Columbus #7 - Columbus, GA
Columbus #7
Sing Food Store
Columbus, GA 31909
Revisited: September 17, 2022 | Original Publication: August 4, 2021
Scroll Down for the MTC Post Publix #650
As you may have seen me do before, I decided this post deserved an overhaul since it previously didn't include a tour (or much personality). I finally got the chance to visit this location for myself in June 2022, and really wasn't too surprised by what I found. I was, however, surprised by what I found in a nearby Publix which was undergoing an Evergreen remodel when I visited. I'll share that part below for the More Than Convenience portion of this post, but first, let's learn some more about the Columbus #7 Sing Store.
Columbus #7 is located on the corner of Warm Springs Road and Schomburg Road in north Columbus. The area developed in the late 1970s through 1980s as suburban growth extended into the Northeastern reaches of Muscogee County. Prior to the suburbanization, this Sing was known as the last outpost for people leaving the developed part of Columbus to head further out into the rural areas of northern Muscogee County and southern Harris County. This location's history dovetails very well with the newspaper article which features this store, which I will discuss below.
Some History
Built in 1979, Columbus #7 was one of Sing's two small-format, offset square stores in the Columbus market (Columbus #8 being the other). These convenience stores were often built at intersections where the "front" of the store would face an intersection corner while the two sides with entrances would face each road. Often, the front corner of these stations would include a payment window (Under the Pepsi - 39¢ banner in the photo above) to provide a quicker option for motorists who didn't need to purchase goods within the convenience store.
This photo above was taken in August 1988, and provides a rare glimpse of a Sing station in the late '80s – including the yellow and blue livery of the time. I happened to find this photo last summer on eBay, which originated from the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer for an article describing "convenience store clerks who work late at night," entitled "Convenience Store: Is it risky business?" (alternate cover | page 2) Before I was able to locate a copy of the article, I understood how this photo portrays the mood of a lonely convenience store attendant helping a customer in an Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, but I didn't get the whole "picture" as to why it was taken. The photographer definitely captured a "moody, isolated shot," that doesn't "show faces and/or store name;" I highlight the last point because a keen eye can notice white-out over the convenience store canopy under the three fluorescent lights (If anybody knows how to safely remove white-out from a photo, please comment below). The sign that is covered would have likely read "Sing Food Store" like an architectural drawing I have and a photograph of the Sandy Plains station from 1977.
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Reverse of image above, providing rare context of the motivations of the photographer in 1988. Notes from Mike Haskey, photographer for the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. |
I say "before I was able to find a copy" because the "why" led me to the Columbus, GA library during my trip to photograph the inside of this store.
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| A box containing The Columbus Ledger on a roll of microfilm for May 1983 |
It was on this adventure when I got my first exposure to the wonders of microfilm. I've got to say, I'm glad the photo I bought on eBay had the date "8-9-88" written on the back or else I would have likely spent days looking through the library's microfilm collection. At least I now know how to use microfilm, but this process made me appreciate Newspaper.com's OCR capabilities.
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| The microfilm scanner setup at the Columbus Library |
The microfilm I was looking through in these pictures was in regard to a strong thunderstorm which toppled the Columbus #4 canopy. Thankfully, both pictures I was looking for made the front page of The Ledger, but searching for those images required slowly scrolling through each exposure while checking the computer screen for my desired picture. This video provides a good overview on the process of using microfilm.
Much to my chagrin, it wasn't two months later before Newspapers.com uploaded scanned and indexed copies of The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer and The Macon Telegraph which were included as part of my subscription; that would have saved me a lot of time! Oh well, at least I have the experience of how to use microfilm. Furthermore, the copies of microfilm that Newspapers.com acquired were in much better condition than those at the Columbus Library, so I guess it worked out in the end.
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Columbus #7 Circle K Food Store, from Warm Springs Road - 2015 (Photo from Muscogee County Property Tax Records) |
According to Muscogee County property records, Sing Oil Company bought the property for Columbus #7 on May 18, 1978, for $44,000. Under the Sing Industries branch of the company, the property was sold to Spectrum Stores, Inc. on June 15, 1993, for $538,000 by Amoco. Spectrum would then operate this station until its merger with Circle K in 2006. During the mid-to-late '90s, Spectrum would add a car-wash, an additional storefront, and more gas pumps to prepare the station for the twenty-first century. Circle K would maintain Sing's parking lot lights (like the one shown at the top of this post) until approximately 2015 when they were replaced with more efficient LED Fixtures.
