Statesboro's Failed Supermarkets

Former Publix #460

University Commons

600 Northside Drive East

Statesboro, GA 30458

Welcome to the 'Boro!  You might be asking yourself "why is he back from his holiday hiatus?" and the answer is that I couldn't resist publishing one more post before 2023 was a mere memory.  As you can see, this is the well-deserved eighth entry into my When Publix Waves Goodbye series; furthermore, today's post is a bit outside of my typical territory, but the specimen we'll examine today was well worth the trip (it helps that work sent me to the area).  Let's just say that this store has perplexed The Albertsons Florida Blogger and me both to the point where I figured I needed to take action . . .

This story begins on January 10, 1994, when Publix #460 opened as the sixteenth store in The Peach State and the first store of 1994.  Things were looking up for the Lakeland-based company as it made a splash in Georgia several years earlier with stores #412 in Savannah & #33 in Marietta; the company was also looking to fill out smaller markets in the region such as Valdosta (#430), Brunswick (#431), Albany (#450), & Athens (#451).  In total, Publix cut the ribbon on 22 Georgian locations that year which continues to hold the record for the most stores the company has ever opened in the state in a calendar year.  Publix' aggressive entry into the market turned heads and smothered weakened competition, but any war doesn't come without its casualties.  

Eight of the twenty-two in the Class of '94 no longer grace this Earth for reasons including demographic changes (#477), direct replacements (#476), or not-so-direct replacements (#471).  All of those stores racked up at least a decade of service – except for good 'ole #460.  Even the 2002 Publixity stunt of #790 or the duds of '03 (including #278, #283, #860, & #875) lasted six years before folding; however, Statesboro's first Publix closed its doors for good by 1999 without replacement, ending what may well be the shortest-lived new construction location to have ever existed.

Moreover, a store that opened and closed in the 1990's can only mean one thing:  it had Wavy Pastels for its entire life.  What adds to the intrigue is how this store has remained vacant ever since Plato left Bulloch County.  Do you catch my drift?

We'll just say that AFB was thrilled when I first shared my photos of this store with him.

Despite me being in this hobby for close to three years now, I still get a bit spooked on occasion when photographing stores.  I knew I had to find a way to blend in while glancing through the windows of the forgotten supermarket, so I naturally decided to dine at the Mexican restaurant next door.  The food may have tasted like essentially every other Mexican restaurant I've been to in the rural Southeast, but is consistency ever a bad thing?

After my supper, I placed my head against the sliding glass doors and was greeted by . . .

An empty vestibule.

Unfortunately, all I could really see was a Big Lots cart, and possibly a big fixture from a department store in the middle of the checkout area.  Either the front end skylight has been covered over, or it just didn't give enough light to let me see further in.  Why couldn't the store have been just a little bit brighter?!

After all of this buildup, it was an anticlimactic ending to what I had hoped would answer so many questions.  At least I didn't drive all the way to Statesboro just to see this store.

I'm going to guess that the windows to the left used to provide a glimpse into this store's photo lab, but I haven't been able to confirm what this area to the right of the customer service counter was originally used for.

While I was hoping to see a Wavy Pastel wonderland, I was probably left with more questions than I started with:  Why were those traffic cones here?  Why has the store remained vacant this long?  Are there still Wavy Pastels signs on the walls?  How could I tour the inside of this dang place?!

I wish I could provide more concrete answers to all of the above, but the best I can do is tell you that this store still remains a large mystery.  

GeorgiaPubDude was able to narrow this location's closure down to sometime between 1995 and 1999:  the corresponding pharmacy license was last renewed on June 7, 1995, and had an expiration date of June 30, 1999.  Bulloch County otherwise doesn't have digitized newspaper databases online from the 1990's, and Publix doesn't exactly publicize its store closures.  I've heard rumors that the reason this store closed so early on was due to its distant proximity to Publix' distribution centers in Jacksonville and Atlanta in conjunction with the low density of other Publix stores in the area.  These factors allegedly made it too costly for the chain to continue to operate the store, forcing it to shutter.  

The Tallahassee Democrat (Newspapers.com) - August 31, 1997

Update: Thanks to research by The Seaway Project, we now have a better idea of when this store closed.  The ad above from The Tallahassee Democrat above is the last item on Newspapers.com to mention the store, and the same flyer seemed to be used for all stores in the Jacksonville Division.

