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March 2008

Previously...

11 March 2008 | Link this

Winn-Dixie, 3830 East Independence Boulevard, Charlotte. Photo courtesy Pat Richardson.

The Winn-Dixie at Charlotte's Amity Gardens Shopping Center opened in November of 1958, right in the middle of the most thriving retail strip in the city. The center also included Woolworth's and a Barclay Cafeteria. By 1961, it also included Charlotte's first (and only) branch of Clark's, an early "supercenter" with both general merchandise and groceries.

Amity Gardens Shopping Center, 2007.

By the 1980s, the center was already in significant decline, and the conversion of Independence Boulevard into a freeway sealed the fate not only of Amity Gardens, but of the entire retail strip from downtown to Albemarle Road. The old center is still standing today, more or less completely abandoned. Plans to demolish it and construct a Wal-Mart Supercenter are on hold. The years have not been kind to this once booming area.

Sorry for the slow pace of updates and email responses of late. It should improve soon, I hope. And the rest of the Winston-Salem section should be coming soon as well.

24 March 2008 | Link this

Dominick's, 3333 Central Street, Evanston IL. From Progressive Grocer's Outstanding New Super Markets, 1969.

This groovy Dominick's (just look at that streetlight) was featured as one of Progressive Grocer's best new supermarkets of 1969 in a great book I found at the UNC library last week. I'll be adding lots more stuff from this book (as well as interior photos from this store) soon. For those who care about such things, this location is now a CVS Pharmacy, and Google's Street View gives a pretty good current photo from almost the same angle, with a little manipulation:

The book also features interiors and exteriors from the Century City Mayfair Market in Los Angeles, the Glendale CA Crawford's Market, a Loray store in San Leandro CA, a Fazio's in Ohio, a Straub's in St. Louis, and a Lund's in Minnesota, among others. More to come.

I also came across Shopping at Giant Foods: Chinese American Supermarkets in Northern California, which gives a great history of chains in the Sacramento and Stockton areas, including Farmers, Centromart, Jumbo, and more. I'll be adding some of that information to the appropriate sections soon as well.

27 March 2008 | Link this

Gemco "going out of business" commercial. Gemco was one of the casualties of Asher Edeleman's unsuccessful 1986 takeover bid for Lucky Stores.

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