Kroger, Clarksburg WV

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This one’s an interesting specimen. It obviously dates from the late 1950s or early 1960s, and was given some sort of “superstore” retrofit in the 1970s. But the original sign stayed, and then the whole building was eventually painted a nice, bland beige. The interior is the slightly cheesy teal “millenium” package that every Kroger in West Virginia seems to have. I think the layout has been altered from the original as well.

It amazes me how many of these smaller and older stores are still operating in parts of West Virginia and Ohio. I’m travelling I-77, I-79, and US 19 a lot these days, since I’m sort of living in Pittsburgh part time now, and I’m seeing a lot of these as I try to vary my commutes between Winston-Salem and da ‘Burgh. I may be posting a few more examples this week.

One thought on “Kroger, Clarksburg WV

  1. Clark

    July 15, 2009 at 3:59pm

    I’m a long time fan of your site. Although I now live in Florida I grew up in Da Burgh. Looking forward to your postings from the area. Especially anything about Thorofare. they pretty much shut down around 82, but was really big in the 60’s. keep up the good work…

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  2. Author

    Groceteria

    July 16, 2009 at 7:44pm

    Lots of Pittsburgh in Groceteria’s future. I’m spending a couple of weeks there in August and hope to begin my location research.

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  3. Dave

    July 18, 2009 at 7:21am

    My mother-in-law’s store. If you could magically look past Rokisky’s Exxon in the background up the street you’d find the WBOY television studios partially housed in an ex-A&P.

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  4. Andrew T.

    July 18, 2009 at 11:45am

    I hadn’t gotten this good a view of it before, but you’re right; this is definitely an older 50s/60s store that gained a succession of minor remodels along the way. A very interesting specimen, in any case: There can’t be too many of those signs left!

    The faux-stone facing on the lower right side is an interesting touch: Incidentally, there’s a former Kroger store of the same vintage in Manitowoc, WI that has a similar treatment by the doors.

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  5. Dan

    August 11, 2009 at 10:04pm

    WOW! Can’t wait for your stuff on Da Burgh. There used to be alot of chains up there. At one point Kroger and A&P had alot of stores up there. Most of the market is now dominated by Giant Eagle, which bought up alot of locations of shuttered chains, Shop ‘n Save, and Foodland’s dotted here and there. Decades ago, you had Clover Farms stores, based out of Cleveland as well.

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  6. Author

    Groceteria

    August 11, 2009 at 10:24pm

    I spent many hours at the Carnegie Library in Oakland last week, and am now assembling my preliminary address spreadsheet. I’m way past 900 addresses already, and I’ve only done data entry through 1945. It’s gonna be a big one. More soon.

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  7. Tim

    October 31, 2009 at 10:10pm

    PIC of KROGER – CLARKSBURG WV.

    I (and later my wife as well) shopped this store in 1981-82 when I (then she) moved to Clarksburg from central PA. We joked that we “lived” in the supermarket parking lot – so convenient. That sounds odd until you know the rest of the story… In your picture you can see the top of our apartment building and specifically the “living/dining room” bay-window set and the small kitchen windo of our third floor apartment, just above the Exxon station’s gas pump canopy at the far end of the store front. Couldn’t beat the Kroger prices back then when there was no transportation cost involved. That was the first grocery I shopped where alcochol could be puchased – being from PA that was novel. At the time, the store didn’t seem so old, but it was a little cramped – just like the A&P “back home” where I once worked. BTW who remembers the A&P/WEO stores? I hand out many a GOLD BOND stamp (a new version of the PLAID stamps) that came after A&P was sold to “foreigners”.

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  8. Brian

    November 8, 2009 at 10:57am

    I spent my early childhood in Bridgeport, so I remember the Kroger in the Holiday Plaza on Bridgeport Hill. Exterior was dark brown to almost black. There was an A&P in the Hill’s Plaza, along with a Grant’s department store. Grant’s closed in the mid 70s, and Hill’s took over the larger space.

    Another mile or so down the road was a smaller A&P at the intersection with Rt 58. This was closer to our house, so it was the one my family went to most often.

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  9. Gary Keith

    December 19, 2009 at 3:59am

    My mother worked at this store in the office from the mid 70’s until around 2000. It is in a location where alot of lower income people live and no new store is willing to clear property to build anything new so the store still does great business. The front windows were closed off and a pharmacy was added after 2000 sometime. The store was largly unchanged for a loooong time before that.

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