Classy Market 2.0: The Final Hours
Publix #1331: The Afterlife
16950 San Carlos Boulevard
Fort Myers, FL 33908-1224
Murder on Aisle 16
Publix may have shot Classy Market 2.0, but I hid the body.
Are you sure?
Damn right I am.
You might be asking yourself, "what is going on right now?" and the answer is, your crazy Publix enthusiast is making an exception to his rule of only posting content relating to or nearby a Sing Store for some exclusive coverage of the demise of Publix's Classy Market 2.0 décor package. That's right, folks, September 28, 2022, may mark the day when Classy Market 2.0 was thought to have been put out of its misery, but October 30, 2022, marks the date when a whole new chapter of its life began.
If any of y'all have any ideas as to what I should do with my newfound signs, I'm all ears! AFB and I joked about opening a retail museum in the old Statesboro Publix, and that reality is looking partially more realistic. I've also been told that I'd have some material for a cool Publix-themed man cave, or some wacky signs to throw up on eBay. Regardless, I'm probably the only non-supermarket or landfill operator to own a 90% complete version of Classy Market 2.0! I also figure that somebody had to save all of the porcelain gas station signs from the 1950's, so shouldn't somebody save some of the supermarket signage from the late-2000's?
It was a warm October morning when the Publix Pirate and I made the journey down to Fort Myers, Florida, to see what we could find at the now-closed Publix #1331. The area had been devastated by Hurricane Ian only a month prior but was in surprisingly better shape than I had imagined. Yes, there was plenty of obvious storm damage, but many businesses had reopened and most of the major roads seemed to be in good condition (besides missing a number of road signs). Businesses like The Home Depot were certainly reaping the benefits of all of the damages, featuring stacks upon stacks of drywall and building supplies outside the store due to all of the demand and parking lots full of shoppers. If I didn't know better, I'd assume it was Black Friday!
The shot above gives us a glimpse of the recovering trees and damaged sign at this store, with the recent addition of a construction fence surrounding the parking lot (if only I had realized when I pulled into this store that the same fence would force me to make a 180° turn, with a trailer, when trying to leave this parking row due to the concrete barriers at the end of each space. I'd like to thank my brother for giving me a crash course on trailer backing many years ago).
The mangled sign off in the distance only retained one face, proudly bearing the Publix wordmark, following Ian. Publix took this opportunity to cover the former "Food & Liquors" verbiage with a red "Coming Soon" sticker. That served as the only exterior reminder of this store's most recent tenant (other than the blatant labelscar we see in the picture at the top).
As I made one of my final approaches toward the old Albertsons swinging doors, I noticed a shocking sight (besides the pitiful "We're Closed" sign written in Sharpie on the old "You can trust what you eat" sign we see here).
To my surprise, Publix had planned for this store to close on September 30, 2022, and even printed banners and signs saying so. I had thought that Hurricane Ian had canceled any official closure plans, but the actual last day of September 28 seemed to line up pretty well with the plan! Now I wonder why Publix never bothered to add a "store closing" notice to this store's location page like they typically do a week or two before a closure.
Shortly after I took this photo, I entered the door to my left and checked in at the information desk for the auction. I was told to go to the liquor store first to claim my purchases before moving on to the rest of the building (which was a wise choice to knock out the easiest items first).
Fair warning: the store in these photos does not look like the Publix I saw a few months prior. It still shocks me how much different a place can look once it has been "looted" following a fixture auction!
The shot we are looking at here shows the old liquor store (which also features remnants from Albertson's Blue & Gray Market décor on the walls) from the perspective of the doors entering the space. We can see the remnants of two aisles which ran down the middle of the store, and the old beer cooler space off in the distance.
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| Courtesy Grafe Auction |
This post will mostly contain shots I took during my trip, but I'll throw in and notate a few from the auction website to add a few things I missed. Here we can see what the beer cooler used to look like before it was cut out with a saw.
Looking the other direction, we see the old register space, restrooms, and doors.
Contrary to what you may believe, my only purchases from the liquor store were the Sans Serif Classy Market 1.0 category signs (which surprisingly aren't yet extinct in other Publix liquor stores). The set includes the following signs: Bourbon, Brandy, Cold Beer, Cordials, Fine Wines, Gin, Mixers, Ready to Drink, Rum, Scotch / Irish, Singles, Soda, Tequila, Vodka, and Whiskey.
These signs were actually pretty easy to remove, as they were held up by a wire hooked to metal clamps on the dropped ceiling grid; they were also very light. I did end up getting a bit lazy after a few and just cut the wires though.
For the curious, the signs are constructed out of three sheets of foam board that are sandwiched together (two off-white on the outside and the burgundy in the middle). This provides a nice 3D effect, but also doesn't add too much complexity to the manufacturing process. The foam board was painted (using some surprisingly high-quality paint – I had to scrub several of these really hard to get some stains off and that paint was very resilient) with vinyl stickers featuring Avenir lettering adhered to the faces.
I may not have special powers, but today I can see through walls! It appears that the old door to the stockroom also led to an emergency exit and a hallway behind the old cooler. On the other hand, the liquor store had no direct access to the main store like some may have thought.
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| Courtesy Grafe Auction |
The store looked much more stitched-up before the auction, didn't it?!
