Macon - Macon, GA
Macon
Sing Food Store | Deli
2580 Riverside Drive
Macon, GA 31204
Scroll Down for my More Than Convenience post on Target T-1380
Since I decided to alter my schedule a bit last Sunday to celebrate the second anniversary of The Sing Oil Blog, you are stuck with me for two weeks in a row this time around! What's even better is that my schedule this week prevented me from starting on this post until Thursday evening, so let's see what I can crank out in two days. Thankfully, I was able to get my pictures in order several days prior and had already conducted my background research for the Sing Store.
Today we are going to take a look at the longest-lived Sing station in Macon and the city's only Sing convenience store one I am aware. Sing first came to the corner of Riverside Drive and Pierce Avenue through an agreement to lease this station from Bay Petroleum Corporation on March 31, 1960. Thanks again to Leon County, Florida's impeccable record keeping, we are able to read a 1962 amendment to that lease which lists the five stations (Cross City, FL, Daytona, FL, Deland, FL, Macon, and Tallahassee, FL) Sing would then rent from Tenneco Oil Company, successor to Bay.
With a station sticking around for that long, it is even more special for me to have a picture of the original building. The photo at the top of this post was taken from across Pierce Avenue looking Northeast toward Riverside Drive. The building doesn't look like any we have seen on the blog before because it happens to be a Bay design that Sing kept.
When I scanned that photo, I noticed that "grand opening" was written on the back which indicates it was taken in the Spring of 1960. Maybe it was the advertised 25¢ gas that drew in such a crowd (most of my photos from the era have prices closer to 28¢ or 29¢ a gallon), but I have a feeling this is simply a sign of times to come . . . I'd also like to point out the cleared trees off in the distance; this resulted from the early stages of construction for I-75 which seems to have been completed between 1966 and 1967.
During my interview several months ago with Joe Davis, former Sing logistics and transportation manager, I learned that this station was originally run by Theo Singletary, the brother of L.H. Singletary who founded Sing Oil Company. Davis said it was later run by Harris Singletary who was a distant cousin of L.H.
The Macon News (Newspapers.com) - February 15, 1982 - It's munchies and gas for late-night shoppers |
Sing seemingly operated under the Bay / Tenneco lease for a number of years in the original building, but they eventually decided to start fresh and construct a new store of their own. The Bibb County Property Records indicate the current structure was built in 1981 which seems to line up with the new-looking store we see above in 1982.
I'd also like to point out the early multi-grade gas pumps this store has. If you've never tried it, researching gas pump models on the internet seems much harder than it should be; therefore, I wasn't able to find any information on these. I do, however, know that they were the same ones we saw in a 1987 Amoco graphic in my Carrollton post and they also appear to be an older model of this pump in Tulsa, OK.
If that didn't pump you up enough, well wait until you hear what happened to this station after the Amoco-Sing merger.
The Macon Telegraph (Newspapers.com) - July 13, 1997 - Macon Heroes Keepsake Posters available at local PanAm Food Shops |
I didn't find many details about what Amoco did with this station during the first few years of the 1990's, but I would imagine it was sold to PanAm Food shops around 1993 as part of a package deal with Perry #1.
The Macon Telegraph (Newspapers.com) - August 3, 1997 - Coupons for Macon-area Blimpie restaurants |
As another similarity to the Perry store, it looks like PanAm used a portion of their store #11 to open a Blimpie franchise. The Perry restaurant opened in 1995 so I wouldn't be surprised if the Macon location followed soon thereafter.
The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Newspapers.com) - August 31, 1997 - Spectrum Stores Inc. purchases 13 stores from Adams Oil Co. |
It wasn't long after the last ad was published before Spectrum Stores announced it had purchased 13 PanAm convenience stores near Macon, including the old Sing. Mind you, that is the same Spectrum who purchased several Columbus-area Sings (including Columbus #2, #7, & #8) directly from Amoco several years prior.
The Macon Telegraph (Newspapers.com) - August 31, 1997 - Retail Sales Opportunities available at local Spectrum stores |
On the same day as the announcement was published in The Telegraph, Spectrum was poised to hire new talent to staff their new locations in the area. From the sound of the ad above, it appears the branding conversion had already been completed by August 31st.