Screenshot courtesy The Seaway Project (Facebook) - December 25, 2023

While the Labor Day 1997 circular may have been the last one to feature #460, it looks like Publix officially announced the store would close on April 1st, 1998.  That's quite the cruel April Fool's joke!  Another former employee confirmed that the store only survived three-four years, adding to this crazy story.

Let's just hope that history won't repeat itself.  On December 14, 2022, the grocer opened the doors to Statesboro's second Publix, ending the over two decade hiatus.  Is it fair to say that the new store #1733 across town ultimately served as #460's replacement?

Regardless, this 47N still looks like an old Publix from the outside, and probably still looks like one on the inside, too.  Does anyone want to call for a property tour?

Food World (Homeland) #792

Former Food Lion #443 / Harveys #2374

603 Northside Drive West

Statesboro, GA 30458

Jumping to the north side of town, we'll take a brief look at one of Statesboro's five Food Lions.  This location was particularly interesting to me since all of the Google Maps photos show it still sporting the nearly-extinct Harveys Grid interior.  Unfortunately, it didn't take long upon my arrival for me to realize Homeland had already remodeled the store earlier this year, ruining my hopes and dreams of photographing the package in the 'Boro.  I was pissed.

Oh well, at least I could still see the original Food Lion sign post and Deli / Bakery lettering.

Courtesy Charles Burgess Jr (Flickr) - Harveys #2374 - June 22, 2013

Charles Burgess has a nice photo on Flickr of how this store looked as a Harveys, along with a shot of the road sign back in 2013.  At least I was able to photograph the old Bruno's interior in the East Dublin Food World the following day as a consolation prize.

Former Winn-Dixie #147

Gentilly Square

602 Brannen Street

Statesboro, GA 30458

Our final stop of the day will be Statesboro's former Winn-Dixie.  This store is located just behind University Commons and the Statesboro Mall and seems to have suffered the same fate as the former Publix.  According to Charles Burgess, this store shuttered in 2005, following Winn-Dixie's first bankruptcy, and appears to have been vacant ever since.

The Bulloch County Property Records indicate this building was built in 1970 with an effective year built of 1985.  I'm personally leaning toward the latter since this store has a quintessential 1980's WD façade, but you can never know for sure with county property records alone.  I'm also going to guess that The Beef People rearranged the entryway for this store in the mid-1990's as part of a Marketplace remodel.

Courtesy Bulloch County Property Records - Former Winn-Dixie #147

Much to my surprise, the Bulloch County Property Records still have a vintage photograph of the building from over 10-years ago.  Even when Google Street View fails me, the property records can come to the rescue.

The outside may have been painted over, but let's see if there is anything interesting hiding inside . . .

Oh, would you look at that–Rose & Teal Marketplace!  Had I not already photographed active stores with this package, I probably would have been a bit giddier, but it is cool to see a store that has been vacant for close to 20-years still holding on to all of its decor. This reminds me a bit of the old Thomasville Food Lion, except a little less creepy.

On top of the signs still being on the walls, this store also used the "cheaper" variant of Rose & Teal Marketplace rather than the deluxe version that I've come across more often.  It seems like the cheap version was primarily used in 1980's stores that were expanded and upgraded to the Marketplace format during the mid-1990's.  

The next tell-tale indication that this store was built in the 1980's is the faux skylight fixture over the registers.  WD swapped to a similar structure with solid surface of dropped ceiling tiles in the 1990's.  

I do wonder why somebody went through the effort to move the old check stands out of the way, only to leave them piled up on either side of the old space.  Maybe this was to provide a lane for forklifts to move around?  The building seems like it is just used to store random odds and ends now, so I'm not exactly sure what is going on here.  I'd just advise against moving those buckets and cones because they probably cover the old electric connections for the registers.

I tried to take as many pictures as I could, but the window glare was killing me!  Even without the glare, though, it was still difficult to see any signs besides the one for the old meat department on the far wall.  I also have a feeling that those Christmas decorations and curtain rods (?) weren't left by The Beef People.

It looks like I shifted a bit to the left to take this shot, but we otherwise see the same stuff.  There was something interesting that caught my eye though . . .

