Memorabilia Day 6: IGA, Red & White, & Shurfine!

Today's memorabilia post is dedicated to brands used largely by independent grocers, starting with the IGA brand itself...

IGA

...and spice tins, of course. I would estimate these date back to the 1960s. IGA changed to its current logo by the late 1970s.

Spotted outside a small bookstore in Lewisburg, PA, was a box of IGA instant oatmeal -- okay, it was full of books, but once long ago it had IGA-brand oatmeal!

An unusual color scheme was used here on this ca. 1950s IGA allspice tin, spotted next to a Red & White tin. And that brings us to our next brand!

Red & White

We've discussed Red & White before, including recently, and the brand was distributed to the Red & White and independent stores. In fact, it continues to be, although it is harder to find these days. Today, it's distributed by the Federated Group, which also distributes Hy-Top, Life Goods/Life Every Day, and Seven Farms brands.

IGA and Red & White were both based in Chicago. IGA still is, but these days Federated Group is based just outside Chicago. So the brands remain close to home.

Interesting to find some unusual items that aren't coffee cans or spice tins!

Shurfine

Shurfine products were distributed to independent stores for decades (and, at the time of that ginger's manufacturing, they were also based in Chicago). By the end of the Shurfine brand, it was being distributed by AWI in York, PA. And that's where these products came from, which were purchased a few years after C&S acquired AWI and discontinued the Shurfine brand at an independent store in Connecticut.

Notice the Western Family Foods branding on the back. I believe AWI and Western Family were the same company, but I'm not positive about the full history there.

The same store also sold me Shurfine forks...

...back in 2020, which is several years ago now but quite a bit after the brand was discontinued.

Now to jump back in time to around the 1950s or 60s to see a Shurfine matchbook...

This one specifically advertises frozen foods, which in a 1950s independent store may have still been a novelty. I have a few matchbooks in my collection, which I find at antique stores sometimes.

That's all for today, and tomorrow we'll be seeing a well-known brand nationwide!