Read it here: Krogering in Greensboro.
As a companion to my recent feature on the history of local A&P branches, I have just added a new photo essay detailing the story behind every Kroger location in my hometown of Greensboro, North Carolina, from the first in 1952 to the mass exodus in 1999.
This is kind of sad. One of the two oldest continuously operating chain supermarkets in my hometown is closing. The Harris Teeter location at Golden Gate Shopping Center opened in 1961 as an A&P. A Kroger opened simultaneously at the other end of the center. The Kroger was replaced about 1975 with one of Greensboro’s first Food Town (now Food Lion) stores. The A&P lasted until the late 1970s and became a Bestway (local chain) and then Harris Teeter in 1988. Centers with two supermarket anchors were common at the time but are rarely seen anymore.
The view above is from 1999. Below is a 1961 “grand opening” photo from the Greensboro Daily News:
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).
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.
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.
Hi all. It’s been a crazy couple of months, and I apologize for the fact that the website suffered as my betrothed and I relocated and bought out first house in Winston-Salem NC recently. So it’s goodbye Harris-Teeter on Central, hello Harris-Teeter on Cloverdale.
Now that I no longer live there, I’m finally posting the final pages of the Charlotte section. Today’s covers the 1980s, and it’s the most interesting and complex one of the bunch, I think.
The 1990s and other assorted updates will be coming tonight and in the coming days, I hope.
Link to this entry…