The Macon Telegraph (Newspapers.com) - June 3, 2006 - Circle K #6715 applies for beer & wine license |
Spectrum would continue to operate this location until the company merged with Circle K in 2006, adding this store to the seemingly endless number of former Sings to wind up under the prolific brand.
The Macon Telegraph (Newspapers.com) - September 23, 2008 - Sporadic gasoline shortages affecting Middle Georgia (Page 2) |
Our last mention of this station comes during its final days as a Circle K-owned Spectrum with BP gas. Following hurricane Ike in 2008, many gas stations which depended on oil from the Gulf Coast encountered shortages; the former Macon Sing was no different. The picture above shows the station being out of regular and "Silver" mid-grade gas with only "Amoco Ultimate" premium left in stock. If you want to learn a bit about how gas pumps work, mid-grade is almost always a mixture between regular and premium fuels to allow stations to use fewer in-ground tanks; therefore, whenever either regular or premium is out of stock, the mid-grade will almost always follow suit.
For the residents of Georgia, the first week of July 1994 appeared to be just like any other: the kids were out of school, families were making summer travel plans, and people were preparing for Fourth of July fireworks and festivities. If only they knew what lay ahead.
The Macon Telegraph (Newspapers.com) - July 5, 1994 |
As the first named storm of the 1994 Atlantic Hurricane Season, Tropical Storm Alberto made landfall on July 3rd near Destin, Florida. The storm initially wasn't expected to affect Middle Georgians other than extinguishing some Independence Day fireworks displays. "The rainfall began tapering off in Middle Georgia late Monday as the storm that came out of the Gulf of Mexico moved in to West Georgia, where it seemed to have stalled early Monday evening," stated The Telegraph.
Various flash flood watches were issued throughout the state, but the majority of the rain seemed to center around Southwest Georgia along the Chattahoochee River, where over 5 inches were reported. Meanwhile, Macon only received 1 inch over the same 24-hour span. Otherwise, the weather report from July 5th mentions how the weather would be generally hot and humid for the rest of the day with a slight chance of afternoon showers.
The Macon Telegraph (Newspapers.com) - July 6, 1994 |
It didn't take long before residents began to realize the severity of the situation as the front page of the following day's paper was devoted almost entirely to flood coverage (but it couldn't leave out a blurb on the ongoing O.J. Simpson Trial). The photo that made the front page shows a crowd of people at High Falls State Park overlooking what remains of the former truss bridge that was wiped out by flood waters. Let's just say that the residents of Middle Georgia were probably not making plans to see Forrest Gump, which saw its theatrical debut on the 6th, after these developments.
The Macon Telegraph (Newspapers.com) - August 7, 1994 |
That's because the morning of Wednesday, July 6th also happened to be the last time the city of Macon had water for nearly three weeks! Residents were forced to find alternative means of bathing, cooking, and drinking after the circa 1891 treatment plant was inundated by flood waters from the adjacent Ocmulgee River. The city finally had water service restored by the end of July but decided the existing plant had reached the end of its life and planned to build a new $91 million water treatment facility that would be up and running in four years. At least the new plant was constructed much further from a flood plain with a higher daily pumping capacity.
The Ocmulgee River left its banks, but the National Weather Service said flooding on the Ocmulgee wouldn't be as serious as on the Flint. . . "The river is expected to crest at 25 feet on Friday, the weather service said. That would be well below the record flood in March 1990, when the river reached 29.95 feet." Little did they know that the river would crest on July 7th at a record-breaking 35.4 feet – shattering the record from four years prior.
NOAA (Wikipedia) - Rainfall Totals from Tropical Storm Alberto |
I will admit that I watched the vast majority of this special several months ago and was just enthralled by it. It is one thing to brush up or learn about a piece of history in retrospect but it is much more fascinating, in my opinion, to study the primary sources available at the time. Even if you just watch five minutes of it, I would encourage you to check out either WMAZ's (Macon) or WALB's (Albany) coverage of the flood as it was happening.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - 1994 - Floodwaters at the corner of Riverside Dr. and Pierce Ave. |
The floodwaters roadways and businesses, while taking the lives of 31 people across the state. This "100 year flood" is viewed as one of the worst natural disasters to hit Georgia and caused millions of dollars in damage.
