photo) See this looks more like the doors are behind there, but this looks more like a little building... I see a desk there, but it looks like it's a little building now."

That's why I think it was more like a customer service desk.

"Yeah, it looks like it's where they would sell lottery tickets and cigarettes, at the customer service desk. But it looks like it was added later. That's why I'm thinking it was temporary, and it became the security shack."

Although, he was sitting outside of it.

"Somebody was in it for a while." (Looking at the floor scars from the checkout lanes.) "So this must have been where they put the candy bars, and this was the register..."

This would have been the front conveyor belt and the back conveyor belt unit. Remember, you're just seeing the footprint. The actual machines would have taken up more space.

"So the register would have been here, and the person would have stood there? And then the front, and then the back..."

"Still small in there..."

"Pharmacy..."

Fresh Pharmacy.

"Thanks for shopping at Fresh Rainbow."

I don't know where the stairs are to the upper level, but you can see a large window above the restrooms, and a couple more above the bank. I don't know if that's a hallway or it just goes to the two restrooms or what...

"There's probably a room in between them. And a stairway back there somewhere. That would make the most sense. It wouldn't be behind the bakery, and then go over, because where all of the exhaust stuff was."

"This is where I was taking a few quick pictures, because I didn't have permission yet."

That little ribbony barricade isn't holding anyone back.

"So there was a door there, it looked like a shack. Part of it had a little area. It's probably where they put the more secure stuff. Because there's a little area that's closed off. This is just the stupid old wall, and then there's a counter. You can see this... Sort of... So that's why I was thinking he was in it. He was talking to people and everything, Oh, he had a friend with him. Looks like there's a dud standing there and someone sitting there. That's why! They were talking and whatever, and they told me to go and wait. That bench wasn't very comfy..."

If you look closely at this photo, you can see the security guard who will likely never know how big a contribution he made to this story.

Rainbow Foods actually had some pretty good commercials... It's too bad that more haven't been uploaded to You Tube. 

The next time I was in the Rainbow Village area was August, 2016. 

Guarantee Bank has now closed. If I had to guess, I'd say their lease in the store ended shortly after Laura wandered around. So the Blaine Rainbow Foods building is completely locked up and vacant. The façade is still all rainbowey, but there's no real label scar, so you cant tell for sure...

*****

Laura and I moved back to Minnesota in June, 2018. Until we found our own house, she was temporarily living with her mom, and I was back with my parents. Arrangement necessitated by health problems of multiple people involved. That was a rough four months... 

One Sunday afternoon in July, my dad and I drove to downtown St. Paul, to look at stuff that was no longer there. But it was great chance to take pictures of a part of town I'd rarely been to. Leaving St. Paul, we drove north up White Bear Ave.

Approaching the intersection of White Bear and Gervais, I was shocked to see a Rainbow Foods (Maplewood) that was still open. Turns out, that was the last remaining Rainbow Foods in Minnesota. Which would be the case for almost exactly 2 more months. I took this picture on July 14, 2018. Rainbow Foods announced the Maplewood store would close permanently, on Monday, September 17, 2018.

When it closed, the Maplewood Rainbow Foods was owned and operated by SuperValu. Coincidentally, SuperValu also owned and operated the Cub Foods, directly across the street. Which made no sense to operate separate grocery stores that close together. Just close the Rainbow... You guys won. Cub is bigger, bigger is better, blah blah blah... Eventually the building was remodeled into a Hy-Vee grocery store, which opened in June 2021.

This entire St. Paul drive was previously covered in a story from a few years ago. It included mentioning my surprise at finding a Rainbow Foods in the wild. On our way back home that day, my dad and I stopped at the Bakers Square restaurant in Blaine. Coincidentally located just a block away from the former Blaine Rainbow Foods.

Bakers Square in Blaine, was demolished June, 2021.

Which was combined with my story of that St. Paul drive, including the last Rainbow Foods.

See, it all comes together in the end!

Rainbow Village sign on October 31, 2017. 

Today, Rainbow Village really fits the description "Dumpy Strip Malls", as coined by my favorite blog of 2008-2010. Now down a Marshalls, in addition to its namesake grocery store. At least Dollar Tree is still there. That's because they're everywhere...

I started this story in early October, 2024. Part of my research consisted of driving over to Rainbow Village, to update myself on what's going on there today.

Well look at that, Dollar Tree is still open and thriving!

And Marshalls has a new tenant! The Picklr (an indoor Pickleball court) has opened in their space. In an interested twist, The Picklr is not only leasing a storefront at Rainbow Village, their Utah-based parent company was so committed to the site, they dropped over $7.5 million dollars to buy the entire Rainbow Village Shopping Center, in 2023.

