Columbus #9 - Columbus, GA
"Columbus #9"
Amoco Food Store | Deli
7090 Veterans Parkway
For some Marketplace Madness, make sure to check out this week's MTC post on Winn-Dixie #439
Well, we've officially made it back to West-Central Georgia to tour another former Sing property. The store we will be examining today is very similar to the former LaGrange #5 or Bogalusa stations we looked at a few months back, with one key exception: this store never actually operated as a Sing!
Before I go into the details of this store, I want to give a general overview of Sing's Muscogee County land assets at the time of the Amoco merger.
The year was 1988, and Sing Oil Company determined it was time to expand their Fountain City footprint by purchasing a parcel of land at the intersection of Hamilton and Moon Roads. Since the store we'll be looking at today wasn't even built by the time of the Amoco-Sing merger in 1990, it was never assigned an official number by Sing Oil Company and was just listed as an undeveloped site. That's the reason I have Columbus #9 in quotes since I'm assuming that's the title this station would have taken.
Only several months later in March 1989, Sing continued its expansion efforts by purchasing another undeveloped lot in nearby Midland. This property currently has a Circle K store which was built in 1995 that appears to use a Spectrum station design (the same Spectrum I mentioned in Macon) rather than a Sing design.
The strangest of the three North Columbus tracts is the one just off J R Allen Parkway about a block from the Columbus #9 lot which was acquired several years earlier. I think this land was intended to be the site of a hotel, which just adds to the list of random side projects taken on by the company. This lot remains vacant to this day even though it is surrounded by other hotels and businesses.
So if Sing didn't build Columbus #9, who did?
It appears that our friends at McDonald Oil aka Money Back Food Stores aka Summit were the ones who built out the store in 1994, and I'm guessing that Sing already had building plans drawn up for the location that McDonald decided to use. Some of McDonald's other stores look strikingly similar to this style of Sing, so I'm not entirely sure who first used the design. Regardless, we'll still find some familiar Sing traits leading me to believe that the Thomasville company was the one to design this store.
Since I wasn't able to make it to this station until a month or so ago, I asked the Sing Oil Sidekick to take a few pictures for me when he was in the area. We'll see a mix of both of our photos taking place during the daytime while the store was still mostly a Summit. My pictures were all taken during the evening after the location had already swapped over to the Hop-In branding we see above.
Likewise, the Summit branding had just been removed when my Sidekick visited several months prior, leaving behind an obvious labelscar.
Stepping inside, we see Summit #37's wide selection of gambling bingo machines lining the left wall of the store. This is basically the only picture I took showing this half of the store, but it reminded me a lot of LaGrange #5.
Our next perspective will be a poorly framed shot of the of the cashier counter facing the door. The thing I find most odd is how the red Formica counters and grey cabinets remind me of so many other former Sings, even though Sing didn't complete this location.
Turning to the right, we can find an entire meal's worth of products on the front aisle: chicken noodle soup with a side of pork rinds along with Dippin Dots for desert and some blue Gatorade windshield wiper fluid as a drink!
I feel like the interior decorator (or lack thereof) for this store could've picked a better wall color than that jaundice yellow.
Regardless, that yellow was used throughout the store as we can in this shot looking toward the back wall.
From the other direction, we can see a profile of the open-faced milk and drink cooler. We also see this store's placement of its preferred pickle product: Lay's Dill Pickle potato chips.
The next aisle up offers a whole host of convenience store snacks, including some juicy canned peanuts: yum!
Jumping one aisle back, we find candy along with the cashier counter off in the distance.
Speaking of the cashier counter, we'll get a slightly better view from the end of the aisle before moving on. I remember there being a number of people over by the register that I didn't want to get in my shot so this is the best angle I got. This setup is very reminiscent of LaGrange #5.
Oh dear, beer is found here!
Have no fear, Hop-In has all of the gear for your Friday night cheer!