Maryann Bates (The Macon Telegraph) - Flooding on Riverside Dr. at Pierce Ave. |
According to the description of the photo above, "members of the Macon Motor Boat Club Disaster Unit cruise down Riverside Drive at Pierce Avenue on Wednesday to evacuate stranded motorists from cars and flooded hotels." You can even spot the orange roof of a still-standing former Howard Johnson hotel in the background, along with that classic Denny's sign.
The Albany Herald - July 1994 - Piggly Wiggly / Former Kroger Family Center / SupeRx (North Slappey Blvd, Albany) |
The flood waters also nearly wiped out the towns of Montezuma, Hawkinsville, and Newton while causing caskets to rise out of a cemetery in Albany and float down the Flint River – ponder that next time you want to catch a catfish dinner while listening to Luke Bryan! More photos from The Albany Herald (including a picture of a flooded former circa 1971 Kroger Family Center) can be found on this page.
Source Unknown - July 1994 - Former Riverside Drive Sing Store |
In case you haven't noticed already, I bring up this flood because I found numerous pictures featuring the former Macon Sing Store! Any of the shots above featuring an Amoco canopy on Riverside Drive show how high the floodwaters were, which is especially apparent in this photo. I would guess that water was at least a foot deep inside the convenience store. We can also get a rare look at how Amoco reconfigured Sing's old mansard roof to allow for the company's Food Store branding.
Source Unknown - July 1994 - Flooded Starvin Marvin store |
Our final picture from the flood shows a Starvin Marvin food store selling Speedway gas. I'm not exactly sure where this station was, but it is crazy to see the juxtaposition of the two horseback riders next to a modern automobile filling station which was rendered completely useless. I guess that goes to show how old technology and traditions can come in handy during times of need.
Now that we are back in the twenty-first century, let's continue on with our tour of the former Sing as it stands today.
If you haven't figured it out already, this station is located directly off I-75's Exit 167 at the intersection of Pierce Avenue and Riverside Drive. This fact likely contributed to it consistently being Sing's second highest grossing location, behind Tallahassee #7 (located just off I-10).
Other than the easy interstate access, this station doesn't scream "high volume" to me since it only hosts 12 pumps compared to the 100+ available at the nearby Buc-ee's. I've just got to say that I would much rather shop at a more modest convenience store as opposed to that zoo of hungry beavers!
I didn't quite get the angle right, but this is mostly the same view as we saw in this flood picture from above.
You may have already picked up on this, but I made two trips to this station since there were several unsettling people loitering in front of the convenience store during my first visit. This gas pump photo was taken on my second trip and is probably one of the last times anybody will see this station with Shell pumps.
The reason is, this station appeared to be undergoing a conversion to sell gas under the Circle K name – the canopy branding had already been changed. I'm not sure what Circle K will end up doing with the space where the current Shell interstate sign is.
I believe I took this shot of the store during my first trip (which also happened to be a gray day) . . .
While this second picture from a similar angle was taken on my return trip. Most of the obvious Sing traces have been obscured over the years; however, there are still a few subtle remnants.
Stepping inside, it appears this station was designed as a hybrid between Sing's earlier 1970's layout and the later 1980's exterior style. The drink coolers were located along the right wall of the store but could have been placed here by Circle K or Spectrum.
The inside feels like a 1970's store, especially with this lower section of ceiling by the coolers, but the outside lacks the typical 1970's-style columns and used a 1980's style mansard awning. I wouldn't be surprised if the drink coolers were originally where the beer cave is now.
As for the rest of the store, the left half was split between the cashier counter in the front, hot food and coffee along the left wall, and an island of other edible goods in the center. I'm not really sure what Sing did with this space, but it could have easily featured an island-style cashier counter like we saw in Thomaston. The fact that this store had a Blimpie makes me believe Sing had a deli somewhere, I'm just not entirely sure where that would have been.
Taking another (crooked?) look toward the drink wall, we can see this store's large selection of Mountain Dew and Red Bull: two beverages I have never tasted. If you want a luke-warm refresher (considering the sign on the door stating that the cooler is down and ice is available upon request), well Circle K in Macon has your hookup. Surely they aren't trying to fix a compressor from 1981!
What was Beethoven's favorite fruit? Bah-na-na-na, of course!