Okay, I'll admit that I cheated and saw Charles' 2013 picture of this sign before I drove up, but I was still thrilled to see this old pharmacy sign hanging 10-years later!  I thought this sign was so cool!  The fact that I've never seen one in an active Winn-Dixie makes me believe the chain got rid of these shortly following the bankruptcy; at least this one survived.  It still seems odd that this was hanging above the old cart storage area which leads me to believe this store's pharmacy used to be in the area that's often home to seasonal displays in "modern" stores.  I'd love to be able to save some of this old signage!

It looks like this store was first issued a pharmacy license on June 16, 1997, which leads me to believe that's when it was formally expanded into a Marketplace; the last renewal was on June 9, 2005.

Turning to the left, we also find the old space for the customer service counter along with a buggy full of junk.  (I initially thought the buggy came from Publix, but it looks like a different model than the company uses).

Back out front, we find the shopping center sign which seems like it has seen better days . . .

. . . and we find an old Sears hometown store sign posted just outside the mall across the street.

I also originally forgot to mention Retail Retell's Flickr series on the Statesboro Office Depot located just across the street from former Publix #460 and the Statesboro Mall.

Current and Former Statesboro Supermarkets

All in all, Statesboro has several interesting retail sites with many stories to tell.  While this tale may be over, I wouldn't be surprised if we find ourselves back in the area later on down the line.  I hope you enjoyed this little adventure, and I'd like to take this time to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Until next year,

- The Sing Oil Blogger

Standard Oil - Atlanta, GA | Powder Springs - Marietta, GA

 

Powder Springs

Korner Kupboard Food Store | Standard Oil Products

1185 Powder Springs St

Marietta, GA 

Revisited: November 12, 2023 | Original Publication: February 2, 2021

Welcome back to The Sing Oil Blog!  Rather than publishing a standard post, today I'm going to change it up and circle back to the second ever post to go live on this blog.  While a lot has changed over the last couple of years (including the composition of my posts), my fascination with oil companies has remained.  Recently, Retail Retell left a comment on my LaGrange #1 post mentioning a YouTube video he thought I would enjoy.  Little did he know, I had traveled down the Standard Oil rabbit hole over a decade ago and was well aware of the story we'll examine today . . .

Since I'll be discussing Standard Oil, I figured it would be fitting to tie that history into my post on the former Power Springs "Sing" station.  What I wrote over two years ago seemed bare compared to what I publish now, so I figured it would be worthwhile to jazz it up a bit.  Let's breeze through that portion of the post before continuing onto the meat and potatoes.

The Powder Springs station was built sometime between 1972 and 1976 in what was at the time a developing area of Cobb County.   Sing had an agreement with Standard Oil Company of California (Chevron) to co-operate several stations in the Atlanta Metro including this station, a station on Chamblee Dunwoody Road, and several others.  As shown by the image above, the Powder Springs store was built to Sing specifications with everything from the convenience store, pump canopy, parking lights, and even sign hardware using Sing's design language.  The only thing absent from this station is the Sing logo, as the design was "Standard" in name only.  I'm not aware of any other Sing stores that specifically sold Standard gas (Carrollton had a Chevron sign out front, while a handful of other stations are mentioned as selling Chevron fuels), but it seems that Sing preferred using Standard's branding here since the oil company already had a sizeable and established presence.  However, it is interesting that Standard/Sing decided to brand the food store as "Korner Kupboard" instead of Sing since the Chamblee Dunwoody Road store exclusively carried the Thomasville-based company's name.

This "Sing" survived in some form until the early 1990s, shortly after the Amoco-Sing merger.  I'm not sure if the station ever converted to the Amoco brand, but Amoco had the property surveyed in 1990 and ultimately sold the station to Checkers on July 21, 1993.  It wasn't long before Checkers leveled the station and built a restaurant on the site.  By the early 2000s, the Checkers had closed, and the restaurant had also been torn down.  Currently, the corner is now occupied by an AutoZone that was built around 2005.  Ironically, a Chevron is now situated just across the street.

Cobb County Superior Court Records - October 13, 1989

Amoco Site Survey of Powder Springs Station

This station is one of the few to have scanned copies of original documentation available for free online.  In addition to the warranty deed for Amoco selling the property to Checkers, I found an interesting survey of the property conducted by Amoco in 1989.  It looks like there was a dispute over a perimeter wall between the Sing property and the adjacent car wash that had to be cleared up before the Amoco-Sing merger was finalized several weeks later.  This survey provides rare details on the layout of the station and parking lot that would otherwise be lost to time.