The Store
The former Columbus #7 Sing Store is located in a primarily residential area (shocker) in Northeastern Columbus. As mentioned above, Warm Springs Road served as the primary means to access the more rural areas of northeast Muscogee County and southern Harris County prior to the construction of Alternate US 27, known to locals as Manchester Expressway, which parallels Warm Springs Road.
Interestingly, Manchester Expressway was built as a limited-access, four lane highway out to the community of Ellerslie in Harris County with the intent to serve as Columbus' connection to the Interstate Highway System while planning the construction of I-185. There were many changes to the alignment of the interstate to connect Columbus to Atlanta, including an ultimately successful grassroots campaign to route the interstate around, rather than over, Pine Mountain. The final selected alignment of I-185 ended up entering Columbus west of Alternate US 27, and this section of highway never became an interstate. It does, however, serve as a commute artery for the many suburbs that have developed in northeast Columbus, and the highway may one day get another tie-in with the Interstate System (in addition to its intersection with I-185) according to the current plans to build I-14 through Columbus along the US 80 corridor.
Another notable fact about Manchester Expressway is that it is home to a local landmark, Kadie the Cow (for now). The property north of Manchester Expressway and southwest of the Columbus Airport was formerly home to Kinnett Dairies, and since 1967 a large fiberglass cow named Kadie has loomed large as the "Colossus of Roads" overlooking the very busy corridor. Even after the dairy closed and Best Buy built a store on the site, Kadie the Cow remained (although the smaller calf Bebe alongside her who appeared overnight in 2003 was stolen and recovered multiple times until her most recent disappearance sometime around 2015). Upon Best Buy's departure, Kadie was apparently given a permanent easement as a local landmark, but as of 2022 there are plans that Kadie will be moo-ved to Uptown Columbus where she will be more easily accessible by curious visitors.
Coming home to the main road-subject of this post, Warm Springs Road also paralleled another thoroughfare that predated Manchester Expressway. The M Line was a rail connection completed in 1887 which stretched from Columbus to Griffin, GA, and allowed a connection to Atlanta. The route faced many financial difficulties, but it served many communities that ultimately became Columbus commuter suburbs, such as Midland, Ellerslie, and Waverly Hall. This line was also used by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on his many trips to Warm Springs and carried his funeral train north, back to Washington, D.C. Many remnants from the rail line exist in the Columbus area today, most notably the Fall Line Trace walking trail built as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and the Ellerslie Depot. One final rail-themed remnant is the locally-loved Train Station Burger King, which is, you guessed it, a Burger King built to look like a train station. It includes a seating area that resembles a trolley and a creepy ticket-seller mannequin, too! For reference, Train Station Burger King is just slightly out of view from Kadie the Cow's perch next to the former Best Buy. She is probably glad not to have to look at that every day, because I imagine she would rather have hungry Columbusites "Eat mor chikin" at the Chick-fil-A inside Peachtree Mall directly across from Train Station Burger King. But enough backstory about the many transport modes that have served this corridor through the ages, we are here to talk about the Sing Store! Since I finally got the chance (or the motivation) to photograph the former Columbus #7 Sing Store, I decided to take plenty of photographs to quench my thirst. Let's dive in!
This store may not be in the same, mostly original condition as former LaGrange #4, but it still has retained its original wooden columns supporting the awning out front. As I mentioned above, the station's gas payment window was originally located where the door currently is. The windows would have originally extended past the Redbox machine, and one of the store's two doors would have been where the cigarette prices are on display.
Stepping inside, we see the typical sights of a convenience store lining the right wall: a coffee station, the cashier counter, and random trinkets.
Turning toward the left wall, we see Circle K's extensive fountain drink machines, with the drink coolers off in the distance in their original location.
I was surprised at how large this store felt on the inside compared to LaGrange #4, so I wonder if it was added on to at some point.
Sing might've been famous for their ICEEs, but Circle K offers customers the chance to purchase a "Froster". You can even add a creative crunch with some boiled peanuts, sort of like a modern spin on the Southern classic, "Lumpy Coke"!
We'll take one last look toward the front door before we move on.
Roller food anyone? It looks like you may be out of luck today! I'm not sure which would be better: a hotdog which has been marinating in the warm, greasy environ of convenience store scents wafting through the air, or a Sing bologna submarine sandwich which has been made to the customer's desire and heated in a microwave.
If roller food doesn't satisfy your every desire, then Circle K also provides a selection of prepackaged sandwiches offering for you to "h-eat me!"
One thing I'm not used to seeing in a convenience store is a planogram taped to the cooler door. I wish I had paid more attention to the stocking to see if it was accurate!