We'll take one last look over the liquor store (don't worry, I didn't leave without grabbing the last few signs) before we head over to the main store.
My next targets for removal were the frozen department banners, but
we'll skip ahead to the following destination: the meat department.
You probably noticed the graphics I included at the top of this post, but my inspiration for those was the idea to recreate all of the major Classy Market 2.0 signage. How do you think I did?
My "shopping companion" from May might've thought this store looked depressing back then, but it looked a helluva lot worse come October! I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if the missing ceiling tiles we see here are a result of water damage the store received during the storm. We can also see several of the 1994-era Albertsons coolers which have certainly seen a better day.
Said coolers also seemed to be hiding some nasty secrets: some of that mess could just be from the storm, but I'm sure nearly 30-years of grime has also built up back there.
My next project was exploring how in the world to remove the daunting department signs I had purchased. I had no idea how heavy they would be, or even how large they would be (some quick ceiling tile math proved helpful though).
It turns out that the Publix Pirate's guess of these being attached to the wall using French cleats was correct; all I had to do was climb up the ladder and lift it right off the wall! Most of the sign is constructed of Styrofoam so it was much lighter than I had expected.
Next up, is the seafood sign. We'll flash back a few minutes to see the pair together one last time . . .
before we see it "meat" the same fate as its companion for the last 13-years.
Hanging in the alcove was a random historic photo collage featuring a photo of a Publix semi-truck, a picture of George Jenkins (Publix's founder) bagging groceries, and a photo of the inside of Publix #1 from the 1930's. We also see some smaller secondary signs for the meat and seafood departments.
Now that we got those guys down, let's move on to some Classy Market closeups!
We'll first take a look at the seafood department sign, which happens to be 96" (8') wide by 26" tall (28.5" if you include the ribs).
All-in-all, the signs left the journey mostly unscathed; however, one of the ribs on the seafood sign had a bit of paint rubbed off by one of the ratchet straps securing it in the trailer.
For the curious, the lettering on the sign is made of foam board, the blue circles are plastic, and the ribs are wood.
The backing is a thin sheet of patterned stainless steel wrapped around a piece of foam board with a strip of MDF running along the back for the French cleat.
Over on the meat sign, we see a similar situation with foam lettering and circles attached to a foam backing covered in a wood-textured vinyl sticker.
Interestingly, the sides were painted red, but the back had small sections of the faux wood along either side. This sign also had a MDF French cleat running along the bottom, which was likely just a scrap used to space it off the wall.
The signs may just be made of foam and MDF, but 8 feet of said materials are heavier than you'd think. That being said, I wouldn't imagine either sign weighs more than 15 pounds.
Similar to the seafood sign, the meats sign measured 96" wide by 26" tall. Thankfully my dent in the "E" isn't too noticeable! Let's jump back down to Fort Myers to continue our store tour.
The listing photo for the meat and seafood signage also included a certain photo collage . . . so who could resist their own photo of Mr. George bagging groceries?!?!
Ever since Publix rolled out the classic photo collage around 2006 (with Sans Serif Classy Market 1.0 and Classy Market 2.0), I've always thought it was one of the coolest pieces of these décor packages. Several months ago, I tried to get a photo or two from a store that was undergoing a remodel but ended up missing my chance by a few days. I did hear that many of the photos from that store were damaged as they were taken off the walls because they were attached with nails and lots of double-sided tape. How could this be?
Well, it turns out that construction crews used copious amounts of double-sided adhesive to place the photos and plenty of finishing nails to secure the edges. I'll just say that some of the photos were much easier to remove than the others. You can also see how the photo of the truck above faded over the years, as it is much less blue where the other photos were covering it up.
The shelves may have been barren, but the coupon dispensers were still present and functional! Don't forget to save $1 on some Purdue chicken nuggets!
Heading over to the greeting card section, we see the scarring on the floor from Publix's old shelving. Look at all of that dirt!
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| Courtesy Grafe Auction |
I didn't get many contextual photos from this side of the store, so I decided to throw in a few from the auction website. Here is the shelf which used to grace the section of flooring we see above.
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| Courtesy Grafe Auction |
I also didn't even think to look inside the old pharmacy! If only I had known I was looking at the old pharmacy! At least we can see the door to the space on the left side of this photo.
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| Courtesy Grafe Auction |
We can also get a better look at the old pharmacy box itself which faced aisle 16. Some may think that Publix just covered the old counter with this magazine rack, but I think they actually patched the wall based on other photos from inside the room on the auction website.
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| Courtesy Grafe Auction |
We'll also take a quick look at the other side of the old pharmacy, thanks to our trusty auction photos, before we move on to more of my pictures. This store looks much nicer when all of the lights are turned on, doesn't it?
We'll go back into the shadows to see my next signage victim: Cold Beer. This sign was just made of foam letters that were stuck to the wall with (you guessed it) double-sided adhesive.
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| Courtesy Grafe Auction |
I actually decided to leave the "Cold Beer" lettering from my photo in place, and instead opted to take the sign we see in this auction photo since it was easier to get to (the shelves had already been removed from the store while the [c]old beer coolers remained in place. I also managed to peel off some of the avocado green paint when I was removing the sign if anybody wants a swatch!