And the former Rainbow Foods gets a much less rainbowey paint job.

Maybe with new ownership and less green, someone will show interest in the (now 10 years) vacant property? 

Maybe they'll get a free popcorn cart in the deal?

I've consulted with the judges, and we've concluded this is the greatest grocery store radio advertisement in the history of grocery store radio advertisements.

For some strange reason, Yelp was zero help with research in writing this story. 

Other than this photo of the Blaine Rainbow Foods storefront, dated October 18, 2012, nothing was there to learn. "This location is closed" is about the only real information you'll see on this page. There are no customer reviews. Was really hoping for a few that would provide some humanity to the store. (The Riverdale Rainbow Foods Yelp page only has one review.) It's almost like Rainbow Foods customers were astoundingly apathetic to their chosen grocery store.

Since there were no customer reviews left on Yelp, I'll feel free to contribute my own personal Blaine Rainbow Foods story. It wont help anyone, it wont inform anyone, it wont even advise anyone. It will allow me to tack on a small piece of a much bigger story, that amuses only me and one other person.

After seven years of living in Colorado, I moved back to Minnesota in October 2003. Dealing with an adjustment period of coming back to a place I really didn't like all that much, and a mindset I had been free of for the last seven years, was really hard on my sanity.

At the same time, longtime partner in general misanthropia, The Good Doktor, was embroiled in a very methy divorth (pardon my sudden lisp). Along with that, brought an eviction from Flintwood, where they had been living. She was gone now. Temporarily replaced by Sergeant Sweet Ass, who didn't bother me all that much, compared to some of the others... Until the end of 2003, I pretty much camped out at Flintwood every day. Coasting on unemployment checks that funded gallons of cheap beer and expensive whiskey, while The Bootles funded our steady magical mind eraser intake. 

Flintwood was three months of getting wasted, venting massive frustration and (for me) rededicating myself to writing. Because that is pretty much all I did at Flintwood. No matter what was going on around me in the house, I was sitting in my designated seat on Cowboy Couch, next to the lamp and ashtray, scribbling tiny letters in a 3 subject notebook that I nearly filled during that time. With the move back to Minnesota, I wanted it to lead to one positive. And that would be getting more serious about writing.

Wednesday, November 26, 2003.

When I drove to Flintwood this morning, the roads were already starting to ice up. Much of the day was spent helping him pack boxes and clean the house up for the inevitable eviction. Periods of snow and freezing rain filled the afternoon, as the never ending stream of droppers-by kept saying how bad the roads were.

Around 8pm that night, I mentioned that our supplies were dwindling, and we should make a run before the weather gets worse. Taking inventory, we decided we needed to hit the liquor store and the grocery store. And Rainbow Village was the closest option that handled both. Somehow that meant I had to drive...

And on the drive, I got to see one of the best examples of stupid Minnesota Winter drivers. Some moron driving an SUV too large for him to control, spun out in front of us, and slid into the curb. He spun out several more times trying to right his vehicle. Just because you HAVE a four wheel drive vehicle, does not make it a smart thing to drive as fast as you can on roads coated in ice and snow. Watching his truck spin circles down the road in front of my car is comedy at it’s highest form. From following him down County Road 10, I knew to stay back, because he was clearly an idiot. So I got to watch and laugh from a safe distance. Who would have thought the Blueberry Honksicle (a 1998 Ford Escort) would have handled those icy roads better than his giant 2003 Dodge Fuckyoumobile. 

MGM (Scary) Liquors brought us the needed case of “The Champaign of Beers” and a bottle Jack Daniel's Gentleman's Jack. From there, we crossed the street to the Blaine Rainbow Foods. After discussing what we should do about getting food for the ongoing snowstorm, we walked out of Rainbow with: 2 packs of Winston Light 100's BOX, one bag of popcorn, three Skor candy bars, a 12 pack of Diet Cherry Coke, one Kit Kat, a tin of cashews and a box of Jalapeno Poppers. Just $40 in empty calories...

Stupid little stoners.

I moved back to Colorado in May, 2005. I also quit drinking. I did keep writing. And since The Bootles were no longer fronting me, I had to buy my own. At least I was back in the right state for that...

The story of Flintwood will absolutely appear here some day. It was written over 20 years ago, for Wasted Quarter (issue 56: Wonder What Wendall Wanted?), and I loved the story it told. But I really want to re-write it. And I will. I know exactly where it fits, and I've started it in the loosest sense. 

But that's not going to be anytime soon. 

******

Coon Rapids Herald, August 15, 1985.

Who doesn't want to feel terrific?