Groceteria is on a road trip through southern Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Washington DC. And I’m live tweeting pictures from the road as I run across interesting stores. Follow me on Twitter if you want to see them pretty much as I do. Or wait for the full photo library to be posted a little while after I get home.
Just got back from a conference in Morehead City NC and thought I’d throw up a few pictures I grabbed in cities along the way back. I only had my phone camera with me, so the quality is somewhat lacking. Above is a beautiful former Colonial store at 1201 Broad Street in New Bern. It was closed so I was unable to determine if there were any interesting interior remnants.
This former A&P is at 919 Broad Street, also in New Bern.
Some photos from my recent road trip to Philadelphia, including lots of interior shots of the most well-preserved Penn Fruit store in exsistence. I’ve also added a few shots from a 2008 trip. Enjoy…
I’ve posted a section of Toronto store photos including a bunch from my trip last week. There’s not much commentary. If someone is interested in writing something, I’m very interested in letting them.
Click through to see the photos.
Just returned from my holiday road trip to Charleston WV, Pittsburgh, and Richmond, and I have photos to share. Info on any of the questionable or unidentiied stores is very much solicited.
For my Christmas vacation, I visited a Lucky store and finally saw in person one of those murals I helped their ad agency assemble. Appropriately, the first “new Lucky” I visited was also the very first “old Lucky” I ever visited, way back in 1992: the Lakeshore Plaza store in San Francisco.
Just returned from a brief road trip in the environs of Washington, Baltimore, and Wilmington DE, and here are a few photos for your amusement. This wasn’t really a “research” trip, so I didn’t come back with too much.
Interesting trip to Norfolk VA and the Tidewater area this past weekend while I was having all the domain problems. It’s a fascinating place that I plan to visit again soon for a more detailed research excursion. But here are two shots from this weekend:
The first is a former Food Fair location on Little Creek Road in Norfolk. Its exterior is quite well preserved, despite having been recycled as a Dollar Tree location. This is actually one of the first former Food Fairs I’ve actually seen “live and in person”, and I hope to visit more soon.
The second is related since it’s pretty obviously a former Food Fair-owned J.M. Fields department store. This one is apparently about to be torn down; it sits right next to the area that Virginia Beach is redeveloping as the “downtown” it never really had. I assume it’s been abandoned a long time, as it still amazingly bears the logo of the long-defunct HQ (Home Quarters) chain, which hasn’t existed in more than fifteen years, if I recall correctly.
We all have our fetishes related to vintage stores, I guess. One reader is particularly interested in floor tiles, while a few others are fascinated by various HVAC components. A big one for me has always been the front entrance. I get really excited when I find an old store that still has its original door configuration, and especially so when it has its original doors, as does this former Colonial store on North Main Street in Columbia SC. I was obsessed with old doors when I was a kid and was first looking at — and drawing pictures of — old stores.
Here’s another one from my Saturday road trip, located on Harden Street in Columbia’s Five Points area. I’m not sure what it was (Columbia is definitely a future research candidate) but it sure is pretty.
Maybe I’ll add a “doors” feature to the site one of these days.
This beauty from the 200 block of East Front Street in Burlington NC, just a few blocks from Blanche Taylor Moore’s Kroger, undoubtedly started life as a Big Star about 1938 or so. A lot of variations on this prototype were built in the southeast in the late 1930s, and a good proportion of them have held up remarkably well. The craftsmanship and materials are a stark contrast to the cheap stucco effects on most new chain stores.
I’m also guessing the building to the left was a 1940s A&P, but I’ll save that for another post.
Also from this weekend’s long drive:
I’m saying with maybe 60% certainty that this building from downtown Yanceyville NC once housed an A&P.
This Family Dollar on South Scales Street in Reidsville NC was definitely something, probably an A&P as well, but I’m not sure. It also looks like it may have expanded into a neighboring (but built at the same time) adjacent storefront.