Behind the wall with the beer coolers was the store's breakroom. This space had already been mostly cleaned out by the time I made it back to #1331, but we can see a few odds and ends that were left behind.
We can also see the remnants of the water fountains that were just outside the hallway to the breakroom and restrooms.
Turning our attention back toward the entrance, we can see the mostly intact Customer Service counter. This space seemed to serve as a tool hub for some of the crews removing equipment, and we can see the check-in desk for the auction off in the distance.
The "Customer Service" letters were included in the décor lot I bought, but I was so tired by the time I made it to that side of the store, so I decided to leave it be. I did end up telling another person they could have it, so maybe it got to have a second life after all.
Behind the customer service counter was a Classy Market 2.0-sytle "Publix Guarantee" sign. This is one item that I probably could have gotten away with taking, but I didn't want to test my limits and figured I already had enough signs as it was.
It was also really tempting to take this architectural rendering of future Publix #1853, but I resisted the urge and left it behind since it wasn't remotely close to the description of anything I bought. That didn't stop me from taking a picture of it though!
From the looks of it, this store's replacement will be a 48M prototype and will ring in at 47,307 sq. ft. while featuring a liquor store and pharmacy. A 45M façade looks slightly different than the one above since they tend to feature a single, centered "primary arch" (I'm not an architect so I don't know the correct vocabulary), while the 48M features a primary and secondary arch, flanked by additional columns and covered area, and the 54M doesn't have any additional columns. Wow, I want to apologize to all of the architects who may be reading this because I really butchered that!
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| Courtesy Grafe Auction |
This store also had a small office to the right of the customer service counter.
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| Courtesy Grafe Auction |
I didn't manage to take a look in this space during the auction pickup, but I overheard several men discussing the best method to break into the safe and remove it from the store. It isn't often that you'd overhear a conversation like that and not be concerned in the slightest! I also wonder why the auction company sold off the safe without first finding the combination, and why somebody would willingly buy a safe they knew they wouldn't get the combination to!
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| Courtesy Grafe Auction |
It appears that there could have been a small hallway between the safe room and the customer service counter because I can't imagine where else this photo was taken. The whiteboard we see was from the same auction lot as other fixtures in the safe room, and I don't think it was in the safe room based on the other photos of the space.
If Alex or Colin ever read this post, I'm sure that Publix #1331 / Albertsons #4413 will miss you too. At least they can find solace in the fact that their kind words toward the store will be forever immortalized in this post (could the auction company not bother erasing the board either?)
Leaving the service counter, we'll head back to the middle of the store to remove some frozen foods banners! We see our friend, the broken freezer door, never managed to be rescued before this store met its demise.
These signs also happened to be the first ones in the store that the Publix Pirate and I managed to dismantle, but I figured it made more sense to throw them in the middle as they were found in this store.
Unfortunately, we decided to leave behind 8/12 of the signs since we knew we had lots of other tasks and a limited time to carry them out. Again, maybe somebody came along behind us and took the other eight signs to a cold and loving home.
I did notice that the signs had alternating colors of screw hole covers on the side. I'm not sure if these were purely coincidental, or if this was planned to differentiate two different styles of the sign so identical ones weren't placed next to each other. I didn't get the chance to study my four signs up close, but maybe I can piece something together eventually.
I'm really glad I ended up buying those frozen foods banners (I paid a whopping 10¢ for all twelve of them) because I otherwise wouldn't have explored what items found their home on top of the circa 1994 freezers.
I only noticed this after I was looking back through my photos, but I'm wondering if those panels we see off in the distance are pieces of an aisle sign (the part where the cards slide in). I'd really be kicking myself if they were since I didn't get the chance to buy those from this store (all 32 sold for $6.40 but I wasn't able to make it to the listing in time to bid, but also am glad I didn't have additional things I had to remove from the ceiling).
The world may never know what those panels were, but I was able to spot a few goodies that I took home. I was overjoyed when I saw the red "Love To Shop Here. Love To Save Here" tag from Publix's extensive 2011-ish marketing campaign. I also found half of a "Bonus Buy" tag which appears to date back to Albertsons' stint in this building.
The third item I found on top of the coolers was this frozen meats category sign – I was thrilled! Publix had removed most of these before the auction so I thought all of them would be lost to history. I also found one for frozen vegetables, but that one was broken and had all sorts of mildew on grime on it. I just decided to leave it be and take the pristine one for meats.
The final frozen foods find was the best: two chicken bones. I have no idea how they ended up there, or how long they had been there, but it appeared that somebody had eaten two drumsticks and left the remains behind for somebody else to savor.
Wrapping up our tour of the frozen department will be this glimpse at the former home of an endcap freezer. I'm still amazed at the amount of gunk that can build up over 28-years (the floors under the cooler were original to Albertsons which indicate Publix never bothered to move these freezers), and I wouldn't be surprised if most of that rust is due to the store's proximity to the ocean. The piece of paper on the ground reading "Reduced <something> <something> sale" was the only interesting remnant I saw, but I didn't think it was interesting enough to photograph or take home.
We'll now pivot our tour to the storage space in the back of the store. The opportunity to remove the last traces of Classy Market 2.0 might have been cool enough in its own right, but I wanted to take the chance I had to explore the entire building while I was there!
