Fast Foods Mart Opens – Nov. 9, 1965

Although Lawson’s was the first major convenience store chain to appear in the Lorain area, there were several smaller regional chains that fought for a piece of the pie, such as Convenient Food Mart and Open Pantry Food Mart.

But I had never heard of Fast Foods Mart, the store announcing its Grand Opening in the above ad, which ran in the Lorain Journal on November 9, 1965.

At the time of the ad, the chain had only two outlets in Lorain. One was the new store mentioned in the ad at 44th and Oberlin Avenue, and the other was at 1463 Broadway. There were also stores in Elyria and Norwalk.

I’m not quite sure what happened to this chain in our area. It wasn’t around very long.

The Fast Foods Mart on Oberlin Avenue in Lorain was an Open Pantry Food Mart by the time of the 1967 Lorain City Directory, along with the outlet at 1463 Broadway. They were joined by a third Open Pantry at 2875 G Street in Lorain.

Nevertheless, the Fast Foods Mart chain lasted into the 1970s. It even opened another Norwalk store in 1976.

Here’s how the Oberlin Avenue store looks today.

And here is the Broadway store, courtesy of Google Maps.