Turning toward the back corner of the store (the one opposite the door), we see the remainder of the drink coolers and the restrooms off in the distance. It looks like everything in this shot was installed by Circle K (or possibly Spectrum) at some point.
Spinning around 180 degrees, we see a different perspective of the drink coolers.
The particular tile design doesn't do much for me, but I don't mind the overall look of Circle K's current aesthetic.
Looking along the right rear wall of the store, we see the coffee station located in the "middle" right corner of the store (the strange axis of these stores throws me off when writing descriptions). I think Sing's original coffee station was located there as well, in addition to its soft drink station.
Apparently "Purple Thunder" Mountain Dew was popular here – much more popular than some beanie babies on a string.
Today's fun featured product happens to be Beyond Meat Jerky: Answer The Growl. For some reason, I can't imagine there is a large overlap in the Venn diagram of beef jerky consumers and Beyond Meat enthusiasts, but feel free to prove me wrong!
Well, that wraps up our tour inside the store, so let's take a look at the gas pumps outside (and what I believe is the original Sing canopy structure). Circle K or Spectrum would've certainly added on to the canopy when MPD pumps were installed, but this perspective makes it look like the original 1979 structure still spans between the column in the middle and the column on the left.
Looking to the right after walking out of the door, we see Sing's wooden columns still in place 43-years later.
Same story with the left side too; however, we also see the entrance to the laundromat building which was added by Spectrum in the late-1990's.
Some of the awning beams are showing a bit of rot, but this store doesn't look too shabby considering its age.
On the contrary, the laundromat next door looks like it could use a nice pressure wash.
The Sing Store, shockingly, operates as Circle K #6707 as of 2022; however, there are Columbus residents who still remember filling up at Sing. "In the late 1970s, that was the last place to stop for a cup of coffee on the way to go hunting out in Midland, which hadn't been developed into the suburbs at the time."
All these years later, and this building is still proudly serving the residents of Columbus.
Google Street Views
Aerial Views
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Historic Aerials - 1968 Future site of Columbus #7 Sing store. |
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Historic Aerials - 1981 Newly built Columbus #7 store on corner of Warm Springs & Schomburg Roads. |
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Google Earth - February 1993 Columbus #7 just before sale to Spectrum Stores, Inc. on 6/15/1993. |
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Google Earth - November 2020 Columbus #7 as a Circle K store with car-wash and adjacent storefront. |
Pub Subs & Pastels
Many of you have commented about how much you dislike Publix's current Evergrey Evergreen interior design package. Although I agree with some of your points, the package has brought forth many things which were previously thought to be lost to time. Without Evergreen and its prolific spread, I never would have experienced the adventure which I will share in my upcoming MFR post on a Metro Atlanta Publix. Consequently, I never would have started that journey had I not seen this store: Publix #650, which features décor that is about to blow out like a Candle in the Wind.
Publix #650
7600 Schomburg Rd
Columbus, GA 31909
One day, I was minding my own business, when a friend of mine sent me a picture from the Publix he stopped at as he was traveling. My friend knows about the blog and thought I would be intrigued by what he saw: not only was I intrigued, but I also determined that I needed to make a trip to Columbus, GA, before this Publix finished its remodel. Thankfully, I was able to make it to the store before the relic disappeared and will get to share it with y'all today!
Some History
Publix Parkway Centre is located on Schomburg Road, not far from Columbus #7. The area has many suburban neighborhoods such as Maple Ridge (which also features an 18-hole golf course), Shaw High School, and the adjacent Kinnett Stadium (which I imagine is somehow related to the aforementioned dairy).
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| Courtesy New Market Properties - Publix Parkway Centre |
Unfortunately, the Parkway Centre Publix no longer sports its classic teal-and-white signage as we see above, but we will find some 1990's relics remaining on the inside.
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| Courtesy Newspapers.com - The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer - January 26, 1999 |
Publix #650 opened on February 17, 1999, as the fourth Publix in Columbus and Muscogee County and came in the midst of a wave of new development in the city. The article above mentions how Columbus residents would soon be able to enjoy a new Target, dine at an O'Charley's, and grab a snack from the area's first standalone Chick-Fil-A. It is an interesting coincidence that the article mentions these three other developments along with the newest Publix to serve Columbus, as they are all located very close to the first Columbus Publix on Bradley Park Drive.