Here we are looking back toward the store from a hallway leading to the back of house storage space. The now-removed doors served as the dividing line between the meat and dairy departments, and we are currently looking straight down the former aisle 8. Behind the wall to my right was the walk-in cooler for the dairy department (topped by a mezzanine level containing equipment that Publix Pirate poked his head into), while a meat processing room was located to my left. If you zoom in below the electric panels, you can see a small category card lying on the floor.
The aisle sign inserts we see above were spread all across the floor throughout the store, so I managed to pick up a few to take home (I guess the crews removing the signs weren't too concerned about getting all of the cards). The one I was most excited to find reads "Fresh Subs" which happens to be the one we see under the electric panels above. I have no idea why it was there, but the Sing Oil Sidekick has stated that he has wanted one ever since he first noticed one in a CM 2.5 store (these seem to have only been used in CM 2.0 signs, but some of those live on with Invigorate). I would eventually like to get one of these for myself but knew my sidekick would appreciate the memento.
Now we'll take a look at the section of the stockroom which runs behind the left side of the store. The loading dock was located just to my right, while the dairy cooler was to my left, and the deli prep area was off in the distance.
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| Courtesy Grafe Auction |
I didn't get a good picture of the loading docks themselves, so I decided to improvise with this picture of some ladders at the auction. The green cardboard compactor standing behind the orange ladder is the same one seen in my photo, for reference.
We'll now look over toward the right wall of the store and see the door leading to one of two meat rooms.
The first meat room appeared to be a walk-through cooler (the door on the right is the open one we just saw in the photo above), which lead to the meat prep room next door.
This picture was taken in the meat prep room facing the opposite direction from my previous photo (we are now looking toward the meat and seafood counter rather than the dairy department, if we could see through walls). I believe the door off in the distance led to a small hallway which provided access to the meat counter.
Now that we've had a short behind-the-scenes tour, let's jump back to the salesfloor to check out the dairy department.
This scene looks much different than it did back in May, doesn't it? The hallway off to the right is the same one we were looking down earlier, and the freezer aisles are just off to the left. I'd have to guess that the lack of ceiling tiles in this part of the store are due to water leaks from Hurricane Ian, or maybe the auction company sold some of them off to some happy customers?
Doesn't that flooring under the old coffin cooler just look disgusting?!?!
My next sign to remove happened to be the one for dairy. This one was a real challenge because it happened to be a whopping 12-feet wide! The Publix Pirate and I decided our best course of action would be to dismantle the sign rather than having it fall on one of us trying to bring it down the ladder (it was shockingly heavier than the meat and seafood signs).
If you ever wondered what a dismantled Classy Market 2.0 sign looked, well here is your answer! The curved aluminum pieces bearing the "Dairy" lettering were attached to the backing in all four corners, with some additional screws holding it in place from a bracket at the top. Once removed, the giant corrugated plastic sheet was then held up by one column of screws running down either side of the sign. After taking all of this down (the plastic was a pain to take down since it was so big and somewhat heavy), we determined the backing was still too heavy to mess with and decided to leave it on the wall.
Just to show you how big those signs are, I decided to lay a standard (4'-ish) floor broom next to one of them for some perspective: each arc measured roughly 11-feet wide!
The blue plastic sheet may have been a pain to transport, but it still made it back in one piece!
We'll take one last look at the back of the dairy and produce arcs before we move on to the rest of the tour.
It's not often you get to see a Publix from a 10-foot ladder! Here we can also see where the lights mysteriously decide to change orientation halfway through the store.
I couldn't leave without the curved deli sign! Perhaps one of the most unique signs from Classy Market 2.0, this guy was held onto the wall by two brackets supporting the upper two arms of the sign, with additional screws holding the separate piece bearing the "Publix" name.
The sign was also constructed on a wood frame, with foam lettering and an aluminum frame secured to the front.
It doesn't look quite the same without the Publix lettering, does it?
In front of the deli was a myriad of trash left behind by the previous removal crews. I noticed this one piece of sheetrock in particular which showed the Publix deli orange and a section of Albertsons deli accent yellow (?) (which had been painted over). The intriguing piece was the section of red on the left side of the scrap – could this be a leftover from Albertsons' deli too?
The produce department is up next, along with more remnants from this store's past.
Eww, just eww! This beautiful sight was found behind one of the produce coolers, and I really hope it was a result of more recent events at this store (although, I'm doubtful). It appeared that the store had an inch or two of water on the floor during the hurricane so it could have been soaked up by the walls to cause the mess we see here. Throughout the store were random puddles left behind after people moved the various store fixtures, and I'm inclined to say that those were from storm damage rather than condensation or refrigerant. Either way, they were pretty gross to walk through!
Looking over toward the bakery, we'll take one last look at the stately produce sign which has graced these walls for the last 13-years.
We'll also see some more paneling – and paint – which hearken back to simpler times. Blue and Gray Market, I suppose?