Now that we know a little about Sing's operation of Standard stations, let's take a look at Standard Oil Company as a whole.

An American Standard

For today's history lesson, we need to rewind all the way back to the Nineteenth Century to examine a topic I loved learning about in school.  My ears would instantly perk up during my high school history classes when we would discuss The Gilded Age; that was almost certainly a harbinger for a discussion about Standard Oil Company.

According to The Encyclopedia Britannica, "The company’s origins date to 1863, when [John D.] Rockefeller joined Maurice B. Clark and Samuel Andrews in a Cleveland, Ohio, oil-refining business. In 1865 Rockefeller bought out Clark, and two years later he invited Henry M. Flagler [the same man who started the Florida East Coast Railroad and whom Flagler College in St. Augustine is named after] to join as a partner in the venture. By 1870 the firm of Rockefeller, Andrews, and Flagler was operating the largest refineries in Cleveland, and these and related facilities became the property of the new Standard Oil Company, incorporated in Ohio in 1870. By 1880, through elimination of competitors, mergers with other firms, and use of favourable railroad rebates, it controlled the refining of 90 to 95 percent of all oil produced in the United States."

The oil industry in the Nineteenth Century was very different from today in that most retail operations centered around kerosene rather than gasoline.  Before electricity was commonplace, Americans relied on kerosene for light and heat, and gasoline was essentially an explosive byproduct of kerosene production that oil refineries didn't know what to do with.  Standard eventually saw the potential use of gasoline with the budding automobile industry and primed itself for world domination.

Next! - Udo J. Keppler (Library of Congress) - 1904

"Illustration shows a "Standard Oil" storage tank as an octopus with many tentacles wrapped around the steel, copper, and shipping industries, as well as a state house, the U.S. Capitol, and one tentacle reaching for the White House." - Library of Congress

Standard also shifted its focus from the horizontal integration of the early years to vertical integration, as it was gaining influence in Washington, DC.  (For those who need a refresher on economics class, horizontal integration is when a company attempts to buy out direct competitors while vertical integration is where the goal is to control every step of the production process.)  All in all, Standard had operations in oil drilling, refining, transportation, and sales by the turn of the Twentieth Century, essentially rendering it a massive horizontal and vertically integrated behemoth.  In other words, a monopoly. 

The Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890)

The Sherman Anti-Trust was signed into law by President Benjamin Harrison on July 2, 1890 as the first piece of legislation passed by Congress to outlaw trusts.  According to The National Archives, "A trust is an arrangement by which stockholders in several companies transfer their shares to a single set of trustees. In exchange, the stockholders receive a certificate entitling them to a specified share of the consolidated earnings of the jointly managed companies.

Toward the end of the 19th century, trusts come to dominate a number of major industries, destroying competition. For example, on January 2, 1882, the Standard Oil Trust was formed. Attorney Samuel Dodd of Standard Oil first had the idea of a trust. A board of trustees was set up, and all the Standard properties were placed in its hands. Every stockholder received 20 trust certificates for each share of Standard Oil stock. All the profits of the component companies were sent to the nine trustees, who determined the dividends. The nine trustees elected the directors and officers of all the component companies. This allowed Standard Oil to function as a monopoly since the nine trustees ran all the component companies."

From my understanding, it seems that a trust was a legal way at the time to construct a business monopoly as it allowed the companies held by the trust to remain independent on paper all while profits were funneled back to the trust's board of trustees.

Standard Oil Plant of Whiting, Indiana (Library of Congress) - 1910

Notably, The National Archives mentions that the act initially lacked enforceability as ruled by the Supreme Court in United States v. E. C. Knight Company (1895).  The argument was that the American Sugar Refining Company did not violate the law despite its controlling roughly 98% of all sugar refining in the United States since control of manufacture did not directly correlate to control of trade.

