Missouri's May Department Stores entered the discount mart field -with their Venture venture- in 1970. The first store was dedicated, in Overland, Missouri, on January 29th. A second Venture unit, in South St. Louis, welcomed first shoppers on November 13, 1970. A third Venture store, in the St. Louis County community of Kirkwood, held its grand opening on November 27, 1970.
Stores in the newly-christened chain covered 163,000 square feet and included the following; a supermarket, bakery, garden center, pharmacy, dry cleaning service, photo-finishing department, Car Care Center, filling station, snack bar and Venture Inn restaurant. Headquartered in the St. Louis suburb of O'Fallon, Missouri, Venture expanded into the Chicago market, with the acquisition of nineteen Turn-Style stores, in March 1978.
Operations were severed from the May Stores parent company in 1990. A move into Texas, beginning in July 1993, resulted in the chain operating 114 stores nationwide. However, competition from Kmart, Wal-Mart and Target began to take its toll. Texas stores were shuttered in 1997. A further effort to downsize was unsuccessful and the final Venture locations went dark in April 1998.
VENTURE-ANCHORED SHOPPING MALLS:
*PHOENIX VILLAGE MALL, Fort Smith, AR (1979)
*KENTUCKY OAKS MALL, Paducah, KY (1989)
*UNIVERSITY MALL, Carbondale, IL (1990)