It hurts my heart every time I see this picture since I wonder what fate the backing of the produce sign ended up having. I would have loved to save a piece of the orange leaf pattern, at a minimum, but the 12-foot wide sign was just too big for the Publix Pirate and I to handle with only a single ladder. To make matters worse, the sign appeared to be made from a heavier material than the foam board of the 8-foot signs, so we made the decision to leave it in its place. There also didn't appear to be a simple way to dismantle it like we did with the dairy sign. Maybe somebody came along behind us to save it, but there is a chance it wound up in a landfill along with the rest of the store. On a positive note, I was able to save two of the other leaf accents, similar to the one in the middle of this sign.
I also noticed these produce bins sitting near the front of the store. I found the two on top to be especially interesting since the font used for "Produce" matches the font used for "Publix".
A produce prep space was located just through the double doors to my left, with the produce cooler being between that room and the deli tea cooler.
Eight departments down, one to go. We ended up saving the bakery for last, likely because it appeared to be one of the easiest signs to remove and because it was in the front of the store.
It turns out that was not the case and the Publix design team wanted to make sure none of Florida's massive earthquakes ever brought one of these letters down! Each letter had three strips of double-sided adhesive running along the back in addition to two 5" (I think) wood screws.
The wood screws were easy to back out with a drill, but the adhesive
proved to be a royal pain in the rear. Publix Pirate ended up finding a
metal trim piece from one of the coolers and used it to scrape the
adhesive strips off the wall. You can see how they ended up taking some pieces of the paint with them.
Speaking of the letters, they are also made from foam and feature some surprisingly resilient paint (those letters took a lot of scrubbing to get all of the grime off them). I decided to include a disposable camera (who still has one of those?!?!) for some perspective.
The sign was a total of 5 pieces of foam which were glued and stacked together to form the letter. I'd also like to note the brown trim we see between the silver edge and the cream backing: the sign facing the produce department didn't have this! I don't know why the one sign only had silver around this edge, but I didn't notice this until I was cleaning up the two signs to give one of them to the Publix Pirate. I'm glad I realized it before I mixed the letters up! Maybe somebody at the Publix sign office was just having a bad day, but I think the brown-trimmed edition is the historically accurate one and the silver-trimmed one was a mistake (that also happened to be the sign with the missing "7").
Still hung on the wall was the old frame for the bakery manager and assistant manager. This was another item I was tempted to take, but decided it was best to leave it behind.
To the left of the front half of the produce department was this bakery room, complete with industrial ovens and proofers. I believe the door in the distance leads to the produce prep area mentioned earlier.
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| Courtesy Grafe Auction |
Back in the main bakery space behind the counter, we see the nook in the front left corner of the store which happens to be home to a walk-in cooler.
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| Courtesy Grafe Auction |
I didn't take any pictures over here, but I'd say the auction pictures should suffice.
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| Courtesy Grafe Auction |
Turning back to the left just a shad, we can catch a glimpse of the sales floor and the door to the training room off in the distance.
Here's the picture I took from the bakery area looking toward that hallway and the front door of the store.
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| Courtesy Grafe Auction |
With the lights turned on, it's a bit easier to see the store's data closet off in the distance.
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| Courtesy Grafe Auction |
That data closet used to host the store the store's networking and telecom equipment.
The server rack may have been gone by the time I made it back to #1331, but a sheet featuring the stores telephone extensions was still stuck to the wall.
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| Courtesy Grafe Auction |
Also in that alcove / hallway was a small closet, presumably for office supplies or other non-inventory items.
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| Courtesy Grafe Auction |
Turning down the hallway back toward the front entrance, we find ourselves in the employee training room. I believe there was an identical counter on the opposite (front) wall of the room
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| Courtesy Grafe Auction |
One of my last photos (the last one happened to be the extension list above) inside Publix #1331 was, of course, of the historic photo collage hanging next to the old floral department / on the wall of the training room. It's fitting for Mr. George to have such a prominent view overlooking his store, and I hope somebody was able to save some of these pictures from the landfill.
If all of my back-office shots were confusing you, I managed to throw together a map based on my memories, photographs, ceiling tile math, and Google Earth satellite views. I don't claim drawing as one of my many talents, but hopefully it can still give you a good idea as to how these mid-1990's Albertsons stores are laid out. I also realized I forgot to include the office supplies closet in the front left corner of the store: oh well.
For the last part of this post, we'll take a closer look at some of the other signs I picked up at the auction. First up are the two leaves I snagged from the produce department (since I couldn't get the main backing of the produce sign). These guys had 3-or-so wood screws holding them into the wall and were fairly easy to remove. They are also made of foam and therefore are very light. Each one measures 72" by 31.5" (they don't look like they are 6 feet, do they).
Meanwhile, the barn we see below was one of two secondary signs I got from the meat department. It, along with the following secondary signs, measures 48" (4-feet) by 24" (2-feet) (the same dimensions as the ceiling tiles, I believe). The sign features the same vinyl faux-wood background we saw before, and a graphic printed on foamboard for the barn section.
I was expecting these signs to be mounted to the wall using the same French cleats as the primary signs but was caught off guard when they didn't easily lift off. It didn't take long before I tried to yank one straight off the wall and saw where they were screwed in. Workers had instead used the same wood screws that we saw securing the bakery letters and produce leaves to hold up these signs. The screws were only drilled through the Styrofoam on the sign itself, so it came straight off the wall. All three of the screws were inserted just above the printed poster board and never would have been noticed from the ground.