We'll veer back outside to conclude this trek with a look at the pump canopy in broad daylight . . .
and again, at dusk. It looks like Hop-In may have added a few more lights aiming back toward the store when they moved in. Probably a smart move considering what happened at a different Columbus Hop-In several weeks ago.
Interestingly, this store originally had a carwash where the sign post stands today. It looks like the building was torn down when Veterans Parkway was widened several years ago.
Speaking of Veterans Parkway, our last shot of the would-be Columbus #9 Sing was taken from the highway's intersection with Moon Road. With that, let's Hop-Into our time machine and look at some street views.
Street Views
Google Street View - January 2008
Google Street View - July 2013
Google Street View - September 2016
Google Street View - February 2022
Aerial Views
 |
Google Earth - February 1993 Future site of Summit #37 |
 |
| Google Earth - February 2012 Summit #37 with carwash and old intersection alignment |
 |
| Google Earth - November 2020 Current Hop-In station configuration |
Fran-Dixie
Winn-Dixie #439
North Columbus Crossing
6770 Veterans Parkway
Marketplace Madness Continues
I'm not sure how this began, but nearly every Winn-Dixie I've photographed has adopted a name of some sort. Don't ask me how this store became Fran-Dixie, but I've also got the Pig-Dixie, Thrift-Dixie, Pratt-Dixie, Hatt-Dixie, Harv-Dixie, and so on. (Some stores are more conducive to fun names than others.) Anyhow, Fran-Dixie is located on the north side of Columbus and first opened its doors to shoppers on December 1, 1999.
As for how this store came to be, I feel like a broken record in saying that it replaced another location nearby. Store #439 replaced an older store just down the road and across the street (currently Rooms To Go Outlet); but here's the kicker: the former store only opened in 1991!
 |
| The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Newspapers.com) - September 20, 1991 |
That's right, folks, the store that #439 replaced opened on September 20, 1991, as an "Inverted Chek" Marketplace. Just like we saw with Winn-Dixie #535's replacement two weeks ago, #439 also has a seven-year replacement turnaround in its family tree. The "Ultimate Supermarket" store we see above appears to have hermit crabbed inside a former Howard's BRANDiscount store that was built in 1979. At the time, malls of all kinds seemed to be taking over the city (that photo has a slightly-obstructed view of the Columbus #1 Sing sign) and the Hamilton Square Shopping Center was one of many construction projects in the region. This Howard's store wound up being the third in the region.
 |
| The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Newspapers.com) - December 19, 1979 |
The part that made this older research a bit tricky is how Veterans Parkway was renamed from Hamilton Road in 1995. I initially wondered why I couldn't find anything older than 1995 mentioning a Winn-Dixie on Veterans, until I realized the road had likely changed names. It appears that this change was due to the corridor previously holding the above title, in addition to Fourth Avenue, North Expressway, and Beallwood Connector which confused residents and visitors alike. While most were pleased with the result, some were unhappy with how it came to be. The thoroughfare was originally slated to be Olympic Boulevard as a nod to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics which was scheduled to host several events in the area; however, the Olympic name turned out be trademarked which prevented its use. Several businesses in the area had already printed new materials with the new street name which they later had to toss aside when the decision was made to name the road Veterans Parkway.
 |
| The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Newspapers.com) - June 11, 1980 |
The original store that I can trace #439 back to opened on June 12, 1980, in the Hamilton Square Shopping Center (currently Goodwill). That store happened to survive four years longer than its successor, ringing in at a whopping 11-years. This brought Winn-Dixie to a total of 18-years in the Hamilton Square Shopping Center before the moved on up the road to North Columbus Crossing.
I believe the Jacksonville company chose to replace the second Hamilton Square location after a lengthy battle with residents over a parcel a few miles Northwest of here in the Green Island Hills neighborhood which last made headlines the year prior. The inhabitants surrounding the potential store cited a potential rise in traffic as the main reason they didn't want a Winn-Dixie at the corner of River Road and Mobley Road.
