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More regular updates can be found on the Bluesky/a> and the Message Board.
Grand Openings
This interesting snippet from a 1968 Colonial Stores grand opening ad from Atlanta comes to me from Robby Delius. It’s particularly noteworthy because it makes such use of the “Big Star” motif that would ultimately be applied to all Colonial Stores by the mid-1970s.
Also from 1968 (and from the same source) is this grand opening ad for a Safeway store in Richmond. There’s nothing really remarkable about this one, I guess. It’s just, as the ad says, really ultra-modern. And the cartoon shoppers look so darned happy…
More reader submissions to come.
Piggly Wiggly (Winn-Dixie), Sanford NC
Evidently, the owners of this recently-converted Piggly Wiggly in Sanford NC are banking on the idea that, within a few years, no one will remember that Winn-Dixie were “The Beef People”, not Piggly Wiggly.
Red & White, Zebulon NC
Just because the chain is now being discussed on my Message Board, and because I recently dug up these photos I shot during a 2001 visit, here is the former Jenkins’ Red & White store in downtown Zebulon NC.
Red & White, like IGA, was a franchise/co-op chain dating back to at least the 1920s. Its independently-owned member stores nationwide joined in an attempt to compete more efficiently against traditional chains like Safeway and A&P. Eventually, its stores were more likely to be found in small towns, where they were often the only supermarket around.
I have my suspicions that this store may have started out as an A&P location. I have absolutely no evidence to back this up, only a vague feeling about the sign. I haven’t revisited the area, but I’m told the store closed shortly after I took these pictures.
Cala Foods Lives
Lest anyone worry, my favorite Cala Foods location in San Francisco (previously featured here and here) is apparently still a Cala Foods location, per this recent photo snapped by the photographer I love. This store was one of the only ones not sold by Kroger a few months back. Therefore it has not been converted into a Delano’s IGA. And I’m very glad, although I’m not exactly certain what the future holds for 1095 Hyde Street.
My New Favorite Kroger Prototype
Today’s feature: two amazing former Kroger stores in central North Carolina, the former here in Winston-Salem, and the latter in nearby Burlington. Both are extremely well-preserved examples of this particular prototype from the early 1950s. This is becoming one of my favorite old store designs, and may be one of my most sought-after over the next few years, now that I’m no longer living in the land of the Marina Safeway.
As an interesting side note, I’m told the Burlington store below is the one where black widow murderer Blanche Taylor Moore (portrayed by Elizabeth Montgomery in a 1993 TV movie) was employed along with one of her victims.
High Point History
The Triad is now two thirds complete; High Point is now online. Look for Winston-Salem in a few weeks.
The Triad
I’ve uploaded the first chunk of my much-expanded look at the North Carolina Triad. Even though the entire new photo gallery has not been added, there’s till a lot to see. The revamped Greensboro section features about three times as much information, plus additional vintage photos. It’s complete through the 1970s, and may even beat last year’s Charlotte section for sheer volume of research.
Winston-Salem and High Point are coming soon.
Safeway, Denver CO
This is just sort of a cool postcard view I found on eBay. The store in question was at Wadsworth and Jewel in Denver, and it’s still standing, although (of course) the one direction that Live Local doesn’t have is the one that matches the view in the postcard.
This sort of looks like it might have started out as a Safeway-Super S supermarket and drug store combo.
A&P, Commerce Place, Greensboro NC (1936-1973)
The A&P pictured above is probably more important to me than any other supermarket in the world.
Why? Because it was my “first”. By that, I don’t mean that it was the first supermarket I ever visited, but that it was the first old supermarket that I became obsessed with as a child. As such, this website was born at that old A&P in downtown Greensboro.
Some history:
The location at 221 Commerce Place was the site of Greensboro’s first A&P self-service supermarket. The company had operated traditional stores in the city since 1910, but on 10 March 1938, the supermarket opened in a former tobacco warehouse next door to the city’s farmers’ market. The store burned down in 1946, and was replaced with a new store which opened on 16 June 1947.
The 13,500 square foot store featured such “modern features” as a candy department, refrigerated produce section, a self-service delicatessen, and eight checkout stands. A 2500-item selection was available to the discerning housewife of 1947.
Commerce Place was A&P’s top sales unit in the Carolinas for many years, and its manager said in an interview that it wasn’t losing money even at the end. It survived as one of two downtown A&P stores in Greensboro until its closing on 17 February 1973. The other downtown location closed two years later as part of A&P’s major meltdown of 1975.
This store fascinated me as a small child. I remember it as being old and dark, with ancient refrigerator cases with rounded glass, and old fixtures and counters, many of which might well have been original. It was particularly interesting for me because my mother had, as a child, lived for several years in a long-since demolished house a few doors down with her grandmother.
My childhood love for this store (and my disappointment when it closed) led me to be interested in other old supermarkets in Greensboro and elsewhere. I started eyeing old Colonial stores and the midblock Bi-Rite in a streetcar strip near UNCG. I noticed ancient A&P survivors on trips to Atlanta and other cities. During my years in California, my obsession grew to include the Marina- and pylon-style Safeway stores, among others. The fact that so many had been demolished or (like Commerce Place, above) remodeled into such bland and uninspiring structures also made me want to preserve what images I could, because I was interested and didn’t really think anyone else was.
Thus, Groceteria.com was born as a result of an old A&P in Greensboro NC that closed when I was eight years old. And just this weekend, I finally found the vintage photos above and several newspaper articles about “my first store” and wanted to share them here.
Do you have a “first” store that ignited your interest in old supermarkets? If so, I’ve started a thread for discussing it in the message board.
Mick-or-Mack, Roanoke VA
Apologies for the long absence. I’ve had a lot going on the past few weeks.
Submitted for your Monday morning approval: Mick-o-Mack, 1312 Winborne Street, Roanoke VA. This is about as sexy as it gets. I’ve heard a bit about this particular chain, and I’ll try to to learn more soon. I’ve decided that Roanoke will be my next featured city after I complete my new Winston-Salem section with its accompanying update and expansion of the Greensboro section.