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| Courtesy Faith (Flickr) - October 13, 2005 |
Fast forward 23-years, and the store is still going strong while undergoing its (likely) third interior remodel to bring it up to Publix's current tastes. What's even more interesting is it will soon be sandwiched between two shiny new stores. The first, future Publix #1868, has already broken ground about 2.5 miles to the East in the Midland Commons development (which interestingly backs up to the M Line/Fall Line Trace corridor mentioned above). The second will be located in the Old Town development about 2.5 miles to the northwest on Veterans Parkway. Neither of these stores have been announced to be replacing #650 or the nearby #562, but I would be shocked if all four stores can survive within a 10-minute drive from each other.
The Store
To most people, seeing their local supermarket undergo a renovation means they will have some minor inconveniences for several weeks but soon be rewarded with a shiny, refreshed building. To a retail blogger, a renovation signals a rare time to catch a glimpse of some long-lost décor packages. The store we'll be touring today certainly falls into the second category and is currently undergoing its Sienna to Evergreen remodel.
What is even more interesting about this location is how I thought it would be replaced once #1868 opens next year. Publix seems to be replacing a number of 39T locations, so I thought this one would surely be on the chopping block. It turned out to be quite the contrary since this store is getting remodeled!
The first thing I noticed when I saw this store was how it still uses the Wavy Pastels font for the Entrance sign over the door. How cool! Although I do not know what interior this store opened with, some of my findings lead me to believe it originally had Wavy Pastels.
Thanks to my friend who I mentioned earlier, we have the privilege of seeing this store during two phases of its remodel. The first example of this is in the vestibule.
Just inside the entrance, we see the cart storage area and what used to be home to the green beans. We also see where the remodel removed the green vinyl stickers which used to cover the original checkered tile pattern. At least I know that tile pattern will be safe with Evergrey!
Our first look inside the store will be at the pharmacy counter, which looks like it was undergoing some slight modifications based on the sheetrock patch. I'm not exactly sure what was done, but something happened there (or a pharmacist rage-quit and punched the wall on his way out, who knows).
I will say, this angle makes it hard to realize that the store was undergoing a remodel. If it wasn't for the grey paint above the pharmacy, I would've thought it still had its full Sienna installation. Also of note is how this store underwent its Sienna remodel no earlier than 2016 based on the Publix P logo being over the customer service counter rather than the apple – that still seems like a fast turnaround!
Turning toward the bakery, we see that the wall which typically displays the department signage has already been painted white. We can also see the track lighting grid and dropped ceiling structure which is original to the service departments in many late-1990's Publixes.
Get back, Honky Cat, what is that I see!?! Coral checkered tile! That's right, folks, this fun 1990's tile pattern has been hiding behind the vinyl stickers of Sienna for the last few years and made its return just for us to see! It's also possible that the Deli sign we see dates back to at least 2004 since another store in Forsyth County, GA had the same sign at its grand opening.
I was shocked to see this tile pattern remain in-tact for this long, considering I had not seen it in any of the numerous Publix stores I have documented over the last year. It also looks as if Publix replaced this pattern with plain white tiles on the section of wall between the walk-in cooler and the doorway to the deli prep area. I've got a better angle below which will really show this.
But first, let's just marvel in the moment with this vintage tile.
One last shot before we move on (and a look at some nice and crispy chicken tenders).
As I mentioned before, we can really see where Publix replaced some of the tile from this angle. If you look just past the cooler, you can see a tiny section of the coral tile which remains before the larger white wall. The pattern then picks back up on the other side of the doorway. I'm not sure when or why Publix replaced the tile on this one wall, but I hope that isn't a sign of what's going to happen to the rest of this tile! It is already shocking to consider it has survived at least a Classy Market 2.0 remodel around 2008-2009 and a Sienna remodel around 2016, but let's just hope Publix will stick some white vinyl over it this time around and call it a day!
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| Courtesy Yelp - Publix #650 Bakery - February 12, 2015 |
Thanks to Yelp, we'll get to quickly time-travel back to 2016 to see what this area of the store looked like with Classy Market 2.0 in place. Our first glimpse may not look all that exciting, but it actually provides me with a lot of information. The first thing is how the partition wall enclosing the dropped ceiling over the deli/bakery wasn't added until this store's Sienna remodel; meanwhile, most other 37N stores seem to have received this addition as early as a decade prior in remodels. Also, this gives us a good look at how this part of the ceiling originally looked when the store was built (which feels a bit unfinished, if you ask me).
Furthermore, if you zoom in to the right side of the picture, you can see a bit of the coral tile pattern I saw on my trip which tells me Publix shockingly left this exposed during this store's tenure with Classy Market 2.0 (unless this person took the picture because a remodel was pending).