Despite the seeming dismissal of the law, Progressive Era politicians, such as President Theodore Roosevelt, began to utilize the act for "trust busting" purposes into the beginning of the Twentieth Century.  Early victories include the Supreme Court's 1904 decision in Northern Securities Co. v. United States to uphold the government's suit to dissolve the Northern Securities Company; however, the law's most famous use is why we are here today:  President Taft's 1911 suit to formally dissolve Standard Oil Company. 

John D. Rockefeller (Library of Congress) - 1909

According to Wikipedia, "In 1896, John Rockefeller retired from the Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey, the holding company of the group, but remained president and a major shareholder. Vice-president John Dustin Archbold took a large part in the running of the firm. In the year 1904, Standard Oil controlled 91% of oil refinement and 85% of final sales in the United States. At this time, state and federal laws sought to counter this development with antitrust laws. In 1911, the U.S. Justice Department sued the group under the federal antitrust law and ordered its breakup into 43 companies."

Note: this is the same John D. Archbold for whom the hospital in Sing's hometown of Thomasville, GA, was named for.  Dedicated on June 30, 1925, the hospital's name was chosen following a donation from John D. Archbold's son, John Foster Archbold.  The hospital also has a cancer center named in honor of Sing's founder Lewis Hall Singletary (shown here with his wife Mildred at the ribbon cutting).

While many thought the dissolution of Standard Oil in 1911 would be the end of John D. Rockefeller's companies and his fortune, the exact opposite came to be true.  Following the breakup of the 43 companies, Rockefeller's net worth skyrocketed as the daughter companies he now held stock in were exponentially more profitable than the single trust was.  All of the "baby Standards" went on to be very successful businesses of their own, with many recombining into the oil giants we are familiar with today.

Courtesy US-Highways.com (archive.org) - Standard Oil Territories in 1911

Following the bust of Standard Oil, individual operating companies were granted the right to use the Standard name in specific regions as outlined above.  That brings us to The Standard Oil Company of Kentucky (KYSO) whose territory is highlighted in orange.

Standard Oil (KYSO) map of Atlanta - 1964

Unlike most of the other "Baby Standards", KYSO never adopted a marketing name other than "Standard Oil" and never seemed to venture outside of its original territory in the Southeast.  KYSO also lacked refining operations of its own and purchased all of its oil products from other companies such as Esso / Standard Oil Company of New Jersey.

Gas pump with 1960's Chevron branding in Cedar Key, FL

By 1960, The Standard Oil Company of California (Chevron) purchased KYSO and thus acquired the rights to the Standard name in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, & Mississippi.  Many stations would continue to operate in status quo for the next decade, but others began to receive Chevron branding in one form or another.  One such example is this diesel pump I came across in Cedar Key, Florida.  While the branding was quite faded, it was still obvious to see the logo Chevron used during the 1960's hanging on.  I'd presume that the pump was originally installed at a Standard / Chevron station on the island close to 60-years ago.

Chevron slowly began to phase out the Standard brand following its logo change in 1969 and name eventually dwindled from its formerly widespread marketing territory.  Today, thirteen Standard stations have been confirmed to exist across the country, one of which we will explore in just a bit.

The reason there are 13 is because Chevron made the decision to operate to operate a single outlet in each state where it owns the Standard name in order to satisfy an obscure loophole in US trademark law.  That being said, the internet sleuths out there still haven't been able to find the supposed Standard stations in Hawaii and Mississippi.

Courtesy Jgera5 (Wikipedia) - Standard Oil Naming Rights by State (2023)

As for what is left of the bulk Standard Oil Company today, there's actually more than you would expect.  The top three oil companies in the Fortune 500 list are all direct descendants of Standard.  Specifically, ExxonMobil comes in at #3 on the list, while Chevron rounds out the top 10 and Marathon rings in at #16.  Chevron, in particular, is of interest to us today since it continues to hold the rights to the Standard trademark in the state of Georgia.

Esso Express station in France

As for abroad, ExxonMobil continues to market all of its international stations under the Esso brand (a phonetic spelling of "S.O." for Standard Oil).  The Esso name has also been authorized for use with Exxon's diesel marketing in the United States, but was otherwise phased out in favor of the Exxon name in the 1970's

 Now, for today's adventure we'll travel to the one and only Standard station left in The Peach State.

Chevron #201793

Sing Food Store

1025 N Highland Avenue NE

Atlanta, GA 30306

Standard Oil Company of California

This particular quandary is located in the heart of Atlanta's Virginia Highland neighborhood at the intersection of Virginia and Highland Avenues.

