Bob Ferrell passes at 88

[paulwalker]

If you are of a certain age you definitely remember Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlours. There were over 100 at one point. And they all started in Portland, Oregon. The birthday song is still in my head.

[skeptical]

What eventually happened to them, I forget.

—

Off topic, Paul have you been following the Haggen spiral dive? Haggen can’t even get the stores they bought to bring in the money they made before they were bought. After Haggen branded them their sales went way down — Haggen had to make massive hour cuts across the board at ALL stores — 20 year employees are finding their hours cut in half — this is going to trigger an ecodus of good employees, nevermind layoffs.

They’re also closing stores, including a long time existing Haggens in Tualatin.

You heard it here first, Haggen is finished.

[paulwalker]

Yes, my understanding is the stores in California, the ones the had to be divested by Safeway (Vons), and Albertsons were the beginning of the troubles. I also understand that wages and store prices were also problematic. Will be interesting to watch it play out, but I think you are correct, Haggens will likely go backrupt, but might still find a way to stay in business.

As for Ferrell’s, the chain was sold to Marriott who moved away from their original concept. Today, there are just a handfull of locations left in California.

[duxrule]

One of the special childhood memories my family has is when we went to Farrell’s and ordered a Portland Zoo for a birthday party. That was truly an impressive dish! 😀

[Master of Disaster]

The Oregon Live article brought back quite a few memories, says Mr Ferrell was 87:
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2015/08/robert_farrell_founder_of_popu.html

The Master of Disaster celebrated two birthdays there as a teenager (want to say 14 and 18, but my memory going back that far is obviously a bit fuzzy). What was then Farrell’s was called “The Original Portland Ice Cream Company.” Never had the Zoo but I remember getting full from the entree and getting a small sundae afterwards. Oh and, “In fourteen-hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue, what did he use to feed his crew? The Zoo!” with the fire engine sirens and being carried throughout the restaurant as it was served.

The chain was also seemingly parodied (with poor connotations) in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.

What eventually happened to them, I forget.
There was an article many years ago that said part of their undoing as a national chain had to do with providing names to Selective Service. Word got out.
As for that Portland restaurant that carried the tradition but not the name, what would wind up being the last time going there we’d wait forever for our food, there was a messup on an order causing a go-back (and that family member having to sit there watching the rest of us eat), and overall didn’t have the same quality it used to. The block it used to sit on has been a mixed-use development for years with a bank on the ground floor.

(Regarding Haggen’s, can we please start another topic?)

[paulwalker]

And not positive about this but there is a good chance that Red Robin took their birthday song idea and did a similar dance for its customers. I have not been into a Red Robin in probably 10 years so I don’t know if they still do that.

[Author]

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