Port St. Joe

Deluxe Post: Please comment below if you remember Hurricane Kate or this Sing Store!

Google Street View - May 2011

Sing Food Store | Deli

609 Monument Avenue

Port St. Joe, FL 32456

Revisited: September 9, 2021 | Original Publication: March 21, 2021

Ever since I discovered this store in the Spring of 2019, it has been one of my favorites due to the unique location in the Sing company footprint and its retention of Sing architectural styling. It is located in Port St. Joe, a small town in Gulf county Florida on the Saint Joseph Bay. The primary industry in the area is related to the timber business of St. Joe paper company and their operations.

As Sing's only store with a view of the Gulf of Mexico, the station has definitely weathered its share of storms. 1985's Category 2 Hurricane Kate (Mexico Beach), brought 11 feet of storm surge to Cape San Blas and would have definitely given destruction to the store. 1994's Tropical Storm Alberto (Destin), dropped nearly 20 inches of rain on the Florida Panhandle an led to extensive flooding and damage to the nearby Apalachicola oyster crop. 2016's Category 1 Hurricane Hermine (St. Marks) was the first to make landfall in the state since Wilma in 2005 and caused minor damage to the area. However, nothing would prepare the panhandle for 2018's Category 5 Hurricane Michael (Mexico Beach). Probably the most memorable hurricane for the area since Kate, Michael wiped out large portions of the coastal buildings from Panama City to Apalachicola. To my knowledge, this station has gone through two renovations since its construction: one around 1986 and another in 2019/2020. One might ask why this point matters, but those who lived in Port St. Joe in November, 1985, and October, 2018, know exactly why. I will explain more of this later, but first we need some history.

The Star - June 26, 1980
Grand opening ad and sales flyer

Opened on June 26, 1980, Port St. Joe was one of Sing's small format square prototype stations and was built in the midst of the prototype's popularity. It was also one of the most in-tact stations until 2018. This station was sold by Amoco on February 8, 1994, as listed in the Gulf County Property Records, but was never extensively changed for the following 24 years. At the time of sale, it was rebranded as a Shell station and had the six Gilbarco Highline 111B pumps swapped for three Multi-Product Dispensers at the same time as having the in-ground tanks replaced.

The Star - March 31, 1994
Ad apologizing for the construction mess at the former Sing Store

In the News

In a small town such as Port St. Joe, even the smallest of businesses get attention in the local newspaper and the Sing Store was no exception. The Star mentions the location on multiple occasions but I will only share a few highlights in this post.

1982 - Gas Giveaway

The Star - April 8, 1982
The '84 Ashore Club and the Sing Store donate 50 gallons of gas

In 1982, The Star notes "Mrs. Florence Burch of Wewahitchka was the winner of the 50 gals. of gas given away by the '84 Ashore Club and the Sing Store." The Sing store was mentioned on several other occasions as donating to civic and charitable events and seemed to be a benefactor for the small community. While I'm not sure what the '84 Ashore Club is, I'm sure they used this opportunity for a raffle fundraiser or something similar. The article also mentions Joe Nugent, the Sing Store Manager, Stacy Creel, '84 Ashore treasurer, and Robert Taylor, '84 Ashore president. While the primary focus of the image is the people, it is of importance to note several other aspects. Firstly, station uses the relatively new, digital, Gilbarco Highline pumps that were probably installed in 1980 when the station opened. These digital pumps were only released in the late '70s and would have been very modern for the time. These pumps also feature the diamond Sing logo which was replaced by the rectangular logo in the mid '80s. Additionally, the Bradfordville store that opened in 1984 still utilized legacy analog pumps. Finally, the background of the image shows a wall of windows on each of the longer walls and no door on the short wall, which proves the station was remodeled later in the decade and was originally built to the standard prototype of the Sandy Plains store (coming soon).

The Star - April 8, 1982
Sing Food Store circular ad published on same day as article above

1985 - "Kate No Lady While Visiting Gulf"

The Star - November 28, 1985
While not affiliated with Sing, the Jr. Food Store in Highland View saw considerable damage from Kate

Although it does not directly mention the Sing Store, the November 28, 1985 edition of The Star provides an important glimpse of the damage left behind by Hurricane Kate. The storm made landfall around Mexico Beach but still had impacts on Gulf County: knocking down trees, ripping out debris, and washing out Highway 98 in three locations. Eight inches of water were in the First United Methodist Church which is about three blocks down the coast from the Sing Store, which makes me confident that the building sustained some sort of damage. The Jr. Food Store above (now an Inland Station) also had damage to the pump canopy which likely would have been seen at Sing as well. The complete story and more pictures can be found here.

1986 - Fresh Daily Deli Addition

As shown in the Street View image above, the mostly original canopy, exterior lighting fixtures, and convenience store design lasted well into the twenty-first century. I believe the "Food & Deli" sign on the canopy is original to the build as well, and few surviving Sing convenience store awnings exist like this one. When constructed, this store would have looked identical to Columbus #8 with mirrored entrances on the left and right walls of the store and a gas payment window on the short wall facing the pumps. Some time around 1986, a deli was added to the station which was reconfigured to look like Albany #8 (coming soon). Instead of having a door on each wall flanked by floor-to-ceiling windows and the cash register centered between them, the left set of windows was covered with cypress paneling and the right side was extended to provide a "greenhouse" seating area. The doors were consolidated from two to one on the short wall where the payment window was. The cash register was moved to be inside the cypress wall on the left side of the store. This reconfiguration allowed the deli to be located next to the cashier and provided a seating area for hungry customers.