The secondary signs in the produce department were hung in the same fashion, just in a portrait orientation as opposed to landscape. The interesting thing about them is how the back of the sign was also painted, likely with the intention of it being seen, and they had two mount points for "S" hooks on the top of the sign that were taped over. Publix obviously designed these signs to be suspended, but the construction crews at #1331 instead decided to screw them directly to the wall.
I do like how these secondary signs are both sized at 4' x 2' even though they were designed to be hung in different orientations. Nice cohesion, Publix!
Moving onto the smaller secondary signs, we see an artistic interpretation of a fish from the seafood department and some "meaty" words from the meat counter. Interestingly, Publix would end up using a similar color of green for their seafood department with Sienna while opting for blue with Invigorate.
These signs measure 36 inches by 12 inches and feature the same French cleats on the back as the other secondary signs and the primary department signs; however, unlike the other secondary signs, these French cleats were used for their intended purpose.
These signs also had the same construction as the other secondary signs with a four-layer design. I appreciate the dimension it creates!
For a store I initially thought I would never see, to one I never thought I would post about, to one I never thought I would get the décor from, this was certainly a wild ride! Yes, I did spend $140 on random stuff from a Publix that was a long drive away. Do I regret it? Hell no I don't!
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| Courtesy Publix.com (archive.org) - Former Publix #1331 |
That will wrap up our triple-threat coverage of Publix #1331 / Former Albertsons #4413, so I hope you enjoyed this wild ride! I'll close with this photo from Publix's old store listing page which depicts the store before it was repainted. Let me know what you think of the now closed store, and if you have any further questions about what I may have seen.
I'll be back next week with another fun (although less exciting) Publix tour, but plan for the next Sing Oil Blog post to be released on Christmas Eve (December 24th). It may not be related to Christmas at all, but I know I will be excited to check it out once it is live!
Until next time,
- The Sing Oil Blogger
I'm sure all this made for an interesting trip! I'm amazed you have the storage space for all these signs, considering how big they all are. One of these days those signs may get to see the light of day again. The Statesboro Publix has been vacant for 23 years now, so maybe the landlord will be willing to make a deal with us for our museum! :) (You probably saw this already, but Publix makes their grand return to Statesboro on December 14th) It actually would be really neat if one of the decently preserved art deco Publix stores came up for sale, as one of those would make for a really neat retail history museum (and would be too ridiculously sized!) Dreams of a retail museum aside, besides some eclectic home decor conversation pieces, I wouldn't know what else to do with all of those signs. Their size would make them a huge pain to sell on eBay (at least as far as shipping is concerned), so I'd say hold onto them until an opportunity to showcase them all arises!
ReplyDeleteI agree, this store looks really depressing in its picked apart, two days away from demolition state. The vibe was pretty similar when I went to #4410's auction earlier this year as well, as that place was filthy, grimy, and depressing all around - even without hurricane damage! (Although Sedano's isn't exactly known for their cleanliness, unlike Publix, which didn't help). I'm sure it was a combination of hurricane damage and years of grime behind all those shelves and coolers. I've had to move gondolas around at work before, and you'd be amazed at how fast it gets nasty under those things!
I figured a lot of the signs would be made out of foam, since it's lightweight, easier to install, and less of a liability of one of those were to randomly fall off the wall. It was interesting seeing the close-ups and breakdowns of what the signs were made of and how they were installed (and you'll never be able to look at that 'MEATS' sign the same way again!) I know all of the Sienna lettering is made of foam, from what I saw at #107's auction a number of years ago now. #107, even after recently going through Hurricane Irma, didn't even feel as depressing as this store did. I'm quite impressed though with how many of the signs you did manage to save - I didn't realize you were able to take that much back home with you! I would have taken that rendering of the new Publix - that's really neat, and I'm surprised the old store's management didn't want to bring that over to the new store with them!
Very cool post overall, and a great way to conclude the saga of former Albertsons #4413 and former Publix #1331!
Oh yeah, this was a very interesting trip! I was exhausted by the time I left the store around 3, and it didn't help that I had only eaten a muffin all day! I probably would have grabbed a few more things at the end had I not been so hungry! Thankfully, I did have room to store the signs, I just hope that the humidity and lack of AC won't cause them to warp over time. Yes, I saw where Statesboro's second Publix just opened and even appeared to receive one of the fancy outdoor balconies! It's also crazy how that store is tied for Georgia's 200th Publix! One of the Art Deco stores would probably be a much better size for a museum since it would probably be hard to fill 47,000 sq. ft. Anyway, I've got no rush to get rid of the signs at this point, so hopefully they will be happy sitting in storage for now.
DeleteI just felt gross after leaving this store for the last time, and there was a certain smell that I couldn't get out of my nose. It's amazing how fast a store like that can fall apart and how that grime can build up over the years.
I'm surprised at how many of the old signs I was able to save as well. I'm just glad that most of them (besides the 12' signs and the bakery letters) were pretty easy to take down without damaging the signs. I'm also glad that you tipped me off to the possibility of these signs being made of foam. Looking back, I should have taken that rendering with me, along with the Publix Guarentee sign, but I'm also thankful for all of the stuff I was able to save.