I apologize if my cheesy joke "fell upon deaf ears", but it provides the perfect segue into my shot of this store's cashier counter! Even though these pictures were taken in January, at Circle K you can embrace the Christmas season year-round with festive Santa hats and snowflake tablecloths!
I first thought the stickers on the door proclaimed "let's stay safe" as an order to "social distance" or "wear a mask", yet they are instead commanding the cash safe to stay in the building! I think it should instead read "let's stay, safe". All jokes aside, I feel like the following bullet points aren't very cohesive from a grammar standpoint:
- No access to safe
- Prosecution
- Limited cash
- Smile!
The first and third points are adjective-noun phrases, while the second point is just a single noun and the final point is just a verb command. Now how is the safe supposed to smile at the prosecution when it has no access to the limited cash? Your guess is as good as mine!
We'll turn a bit more to the left to see the boxes and objects which line the front windows of the store before moving on.
For our last glimpse inside, we'll see Circle K's usual Polar Pop and Froster machines along the back wall of the store, opposite the entrance. I would like to note that Circle K recently increased the prices on their Polar Pops from being 79¢ across the board to only being 79¢ for a small fountain drink (it's almost like I've been to one of these stores before).
Back outside, we'll get a better view of the quarter panel of the Crown Victoria parked next to me in addition to the front of the convenience store. It wouldn't be a former Sing without some wood paneling below the windows! I just realized that I never found Sing's old vacuum station, though.
Just to the right of the store is a seemingly innocent exit up a low hill to Pierce Avenue. The only thing is, that driveway looks remarkably similar to a certain picture I have seen from 1960.
What's even better is the retaining wall we see here appears to be the same one installed for the old Bay filling station! It's crazy how the original railing has even survived, albeit in a slightly deformed state.
Although the wall is still be here, the Shell canopy from 2021 is absent in 2023; all we have left is a rare "Circle" station. I'm surprised the "K" wasn't installed at the same time as the rest of the logo!
Across the street, we see a Buddy's Home Furnishings occupying an old strip-center Eckerd store. Judging by the aerial views below, it appears that this location dates back to at least the 1970's; consequently, it must have been modified since it uses an early version of Eckerd's iconic gabled façade. We can also see the obvious Eckerd "pill" sign left behind once Rite Aid vacated the premises.
Google Street Views
Google Street View - November 2007 - Spectrum / BP Station
Google Street View - August 2012 - Circle K / BP Station
Google Street View - February 2017 - Circle K / Shell Station
Aerial Views
Historic Aerials - 1972 Macon Riverside Drive Sing Station - Former Bay Petroleum Station |
Historic Aerials - 1981 Riverside Drive Sing Station just before demolition |
Google Earth - 1993 Riverside Drive Amoco - Former Macon Sing Store |
Google Earth - 2019 Circle K #6715 - Former Macon Sing Store |
A Tale of Two Targets
Next up on The Sing Oil Blog, we'll head 30-minutes down the road to take a look at Middle Georgia's Target.
Target T-1380
Warner Robbins
2929 Watson Boulevard
To begin my coverage of this store, I want to jump back to 2001 and take a look at its origins.
The Houston Home Journal (Georgia Historic Newspapers) - July 12, 2001 |
According to this article, the 125,000 sq. ft. "upscale discount store" ended up opening on its scheduled date of October 14, 2001.
The Macon Telegraph (Newspapers.com) - October 15, 2001 |
What is even more surprising is how Warner Robbins' store T-1380 had a twin, Target T-1379 in Macon, which also opened its doors to shoppers on October 14, 2001. According to The Macon Telegraph, customers battled the Sunday rain to attend the grand openings of both stores even though the locations had soft openings the week prior. "With the crowds we had Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, I expected those people to already have shopped, [Doug Hazard, manager of the Macon store,] said. "It shows how excited this community is to have a Target." - The Macon Telegraph - 10/15/2001
So why are we looking at the Warner Robbins Target rather than its twin in Macon?
Well it turns out that the community at large must not have been overly excited to support a Target after all.
The Macon Telegraph (Newspapers.com) - November 8, 2017 - Page 2A |
Target T-1379 officially closed its doors in January 2018 leaving Macon as the largest city in the United States without a Target store, according to The Albertsons Florida Blogger. This store operated its entire life without an extensive remodel.