The Star - June 5, 1986
Coupon for a Free fountain drink at the Sing Fresh Daily Deli

The first mention of the new deli was a coupon in The Star for a free fountain drink with the purchase of a $1.99 sandwich or chicken box. Interestingly, this coupon for the deli comes just over 6 months after Hurricane Kate made landfall in November, 1985. Judging by the coverage of the storm I have found, there is a good chance the store was damaged by the hurricane. This likely spurred Sing to renovate the location and add the new deli prototype, similar to Albany #8. Sing's first deli opened in 1984 and proved a large success for the company, prompting retrofits of many older stores. It could have been a coincidence that Sing ran a coupon for the deli in the summer of '86 but the circumstantial evidence would make me believe otherwise.

Also of note is how later Sing ads in The Star would revert to the 1964 logo even after the late 1980s logo had been published in the paper less than a year earlier.

The Star - April 30, 1987
Ad for Sing Food Store and DELI using Sing's ca. 1964 logo instead of the ca. 1986 logo

1989 - "Mystery Photo Rouses Official Concern"

The Star - June 22, 1989
Article on a disturbing Polaroid photo found in Convenience Store parking lot

As far as I can tell, in 1989 Port St. Joe only had two convenience stores, each across the street from the other. Either the Sing or the Jr. Food Store (now Express Lane) was the site of a disturbing discovery that made national news. On June 15, a lady parked outside a Port St. Joe convenience store found a Polaroid picture that had fallen out of a white, windowless Toyota van parked next to her. The photo showed two "children who are strangers to the Port St. Joe area" who were bound with their mouths taped up in the back of a van. This story got national attention and was even featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show. The girl in the photo was later believed to be Tara Calico, a California teenager who had disappeared several months earlier. The case ended up going cold but has recently been reopened to try and find who the perpetrator and victims really were. More information on this case can be found on Wikipedia or in numerous true crime podcasts. It is crazy to think that a Sing Store could have been the source of this national crime mystery!

1989 - "Gas 6¢ Higher in Gulf"

According to The Star, "September 1 slipped up on everyone, including the director of the state Department of Revenue." While this article has no mention of Sing, the featured photo is the only picture I have of a Sing sign featuring the ca. 1986 logo. With Sing being one of a handful of gas stations in Port St. Joe, it makes sense that the article would show its sign when talking about how a new county gas tax was passed which would raise the cost by 6¢ per gallon. The article goes on to say how the tax would be delayed 4 days because of no word being sent to the gasoline stations to begin collecting the tax on September 1. It sounds like the entire process was controversial and unorganized to say the least. The positive is we now have a photo of an original Sing sign and the Hardee's (now Burger King) next door.

The Star (Colorized with Adobe Photoshop) - September 7, 1989
Sing Sign featured in article on a new gasoline tax in Gulf County, Florida

Hurricane Michael & the Modern Store

Tallahassee Democrat - October 2018

Port St. Joe convenience store and pump islands after Hurricane Michael

Unfortunately, this station was heavily damaged by Hurricane Michael on October 16, 2018 and sat empty for nearly two years. It looks like the structure and canopy fared relatively well considering they were blasted with category 5 hurricane winds and storm surge; however, the gas pumps have definitely seen better days.

Tallahassee Democrat - October 2018

Port St. Joe convenience store after Hurricane Michael

Apparently, the storm surge blew out most of the windows and cypress paneling on the façade of the store but the canopy and concrete structural walls remained in-tact. This reverted the store to a look that resembled its 1980 origins rather than the 1986 addition. Considering the fact that this store is located directly across the street from Saint Joseph Bay, I am surprised that any of it remained. The Burger King (former Hardee's) seen in the background of these images was leveled several weeks after the storm since it was reduced to simply a frame and a roof. As mentioned in The Star, Hardee's was the first national fast food chain to located in Port St. Joe and built the restaurant in the early 1980s.

Both of Port Saint Joe's gas stations were forced to close after Hurricane Michael; however, it looks as if the Express Lane / Exxon next door was able to reopen within a matter of weeks. I am sad that I never got to see this Sing Store before the destruction but at least the structure got to survive into a new decade with a new life!


KT Sims (Google Maps) - December 2020 Port St. Joe store after Hurricane Michael recovery

According to photos from Google Maps, this station has been renovated since then and reopened. It is pretty impressive that a 40+ year old building could be salvaged after such a strong storm but it is nice to see that a unique piece of Sing architecture could be salvaged. While the remodel does not retain much of Sing's original flair, at least the building was not scrapped altogether! Additionally, it looks like the floor plan of the store retains the same layout implemented during the 1986 remodel - minus the seating area.