Virginia Highland (often incorrectly referred to as "Virginia Highlands" at the behest of locals) is a quaint former streetcar suburb to the east of Midtown Atlanta.  The neighborhood is likely known most famously for, and was named by, its successful attempt to squash plans to construct Interstate 485 through its heart.  Wikipedia notes, "When . . . residents formed a group to oppose the highway in Fall 1971, they chose the name 'Virginia–Highland Civic Association'. With the victory of the anti-highway forces, the Virginia–Highland name stuck and the press started to use it to refer to the entire neighborhood between Amsterdam, Ponce, Piedmont Park and Druid Hills."

I-485 is an interesting topic to research, as parts of this planned freeway were constructed and now serve as Georgia 400, Freedom Parkway (including the interchange with I-85), and I-675.

In addition to many historic homes, Virginia Highland also boasts a small commercial district complete with many 1920's buildings.  I thought this neon sign was rather interesting . . .

. . . as were the architectural rafter tails along the eve of the building.

All of that is fine and dandy, but let's turn our attention back across the street to the reason you've come this far.

At first glance, this appears to be your average early-2000's Chevron station; it features the circa 2006 namesake badge on the canopy and full Chevron logo on the gas pumps and the convenience store window.

As for the sign, that's a different story.  Rather than a run-of-the-mill Chevron, we now find that we are looking at a Standard Chevron—who woudda thunk?

It's a shame how this station has let the South-facing sign fade and grow mildew considering how it's the one with the least obstructed view.  Those power lines really made photographing this station a pain!

As we saw above, the canopy also continues to bear the Standard name, making it one of the 13 to continue to do such.  Interestingly, the Salt Lake City and Lake Worth Beach Standards still have the pre-2006 lettering on their canopies while the Boise Standard has a straight up vintage canopy (and a regular Chevron sign).

As for the convenience store, it uses the design language of most other early-2000's Chevron stations except for the odd choice of a Spanish tile roof.

It looks like this station sells E-85 at pumps 7 & 8 but no diesel fuel.  I do wonder how often people purchase E-85 because it seems like turbocharged engines and hybrids have become commonplace enough to where we don't see Flex Fuel cars produced like they were just over a decade ago.

Back when this station first adopted the 2006 logo, it had signs that complimented the Chevron colors much better than the Harveys Yellow ones we see here today.  It's a shame that they couldn't at least try to make the E-85 sign blue!

It's also worth noting how gas prices within the 285 perimeter of Atlanta tend to be 50¢ more than what you'll find outside the city; this station was no exception.

What's 4 breakfast, you ask?  A Mexican burrito, of course!  Whelp, here's proof that I've officially run out of things to say.

Whenever Retail Retell mentioned this, I swore I had a picture of this station somewhere but couldn't find it for the life of me.  It was only after brute-force reorganizing my photos when I found this shot from a visit I made back in 2021.  Those were the early days of the blog, so it is likely I intended to write something about Standard one day; however, I feel like that was more a case of me wanting to preserve a dying piece of history much like I did with a former Flash Foods back in 2017.

Anyhow, that will wrap up today's post, but I hope you enjoyed this little diversion.  I'm still unsure of my blogging plans for the rest of the year, but I may take a break with new posts here until January.  I have a few side projects that I've been meaning to tackle and still need to finish up my post for AFB's ongoing 10th anniversary special.   Regardless, I'll let you know if I end up devising any other plans . . .

Until next time,

- The Sing Oil Blogger

Street View

Google Street View - October 2019

AutoZone on the site of the former Powder Springs Station

 Aerial Views

Historic Aerials - 1972

Future site of Powder Springs station on Southwest corner of intersection

Historic Aerials - 1978

Newly built Powder Springs Sing station

Google Earth - 1993

Powder Springs station shortly after Amoco-Sing merger

Google Earth - 1999

Checkers Restaurant on former station site

Google Earth - 2019

AutoZone on former station site

Additional Resources:

Historic Aerials

Google Earth Pro

Google Maps

 

Cobb County Superior Court Records (Search "Sing Oil")

 

Cobb County Property Records

Parcel ID: 1700670014

Whatever Happened to Standard Oil?