It appears that Winn-Dixie was determined to build a Food Pavilion in
North Columbus (probably to compete with nearby Publix #474 which opened
in 1994, and #562, #592, and #650 which all opened between 1996-1999)
because a year after the previous plans appeared to fall through, store #439 opened for business. I'd imagine that Winn-Dixie was planning to replace the Marketplace in the old Howard's store before they received the final verdict on the River Road site, but the timing still seems coincidental. I'd love to know how often one Marketplace was replaced by another one!
 |
| The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Newspapers.com) - December 1, 1999 |
Interestingly, I couldn't find anything that specifically mentions #439 as having a Food Pavilion in the newspaper so I wonder if that official term had fallen out of favor in the year since the Blue Angel Parkway store opened.
We may not have official proof of this store being a Food Pavilion, but the trapezoidal façade and interior layout are all indicative of that prototype. Let's head inside and "chek" it out!
Contrary to what we saw in Pensacola, this store had a separate entrance door off to the right of the centered exit door. Does anybody else think it is odd that this store has ceiling fans mounted over this patio?
Stepping inside, we are greeted with a much different color palette than the Golden Girls store we saw two weeks ago. Rest assured, this store would have looked exactly the same until it remodeled to The Green Interior we see today around 2014.
Even though this store underwent a major remodel (by Winn-Dixie's standards, at least), the department layout has still remained the same as it would've been when the store opened.
Turning back to the left, we see this store's register lines and the lowered ceiling feature found in most 1990's Marketplace stores.
This store's former International Cheese Shop gave way to a hot foods section, which is now accented by a display of some nice looking 74¢/lb. bananas.
Likewise, the Produce Patch has given way to eight symbols of produce (with no text whatsoever). Is it just me, or do the vegetable graphics on the left wall have a bolder outline than the fruit graphics on the right?
Similarly, the floral department has been scaled back from its old shop-like appearance to a less-pronounced cooler and counter setup. I wonder if those wheat graphics on the wall are hand-stenciled like those found in Kroger's Bountiful package?
Heading toward this store's "Power Alley", we can see a nice view of the delicatessen (seriously, are we back in 1984?). I don't have original pictures of this store to prove my theory, but it appears Winn-Dixie really straightened this place out during the 2014 remodel.
Taking a closer look at the deli, we can see of The Beef People have really trimmed down their prepared food selection since the late-1990's.
On the other hand, I'm still always surprised when I see Winn-Dixie's selection of cold deli foods (pasta salads, etc.) since they are served from a case rather than pre-packaged containers like Publix uses. I was also surprised that some of this store's employees were wearing tie-dye T-shirts instead of traditional uniforms.
As for the bakery, this space looks much more modern than it would have a decade ago.
I feel like Winn-Dixie's Green Interior didn't age quite as well as Publix's counterpart, Sienna, but this store still looks leaps and bounds better than a Golden Girls package in 2023. I also like the warmth that the vinyl wood flooring brings compared to the ugly concrete floors we've seen in other stores. I wonder if these floors will survive a remodel to Winn-Win.
Turning toward the back right corner of the store, we see where the salad island (now a Corona island) would have stood along with the former luncheon meats corner. Thankfully, the meat and seafood counter has remained in the same location.
As for this store's wine department, it now occupies the old Deli Café seating area since the wall with the wine refrigerator backs right up to the old "Italian Deli" and "Oriental Wok". Remember that Pensacola used this space for its snacks during my visit.
Turning around, we'll take one last look at the former Food Pavilion power alley (and Corona Island) before continuing on with our tropical vacation tour. I guess all of the items on special in this photo make sense based on my photographs dating back to last summer! They also did a decent job of hiding the grandmother (but not the kid) who kept getting in the way of my photoshoot!
Spinning around 180°, we can see where the meat & seafood counter has at least retained its Marketplace-era down lighting. I do wish more stores would embrace lighting elements like this to add some dimension to the space. Oh well, I'm sure the man with the mullet at the counter who was ordering catfish fillets didn't even notice all of the fanciness!