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| Courtesy Yelp - Publix #650 Bakery - February 12, 2015 |
Next up, we have a look toward the produce department from the deli. Four things in particular catch my eye, besides the obvious Classy Market 2.0 décor:
1). The hand basket on the left looks like the same style Publix was using during the early-2000's and could even date back to the store's opening. I'm not sure when the modern ones rolled out, but they have phrasing below the Publix logo stating how they are made with recycled material.
2). I wonder if the metallic section of wall behind the large "Produce" sign is the back of a walk-in cooler or if this is just for effect. I've seen a similar section of wall above the dairy section in other 37N stores.
3). The aisle sign off in the distance may look like it was from Publix's Classy Market 1.0 package, but it is actually much older . . . more on that in a future post.
4). I see some stainless steel covering a band of tile off in the distance; I wonder what may be behind there?
I'm sure the produce department looks better now, but it was definitely a hodge-podge when I saw it a few months ago! We can see the patched sheetrock above the cut produce station from Sienna's department signage, along with the orange accent coloring and unfinished white section of wall.
This wide-angle shot really makes the deli space look larger than it is, but I know from my experience waiting for my chicken tender Pub Sub that it can get pretty crowded!
An apple a day keeps the Evergrey away?
Unfortunately, I skipped over most of the floral department which was sandwiched between cut produce and the restrooms, but here we can get a nice shot of the rear aisle of the store.
Speaking of the restrooms, Publix's 37D/N and 45T-1 stores from the turn of the Millennium are the only ones I can think of which put them in the back of the store. Personally, the setup in this shot reminds me more of an old Winn-Dixie than a Publix!
Now this looks more like a shot I would've taken! We can see the majority of the dairy section, with milk occupying the enclosed refrigerators and eggs off in the distance, followed by the meat department.
Or maybe this was a shot I took? Regardless, it looks like Publix managed to change the tan bar to green above the coolers. I'll be interested to see if a stock photo is plastered to the white section of wall above the milk or if canvas-style pictures are just hung in front of / attached to it.
Aisle 2 will be one of the few featured grocery aisles on this tour, and it happens to be home to breakfast products. We can also see the small floral department and restroom hallway off in the distance.
My trip to Publix #650 gave me a lot of "firsts" with regards to tile pattern sightings, but it also happened to be the first time I saw a grey powder-coated Wanzl 4140W shopping cart in a Publix. As you can see in the edge of this picture, I still had a regular chrome buggy (as did seemingly everybody else in the store) so I'm not entirely sure why there was only one grey cart in the store. I've since seen these used exclusively at newly-built stores as opposed to the chrome ones so it seems that they will slowly be trickling down to older ones as well. I just wonder why this guy was here all alone (and if the lady pushing it even noticed that it was different)!
On the flip side, what isn't recent is this COOLer. This style of endcap cooler is as much of a Publix staple as anything, but it seems like they are becoming rarer.
We'll continue my trend of photographing the pet food aisle (since there wasn't anybody on it, as usual) and take a look at a slightly out-of-place sign for aisle 8.
Stepping back on aisle 12, we see this store's cold beer and chip selection. Interestingly, it seems like Publix has rearranged many of their stores to offer both of these products on the same aisle.
Aisle 13 is where shoppers can find a combination of frozen foods, breakfast meats, and cheese. Does this combination seem odd to anybody else? I feel like stores don't typically devote half of an aisle, lengthwise, to frozen foods but rather would devote half widthwise.
We'll take another quick look back toward the meat department before we jump forward a couple of weeks to see where more painting was completed.
However, the wine department still looked pretty washed out on this trip. Hopefully Publix has since hung some stock photos on the walls so that the blank look doesn't give their shoppers anything to w(h)ine about while perusing this area.
Publix Public" sign dates back to at least this store's Classy Market 2.0 install – or before.
So, what did you think about Publix #650? Do you think the original tile will survive another day? Or will it say Goodbye to the yellow brick road, just as many other stores have?
I'll close out with a map highlighting the placement of Sing Stores in relation to Publix locations in Northeast Muscogee County. I would like to note that Sing Oil Company merged with Amoco before the planned Columbus #9 and Columbus #10 stores could be developed, but both lots had been purchased and architectural plans had already been drawn up for #9. Just like we saw in Tallahassee, I find the placement choices of the two companies curious, to say the least.
Until next time,
- The Sing Oil Blogger
Additional Resources:
Parcel ID: 100 008 003