The Macon Telegraph (Newspapers.com) - July 20, 2001 |
It appears that Target's departure spelled the beginning of the end for Eisenhower Crossing because out of the stores shown in this 2001 graphic, only Best Buy, Ross, Kroger remain. Meanwhile, Michaels, Target, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Goody's, Old Navy, Marshall's, and Dick's Sporting Goods sit vacant, as far as I can tell. With the exception of Target, Bed, Bath & Beyond and Goody's (two of those three are likely due to the fact that the companies are / were financially unstable) all of the chains which have vacated Eisenhower crossing have since opened stores near the Bass Road exit off I-75 in north Macon. On top of that, several of the chains (including BBB) also have locations in Warner Robbins.
It doesn't come as a surprise that retailers are fleeing this area of Macon considering the adjacent Macon Mall is currently being redeveloped (page 2) into an amphitheater, library annex, courthouse annex, and other county offices. As far as I understand, the mall has been dead (considering every anchor store, except Burlington, has closed or moved to Bass Road) for a number of years, and Macon-Bibb County is trying to figure out what to do with this massive void. I don't have time to explore the root causes of why retail is on the decline in this part of Macon, but something sure must not smell right to retailers around here.
Since Macon's official Target closed over five years ago, let's take a look at the city's de-facto replacement in Warner Robbins.
Since I first learned about this store's unique status as Georgia's last Target to have P01 décor, and one of less than 15 to remain in the country, I decided it was worth the several mile jaunt east of I-75 to see it for myself.
I actually have been to this store twice with my first trip being when I took the majority of these photos. I've got to say, this is probably the most crowded Target I have been to! This could be due to my first trip being on a Saturday last summer and my second trip being the Tuesday before Christmas, but this place was filled to the brim regardless! I'd have to imagine that part of the madness is because this store has to support Warner Robbins (#11 in the state) in addition to Georgia's fourth largest city of Macon.
Thanks to a tip from fellow blogger Retail Retell, I was able to find a digital map of Targets T-1379 and T-1380:
Target T-1379 - Macon, GA |
First up, we'll take a look at the former T-1379's layout while it was still in operation.
Target T-1380 - Warner Robbins, GA |
So what is different about these maps? I can't find a thing other than customer service and food service being swapped and the store number at the bottom! From the looks of it, my tour of the Warner Robbins Target will essentially provide a great look at how Macon's Target would look if it were still around today. I do wonder why Target decided to swap those two service departments, though.
As a similar configuration to the P97 Sandy Plains store I toured back in July, the Warner Robbins store also had access to the customer service counter from the entrance vestibule.
I'm also not sure if this store's doors were swapped out since it was built, but I find it interesting how it had sliding glass doors compared to the swinging doors Macon had before it closed. Those swinging doors are very confusing if you aren't used to them because you can easily get caught trying to push a buggy through the manual set rather than the automated pair (I may or may not have done this at one of the P97 stores I have visited . . .).
Welcome to the first and likely only P01 Target tour you will find on The Sing Oil Blog!
Anyway, the door to customer service was just blocked off since customers can easily access the counter from inside the store.
One of the main differences between this store and Macon is how #1379 kept its "french fry" carpet and blue neon in the clothing departments all the way until the end; meanwhile, this store had its blue neon removed and carpet swapped out several years ago for its current look. I still don't understand why Target didn't remove the old department signage on this side of the store when that remodel occurred, but I certainly can't complain! If you need a little help imagining what this area of the store would look like if it was empty, this video should help out.
Most of the P01
department signs remained in the store, except there was a random P17 Kids clothing sign that can be seen on the left side of this picture. The one red sign looked so out of place in this ocean of blue!
Continuing on down the center actionway, it is interesting to see how P01 combined P97's yellow world (clothing) and blue world (housewares) into a single enlarged blue world. We also see the same price scanner signage here that was retrofitted into a number of P97 stores.
Other than the signage, the Menswear department in the back right corner of the store felt mostly like any other Target.
Shoes took up the inside corner of the rear and right actionways which is also something common to see in a modern Target.
One key difference I see here is how Luggage is still tacked onto the edge of the Men's clothing department like it was with the P97 layout. Nowadays, I believe luggage is usually by pet products and across from seasonal "inside the perimeter".
Cleaning supplies are located roughly where I think luggage would be in a modern store instead of their usual location in the front corner of the store, next to groceries.
