Greensboro History

The 1930s

1930

By 1930, Greensboro, with a population of 53,000, was the third largest city on the state, behind Charlotte and nearby Winston-Salem.

A&P

Greensboro’s first chain grocery, a unit of the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company at 326 South Elm Street, had opened in 1910. By 1930, A&P was operating twelve stores in Greensboro, seven of them downtown and five in streetcar strips and “outlying” areas such as Glenwood, College Hill, Warnersville, and the Asheboro Street neighborhood.

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A&P, Asheboro Street, early 1930s.

Like most chain stores of the period, these A&P “economy stores” were full-service operations run by one or two employees, averaging less than 2000 square feet in size. Most were without any significant fresh meat or produce; locally-owned butcher shops and greengrocers were often located adjacent to the chain grocers. Many operated close to or even next door to locations of competing chains. One streetcar strip on West Market Street contained stores from three chains side by side: A&P, Ivory, and Pender’s.

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Former A&P site, 901 West Lee Street.

By 1935, A&P was operating eighteen locations in Greensboro. Most of the newer stores were in outlying areas, including one on Tate Street near Woman’s College (now UNCG), and one at 2119 Walker Avenue. Also, a store had opened in the new State Street shopping district at McAdoo Heights.

Pender’s and Ivory Stores

Greensboro was also home to thirteen outlets of the Norfolk-based David Pender Grocery Company in 1930. The Pender’s locations were geographically similar to A&P’s, with perhaps a slightly smaller concentration within the dead center of downtown. Pender’s store count was down to eight by 1935, although two of these were new (and presumably larger) stores.

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Ivory Store, 610 Walker Avenue. (Postcard view, courtesy Adam Balevic)

Six Piggly Wiggly franchise stores and four units of the locally-owned Ivory Stores also competed for Greensboro’s grocery customers in the early 1930s. By 1935, there were eight Piggy Wiggly and seven Ivory stores. By 1940, however, Piggly Wiggly was down to six stores; Ivory, however, had expanded to six. A new chain, W&M Stores, had also appeared by 1935, with five locations, but it was gone by 1940.

Also new in the last 1930s were two independents which would later prove very important to Greensboro grocery retailing history. Essa’s opened on Gorrell Street on the east side in 1935. And Butler’s opened in the Glenwood area, adjacent to a former A&P location, in 1938. Later, these two stores would form the nucleus of the Bi-Rite co-op chain.

Again, these were all small stores with few frills and extras. But change was on the way.

The Supermarket Comes to Greensboro

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Big Star, 116 West Washington Street, circa 1937.

In the fall 1937, the Pender Grocery Company opened Greensboro’s first chain supermarket, the Big Star location at the corner of Greene and Washington Streets downtown. M.O. James, meat cutter, wrapped the first package on opening day, marking the beginning of the supermarket era in Greensboro. The very same Mr. James would wrap the final package on that store’s closing day twenty-five years later.

The Big Star store was Pender’s reaction to the supermarket trend that had taken over American food retailing in the 1930s. Initially a phenomenon of independents, the supermarket was embraced by the chains late in the decade. The Greensboro store was reputed to be the first supermarket in the Pender chain, and apparently was initially referred to as “Pender’s Yellow Front” as well as Big Star, perhaps to keep some identifier of the established chain.

Soon afterward, Pender’s opened Big Star locations in High Point, Winston-Salem, and Charlotte among other cities. In some of these cities, certain smaller and older units stayed open for a time as Pender’s, and later Little Star stores, but the new downtown Big Star was the chain’s only branch in Greensboro by 1940.

Updated on 26 November 2022
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One thought on “Greensboro History

  1. Larry Talbott

    December 25, 2018 at 3:43pm

    As a high school student I worked at the Kroger’s Golden Gate store starting in March of 1973. It closed later that same year when the new Palmer Plaza superstore opened..

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Kelly J Heath

      October 12, 2021 at 7:10pm

      What was the name of the Italian restaurant at Golden Gate Shopping Center in the corner back in 70

      Permalink  ⋅ Reply
      • Author

        Groceteria

        October 12, 2021 at 9:11pm

        The Flamenco. I think at one point there’s also a second location called the Flamenco Too. I believe the Pavilion restaurant on Vandalia Road near Pinecroft is run by the family of the Flamenco’s owner.

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  2. Janice DeGree

    January 18, 2020 at 6:25pm

    My Mom took me with her when she shopped at Big Bear in Lawndale Shopping Center until it closed. I have fond memories…

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
  3. Darius Burwell

    July 25, 2020 at 7:42am

    As a kid growing up in the 1980s my family use to shop at the old Food World on Summit Ave. It wasn’t the biggest or the best looking supermarket, but it was neighborhood, so that was enough for us.

    We were saddened for a minute when one day we looked up and old Food World was gone, and some new people called Harris Teeter had their name on the store.

    They upscaled the place, but it never had the same feel as the old Food World did.

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  4. JAMES BAILES

    November 20, 2020 at 11:58am

    SHOPPED AT LITTLES BI-RITE FOR SO MANY YEARS
    MR. LITTLE USED TO SELL A LOT OF OUR CORN MEAL AND OTHER PRODUCTS (BAILES OLD MILL /OAK RIDGE NC)

    THOSE WERE THE DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES !
    EVER WISH YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME ?
    GREAT WEB SITE ! KEEP THE MEMORIES FLOWING !

    JAMES BAILES, MD
    FORMER OWNER OF BAILES OLD MILL IN OAK RIDGE , NC
    CURRENTLY 20 YEARS IN PUERTO PLATA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC……GREAT PLACE TO LIVE !

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
  5. Lisa Muratori

    October 2, 2022 at 3:48pm

    Can anyone give me the histor g of the Top Value Store that was in Golden Gate? I have a box that was delivered there in Fecember of 1972 with the original merchandise still inside. Thanks..

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  6. Brenda Adams

    July 21, 2023 at 2:32am

    I worked at Bi Rite on Liberty Road/421 in Greensboro in 1977-1978. I loved it. My first job as a teenager – cashier. The store was robbed at gun point in fall of 1978. I happened to be working that night. My Mom made me quit and I cried and cried! I was 17 years old. The old store still stands today with a few changes and is a Dollar General Store.

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  7. Roger C.

    March 10, 2024 at 8:14am

    There used to be a sewing shop in the Zaire shopping Center at the corner of Holden and high point Road. Does anyone know what the name of that store was and did it move to another location and other details about that store?

    Permalink  ⋅ Reply
    • Author

      Groceteria

      March 10, 2024 at 10:02am

      Piece Goods Shop. It was a chain based in Winston Salem and they’ve been out of business for decades.

      Permalink  ⋅ Reply

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