I visited Charlotte this afternoon because I needed a quick change of scenery and I had some errands I could just as easily do there.

While driving around, I snapped a photo of this former A&P on Freedom Drive, which I often do when I’m in the area:

I came home and got started looking at some old video from 1999.. It turns out I was also in Charlotte exactly twenty years ago today (on a visit home from San Francisco, where I lived at the time) and just happened to shoot video of this same former A&P for what was then the very new Groceteria.com:

So there you have it: the oldest and newest pictures I have of the former A&P on Freedom Drive, coincidentally shot exactly twenty years apart to the day.

I’m not sure when the tree burst forth from the asphalt…

Harris Teeter, Centrai Avenue, Charlotte NC. Grand opening.

Some updates to the Charlotte section, including a new location spreadsheet via Google Sheets and updates to the history pages to reflect some corrections and updates to the original article.

Also in the works;

  • I’m building a Nashville location list and page.
  • I’m working on a new photo platform, which is why I have not uploaded new photos in a while.
  • Once again, for updates as I travel and other random tidbits, be sure to follow @GroceteriaWeb on Twitter.

 

Safeway, Abilene TX, 1960

 

Yes, I know it’s been a year. And yes, I know that I haven’t been answering email and that there have been problems with the Message Board. I have had personal issues and other things that have kept me extremely busy and I apologize.

But here are lots of new updates:

Four men sat down at a segregated lunch counter in Greensboro NC and changed history. The event was commemorated today with the opening of the International Civil Rights Center & Museum in the former Woolworth store where the sit-ins began.

On the same day, eighty miles south in Charlotte, “Harris Super Markets and Teeter’s Food Marts officially merged to form Harris Teeter Super Markets, Inc. There were already 15 stores in operation. The first ‘Harris Teeter’ store to open under the new banner was in Kannapolis, NC.” (via Harris Teeter website and The Charlotte Observer).

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So is that vaguely phallic or what?

The ad is from 1968, again courtesy Pat Richardson (whose site you really should visit). These are actually fairly sophisticated image ads for a smallish regional chain in late 1960s North Carolina, although some might question the “Chinese lady” image of the second ad.

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I’ve been incredibly busy with school and work the past few weeks, so the updates have been slow. But it seems I won’t be taking any classes this summer, so that should be good news for the site, if not for my anticipated graduation date.