Next up, we'll take a look down the rear aisle of the store. I personally think the back wall looks a bit sparse since it only features a "Beef People" graphic and a small stenciled accent; regardless, I'm glad the teal Marketplace vinyl tiles are gone.
Aisle 1 offers shoppers a wide selection of Chek Colas in addition to whatever a "New Age Beverage" is. Would trendy drinks like Topo Chico and La Croix be a New Age Beverage, or would they be included with sparkling water? And I would certainly classify en-vogue kombucha as a New Age Beverage, but the probiotic nature of those drinks requires refrigeration. Who knows!
Likewise, this store also has a large selection of Coke and Pepsi products along what was formerly the "Wall of Values". Instead of values, we now have graphics of a butterfly, a tree, and two other unknown objects. I have a feeling that this package's internal name is something along the lines of "nature" and was trying to capitalize on the organic foods craze of several years ago (which I associate more with 2009 rather than 2014).
Well, it appears that those graphics on the "Wall of Values" may actually be some local flair. I think the butterfly is an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, the tree is a live oak, the third object is a peach, and the fourth appears to be a flower of some kind, likely a Cherokee rose. All of these happen to be state symbols of Georgia, meaning this is one of only two-or-so Winn-Dixies to ever receive these graphics!
Our next graphic is the only one to adorn the meat department and mentions WD's iconic "Beef People" moniker. They've apparently been using this title since 1956, so it's no surprise the phrase made it into The Green Interior.
Spinning around, we see an ultra-wide aisle 4 featuring oils/shortening, soups, spices, and baking needs.
We'll jump over one more aisle to find frozen pizza, pasta sauce, frozen vegetables, and international foods. I suppose pasta sauce is internationally inspired? (Even though tomatoes were brought to Italy from The New World).
Simone Biles (at least I think that's who that is holding the cracker) will invite us to join her on the left side of the store.
Along with an assortment of Ritz crackers and Nilla wafers, we also find this store's clearance corner. Unfortunately, I didn't think to see what sort of oddities could be found over there on this trip.
One of the pieces that I think dates this store the most is this windmill graphic over the breakfast meats / creamer. Not only do windmills not relate to any of these products in the slightest, but it seems like the publicity craze over wind turbines for clean energy also died out around 2010. In addition, I think they should have placed the antique windmill on the leftmost panel. My eye tends to view them from left to right, and it looks like the windmills of today transformed into one from yesteryear!
Don't get me wrong, plenty of wind turbines are still in use and still have meaningful electricity generation, they just aren't really a relevant factor in the Southeast due to low or erratic wind speeds. Solar is the most visible "clean energy" resource found in Georgia, while natural gas and nuclear still make up the majority of the state's electricity production. Needless to say, many Georgians won't be blown away by these graphics and will more so wonder why they are here.
This store was certainly prepared for a backyard barbecue with all of that charcoal over on aisle 10!
Meanwhile, aisle 11 hosts snacks while aisle 12 has bread, eggs, and "chilled juice": another odd choice of words. Maybe this is where we can find the mysterious kombucha!
With it being summer, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to grab a watermelon since they were on sale that week (it seems like they were $8 without a Winn-Dixie card and closer to $5 with one, what a "Winning deal!"). I'll admit, I had to be a bit cheeky and photograph it with the watermelon endcap in the background.
Similar to produce, the dairy department also lacked proper department signage and instead opted for graphics of a milk bottle, juice pitcher, yogurt cup, and cheese wedge. It took me a minute to identify what that yogurt cup graphic was!
One thing I've noticed in nearly every Winn-Dixie I've been to is this really dated looking "Spill Spill Spill Station" sign. It also turns out that this sign is also an easy way to identify a store which has reused a number of décor elements from the Ghosts of Dixies-past.
Up in the front left corner, we find this store's pharmacy counter. I specifically want to point out that this store's Toledo scale appears to be behind the pharmacy glass for some odd reason.
