Quigley's (also Quigley's Department Stores, Quigley's Variety Stores) was a chain of variety stores and junior department stores in Los Angeles County, California, from 1936 through 1990.
In 1936, Roger Bemis (R. B.) Quigley retired from his job at Woolworth's and opened the first Quigley's near the corner of Sunset and Fairfax, just north of what is today the border of West Hollywood. At the time, there was little competition from supermarkets for the types of products sold by variety stores (or "five and dimes"). Quigley's slogan was "Basic merchandise at a reasonable price."
In 1948, Quigley's was owned and operated by R. B. Quigley,[1] J. H. (James Harold) Quigley,[2] [3] and W. S. Manning.
Stores were opened as follows:
| style=text-align: middle; | City/neighborhood | style=text-align: middle; | Location | style=text-align: middle; | Opened | style=text-align: middle; | Notes | style=text-align: middle; | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hollywood | 7916 Sunset Bl. at Fairfax Av. | First listed in the phone directory in the 1930s | [4] [5] | ||||||
| Los Feliz | 1815 N. Vermont Av. | by 1947 | [6] | ||||||
| Westchester | 8816 S. Sepulveda Bl. | 1953 | The building was part of Bed Bath & Beyond through 2021. | [7] [8] [9] | |||||
| Burbank | 1611 W. Verdugo Av. at Olive | Staff of 20 in 1948, | [10] | ||||||
| Windsor Hills | 4435 W. Slauson Av. | ||||||||
| Van Nuys | 6711 Van Nuys Bl. at Vanowen | [11] | |||||||
| Long Beach | Plaza, 6428 E. Spring St. | [12] [13] | |||||||
| Sherman Oaks | Chase Knolls, 13401 Riverside at Fulton | . Closed in 1990. | [14] [15] | ||||||
| Lakewood | Carwood, 4240 Woodruff at Carson | [16] [17] | |||||||
| Belmont Shore | 5026 E. Second St. | 8th store upon opening, 4th store in Long Beach-Lakewood area | [18] [19] | ||||||
| Downey | Downey Shopping Center | After 1961 | [20] | ||||||
| Azusa | 305 E. Gladstone | After 1961 | [21] |
The last store, Sherman Oaks, closed in 1990. Despite Quigley's calling itself a department store over the years, the Los Angeles Times put it squarely in the category of variety store. The newspaper reported that the staff prided itself on the slogan, "If you can’t find it any place else, Quigley’s has it."[22]
Quigley's department store, in Belmont Shore and the Plaza, was mentioned by the readers of columnist Tim Grobaty, writing in the Long Beach Press-Telegram,[23] as being among the places most missed in Long Beach.[24]