Thanks for the compliment, and I had a lot of fun over the course of this adventure (mostly retrospective fun on the day of the sign removal day, though. I was stressed, tired, and not looking forward to a long drive home!)
Really great inquiry as to what goes in to putting up decor in a store! Hope you will make good use of what you've got.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I'm glad I was finally able to answer some questions about Classy Market 2.0, and some of this knowledge will come into play in my next post . . . I hope I will eventually find a good use for all of the signs, but you have my word that they won't find themselves in the trash!
DeleteVery cool! I've always wished I could have decor from some grocery store, but I have no space to store it nor any means to transport it. For what it's worth, that pinkish-red color on that scrap of drywall from the deli is definitely the original Albertsons Blue and Grey Market color!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I will say that is is much easier (in my experience) to get décor from an auction as opposed to a store remodel. At least the removal date is a guarantee and you don't have to worry about dumpster diving. I'm sure you could find some piece of décor that would fit in your car or house, too (like a category sign). Thanks for the confirmation about the scrap of drywall from the deli, and maybe that should have been something else that I grabbed! Oh well, at least I took note of it!
DeleteThis is some interesting stuff! That Bonus Buy tag is probably from Albertsons as I seem to remember them using those signs. It's been 20 years since Albertsons was here initially (not counting Randall's) so it's hard to remember for sure, but that most certainly does look like an Albertsons thing. It's a bit surprising that it lingered around for so long at the Publix, but then again, you never know what you'll find at a liquidation. AFB once found a Randall's Remarkable card at a Kmart Klosing sale in Florida! Huh!
ReplyDeleteThere is a fellow Houston retail enthusiast who used to work for a sign company that made signs for Foodarama, a local supermarket chain here in Houston that mostly operates in old chain supermarkets that have closed. Mike has done a few posts about Foodarama locations. Anyway, with that, I do have some insights about retail signs by picking his brain about them, but it is interesting to get a close look at those signs. They certainly seem a lot bigger than they do when they are mounted on the wall! I know Mike from HHR was able to get a clock that was integrated into the wall at the Pasadena Randall's a couple of years ago and it's massive. I don't have any retail memorabilia of that sort, and I don't have room for it, but it's neat that we can virtually enjoy your little (well, not so little!) retail museum.
I've seen that grunge before under old Kmart shelves since Kmart klosing sales were so prominently covered all over the country. I assumed part of that was just due to Kmart's neglectful maintenance, but it seems the grunge here at the Publixsons was even worse so I don't think we can simply attribute that to neglectful maintenance! I certainly can't blame any retailer for keeping things which aren't visible to customers in grungy shape. If anything, it does go to show how much effort retailers put in maintaining what is visible to customers. Certainly Publix does a better job of that than, say, HEB does. This HEBertsons that Mike did a post about last year (and which closed/relocated almost exactly a year ago) shows HEB's more neglectful maintenance of a similarly-aged Albertsons than what Publix did: https://houstonhistoricretail.com/2021/12/08/clear-lakes-heb-in-the-old-albertsons-finally-meets-it-end/
That's an interesting Kodak FunSaver camera there! I never liked those disposable film cameras (though they were better than those disposable digital cameras...yes, they did exist!) as compared to real cameras. Perhaps it would be interesting to take images of a 1990s or older supermarket on film and put the scanned results online! I don't know how well that would work with a Publixsons, but it might work well with an old Worn-Dixie!
Thanks! I thought the Bonus Buy tag was from Albertsons considering how I don’t remember seeing any in Publix stores or pictures. I also think AFB uses “Bonus Buy” for some of his post branding which helps the case. I’m surprised that it lingered around a Publix for over a decade, but it didn’t look like Publix ever bothered to clean off the tops of those freezers with all of the “surprises” hanging out up there. While I can make an explanation for this tag being in a Publix, I can’t explain a Randall’s card In a Florida Kmart!
DeleteIt is certainly one thing to see a sign for yourself hanging on a wall, but a whole different experience to hold it for yourself! It’s also crazy how much bigger they are when they aren’t mounted 10-feet in the air! I guess if I never do open a physical retail museum, at least I was able to create my own virtual one (maybe I could charge admission for virtual tours, lol).
It doesn’t seem to matter what store you visit, there will always be grunge hiding under the old shelves. I doubt the gondola shelving in this store had been moved since Publix installed the flooring in 2008/2009, and it certainly didn’t help if this store had a few inches of water inside during Hurricane Ian. It’s also crazy to see how much better this store looked while it was in operation than the similarly aged HEB. At least Publix still had some standards!
Disposable cameras certainly have no reason to exist today, but they were fun to use in certain scenarios 15-20 years ago. That particular one expired back in 2007 so the film would probably leave a lot of extra noise and artifacts on the pictures if you tried to develop it today. You do have much more control with a real camera, however, since you can adjust the aperture, shutter speed, etc. (you are still limited on your ISO based on the film, of course). I’m also surprised anybody would want to buy a disposable digital camera! I’ve taken a few pictures of a Winn-Dixie exterior on film, but I would be nervous as heck using a full SLR inside an active store; it certainly isn’t as discrete as a smartphone! That is a neat idea though!
