History of a Sign

Photo & Text Copyright 2007 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.

This QFC market in the Wallingford neighborhood makes quite a landmark. Every time I passed the market, I wondered about the huge letters on the roof. What I speculated might have been the leftover signage from a car dealership actually has a much more interesting history. The market used to be a FOOD GIANT. From History Link's Wallingford neighborhood information I learned: "One test of [Wallignford's] neighborhood identity came in the late 1990s when the beloved landmark Food Giant and its big block-letter rooftop sign were converted into another QFC supermarket. A considerable number of Walllingfordians still miss the pop art of the Grandma’s Cookies sign that once reflected on Lake Union from a long factory rooftop on 34th Street. Protesting locals failed to convince the store’s new owners to keep the sign despite the change in corporate identity. QFC, however, did promise to write out “Wallingford” in place of “Food Giant” on the same supermarket roof and while doing it to recycle the “F,” “O,” “I,” “A,” and “D” of the old sign into the new one. The neon coloring was cooled from the Food Giant red to the QFC blue but inside the store, the service warmed up and the food selection grew."