Taking a look down the rear actionway, we can see how this store still uses the red stripe of tile to line the aisles in addition to the original red P01 aisle markers.
Similar to my tour of the Sandy Plains P93 Target, I will admit that I had to adjust the coloring of the red neon in Photoshop. While I don't think it is perfect, it is much better than the magenta color my camera seemed to turn it. Toys and pool supplies were located in the back of the store.
Followed by more toys and Legos. Shoppers at this store will be in for a big surprise whenever Target moves all of these products to the other side of the rear actionway!
As we approach the far wall of the store, it appears that Pet Care will be one department that will likely stay in place following a remodel. We can also see in front of us the transition from red world to green world.
I did manage to get a nice close-up of the aisle sign for F 40 . . .
In addition to a nice look at some of red world's neon in the seasonal section. These waves are certainly much more subdued than P97's waves.
Turning toward the front along this store's left actionway, we can see that back to school sales were in full swing in the seasonal department.
How can a store sell that many notebooks?!
It is really odd to see home improvement products along the left wall of the store as opposed to food and beverage.
In case you are lost, here is another map from the information kiosk to help you out.
Does this sign make anybody else think of Tool Time? I just need Wilson to pop out from the other side of that gondola shelf!
Turning back down the center actionway of the store, we see a large selection of kitchen products and drinkware.
That is followed by bedding and furniture toward the middle of the store.
Back up front, we see the "Music & Movies" section taking up a large amount of space where we would typically find housewares in a reconfigured store.
Unfortunately, unlike Sandy Plains, this store has received modern shelving for this department.
We'll take a quick look at the electronics counter in the front left corner of this store, which always seems to be one of the busiest areas in these vintage Targets. I'd like to point out how the poster above the counter is advertising the Samsung Galaxy S20+ 5G, which was a phone that was released 2020. Mind you, these photos were taken over halfway through 2022 so shouldn't they have been advertising the Galaxy S22 instead?
We'll take a look at another price scanner station, in addition to the "Cameras & Film" sign just beyond it. I wonder when was the last time Target sold film?
Feel free to let me know in the comments, but the old photo processing center was, logically, located next to the camera area in the front left corner of the store.
Continuing down the front actionway, we see how this store received a modern P17-style CVS Pharmacy sign whenever Target rebranded all of their in-store pharmacies as such.
That rebrand didn't catch all of the old signage though as I was able to find this placard for the Target pharmacy on one of the aisle signs.
Other than the small remnant, the pharmacy looks like one we would find in most other Target stores.
We'll take one last look at the front left corner before moving on.
Where things begin to get really strange is when we approach this store's grocery department.
P01 stores still placed this section in the front of the store adjacent to the cash registers, and this store's was oddly never moved to the left wall of the store. It is possible that Target was able to slightly enlarge it over the years but it doesn't appear to have most of the "P Fresh" options we see today.
Other than the old grocery placement, this part of the store felt like many other Targets layout-wise.
This store still had a large section of Coke products followed by Pepsi off in the distance.
Even with the lack of changes seen in most of the store, the grocery department did receive P17-style endcaps and category markers at some point.
I think the newer signage looks lice with the original neon!
This store also still has its original P01 checkout lights and conveyor belts.
We can also see that the restroom signs appear to be original to the store.
We'll take a quick look at the old Food Avenue which likely closed in 2020 and was soon converted into an order pickup area. I'd imagine it looked much the same as Macon's did in this picture.
I just realized this, but the neon of the customer service counter was removed at some point between August and December 2022. I didn't get a chance to look around the rest of the store, but that doesn't bode well for its longevity.
At least I managed to get a decent picture of it before it disappeared!
The counter itself didn't have much of interest other than the small "Returns & Exchanges" sign.
To close out our look inside, we'll examine Target's Christmas decorations which line the entrance to the salesfloor.
A vintage store also calls for a vintage road sign!
In conclusion, we'll take a look at the super cheap gas prices found in Warner Robbins. It has been a long time since I've seen gas this low (it's now roughly a dollar more expensive), but Warner Robbins typically has some of the cheapest gas in the state.
Well I hope you enjoyed our adventures around Macon, and hopefully I can start on my next post a bit earlier than I did this time.
Until then,
- The Sing Oil Blogger