I have a handful of store décor pieces, and I've been inside a couple of stores after they've closed, but your experience and purchases blow mine out of the water! It's so cool that the stars aligned perfectly for you and the Publix Pirate to be able to go on this adventure, and it's incredibly thrilling to get to go along with you on the journey via this post. You've also explained the sign materials and photographed them in close-up detail way better than I ever could. Even your graphics designed to match the décor are perfect!
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed (and only slightly jealous :P ) that you managed to get all of that stuff for so cheap (at least, considering how many items you got for your total purchase price, anyway). Granted, the times I went and did this, I had to deal with people in person, rather than bidding online. I think they (not unexpectedly) took that opportunity to milk more money out of me, knowing that I was already there and was effectively a captive audience. Bidding online seems like a much better way to get cheaper prices, and I'm glad it worked out for you.
Obviously décor pieces themselves are awesome, but architectural renderings like that are right up my alley, too. I understand why you left it behind though, but I'm glad you got that picture of it, at least. And as for the paint behind the former water fountains, do you think that dates back to the Albertsons days? Looks similar to what you uncovered in the produce department, anyway.
The extra aisle maker placards and other miscellaneous items you picked up are neat, and part of the added fun of experiencing a store in this state. That was very kind of you to give the "Fresh Subs" one to your Sing Oil Sidekick, and the second Bakery sign to the Publix Pirate. They both seem like awesome folks for expressing such interest in your hobby and helping you out with stuff like this!
I'm sorry to hear you weren't able to rescue the produce sign backing or the rearmost portion of the dairy sign, but pictures are always the next best thing, and at least in this case you managed to get so many other items as well! I was not expecting décor pieces to be this huge at all when I went to obtain my first one, so I'm guessing you may have been similarly surprised to discover that for the first time (at least you planned ahead well enough by bringing that trailer -- which, by the way, I would not have been able to reverse at all, lol). Finally, your and AFB's retail museum idea sounds awesome -- I'd definitely pay a visit!!
Late comment here, so while I know you have a new post coming up tomorrow, I'll just go ahead and say it at this one -- Merry Christmas!
This was definitely an adventure that I doubt I'll ever have again, and I'm still shocked that I was able to pull it off! Who knows, you may get the opportunity for a similar experience at some point! Thank you for all of your kind words; I personally learned a lot through my photographs and explanations, so I'm glad somebody else was able to make sense out all of them too.
DeleteI was just looking at the auction for the old Macon Publix and was shocked when I saw that store's décor sold for $600! I'm amazed at the deal I got on all of that stuff too, but I did still have to pay for gas to get down there. I tried to get a sign or two from a different Publix undergoing a remodel earlier this year, but that months-long process led me to realize that an online auction is a much easier process with more concrete results. At least you were still able to get some pieces from a store or two (like your cupola) and just be glad it worked out in the end!
By the time I made it over to the customer service counter to find that architectural rendering, I was close to my whit’s end after having been in that store for several hours and not eating any lunch. That rendering probably ended up in a landfill, but it doesn't do any good for me to languish in the fact that it is gone forever. I'm just glad I was able to save what I did. Yes, that paint behind the former water fountains was 100% from Albertsons. I totally forgot to mention it in the post, but it matched the grey color I saw in the produce department and was from Blue & Grey Market.
I didn't manage to get that architectural rendering, but at least I found all of the extra items like the aisle marker placards and category marker (probably one of my favorite bonus finds). I'm also glad to have friends who let me drag them along on adventures like this, even if they aren't as involved in the hobby as I am. I suppose it makes for a good story for them (Publix Pirate said he got some great reactions from his co-workers).
Pictures are the next best thing, and similar to the architectural rendering, I'm not too heartbroken over them considering all of the stuff I was able to save. I remember having a conversation with AFB a few months back about the size of department signage, and was shocked when I actually paid attention to the dimensions of some in a different store. I'm just glad I was able to estimate the sizes of these signs with my ceiling tile math so I was mentally prepared for the undertaking! And backing a trailer isn't bad once you realize you have to turn the wheel opposite the direction you normally would. Finally, we'd need a lot more than the signs I got to fill a museum, but we certainly have the research portion handled!
Merry Christmas to you as well and Happy New Year!
You're welcome! And yep, I'm very glad to have the pieces I have, as well. Hopefully it didn't come across that I was trying to make you feel bad about not getting the rendering -- that definitely wasn't the intent! I totally understand being hangry after all that, too... the in-person auction I went to, we were there all day, because when they first tried to auction off the décor, they tried to do it in one big lot. I didn't need all of that!! So I pointed out to the auctioneers that that was a mistake, and online it showed each sign as its own lot. They apologized and said they'd come back around to those later as a result. Hours upon hours later, they realized I was still there, and finally auctioned off the sign I wanted -- and still managed to overcharge me, because after waiting that long I put my hand in the air at the very first number he spit out! My parents were with me that day, and we were all hungry and annoyed by the end... but hey, still makes a good story, I guess :P
DeleteNo, you totally didn't come off like that! I was more so writing all of that to remind myself not to worry about the things I didn't manage to get. In the end, I don't feel bad about it and I never thought that was your intent either!
DeleteI'm surprised that your parents had the patience to sit with you for that long, but I'd likely be in the same situation as you and just be ready to get over with it, no matter the cost. Glad it worked out after all of that!