We can find the customer service counter between the pharmacy and the checkout lanes.
I'd like to note this lower section of ceiling which I believe is a mark of this store's former photo counter.
I do like how the checkout line numbers for this package match the category markers used over the product coolers.
Our final piece of local flare, and my final shot of this store showcase the Georgia sign over this store's seasonal section. Winn-Dixie decided to use the oft-forgotten "Empire State of the South" byline rather than "The Peach State", but I think their biggest crime against design was their use of the Papyrus font (sorry if you are a fan of that choice). I am far from an expert on fonts, but I feel like a kindergartener could identify this basic font that is overused by the best mediocre designers Microsoft Word 2003 has ever seen.
To close out this post, I wanted to include a photo from a 2007 tornado. You may remember that this isn't the first time a tornado has been mentioned on The Sing Oil Blog and that's for good reason: both tornadoes were part of the same storm system. This particular EF2 tornado damaged several other structures around Columbus-Muscogee County but the one I wanted to highlight is a former Eckerd located roughly halfway between the Sing lot and the Winn-Dixie.
I didn't realize how much of the building is not utilized height-wise since we can see that the store's dropped ceiling is only about half the height of the entire building; you would've thought Eckerd had a second story with all of that space!
Unlike the EF3 twister which resulted in Americus receiving the first (known to me, at least) prototype of a Transformational Winn-Dixie, the Columbus EF2 only grazed the side of this building, allowing it to be repaired while sparing the nearby Winn-Dixie. I'm shocked at how well Eckerd or Rite Aid (I'm not sure who would have done it since the two companies merged in 2007) was able to match the construction of the building! If you look closely, you can see where the color of the bricks used for the three leftmost panels doesn't quite match the rest of the store, but I'd imagine that 99% of people would never notice or question this.
That will wrap up this week's Sing Oil Blog post, but be sure to check back here or on MFR in two weeks to see what other adventures I've gotten myself into.
Until then,
- The Sing Oil Blogger
Additional Resources:
Sing Parcel ID: 073 022 004A
I was getting some Jacksonville #4 vibes from "Columbus #9" as well while looking at the photos, so I think it's likely McDonald Oil used an existing plan from Sign when building this station. The layout seemed similar. I don't know how much may have been modified by McDonald on those plans, but it seems like not a whole lot. It's weird how mergers and acquisitions can lead to oddities like this - a Sing but not a Sing!
ReplyDeleteWinn-Dixie did a good job cleaning up store #439 in the 2014 remodel. I actually liked The Green Interior, as I thought it was a good implementation of a decor that was simple but classy, and didn't come off as making the store look super cheap. Almost like Marketplace, there aren't many stores left with The Green Interior either. I know The Green Interior never made it very far since it was only used for 2 years, but it's crazy to me that a decor package less than a decade old is just as endangered as its counterparts from 30 years ago!
While I've never been to Jacksonville #4, I feel like the vibes you were getting were warranted . . . I was certainly surprised when I realized this store looked just like a Sing even though it never operated as one. I'm glad you agree that McDonald appeared to use Sing plans based on what you've seen as well.
DeleteIt is crazy to see how well #439 was cleaned up in 2014 in spite of the cheap Post-Bankruptcy, Transformational, and Down-Down remodels we have all seen. I'm still waiting for the day when Winn-Win remodels begin to cheapen (I've recently come across a few stores with some lazy vinyl tile replacements, but nothing to the extent of leaving pink or teal Marketplace tile behind). I do think Winn-Dixie mostly did a good job with The Green Interior, but I feel like some aspects (like the random wind-turbine graphics or the papyrus font) could've been executed a little better. As Anonymous in Houston mentioned below, the vinyl wood flooring does look nice in the space and I also like the unique category markers.
I like the Fran-Dixie! Quite frankly, this might be the nicest Winn-Dixie decor package that I've seen. Of course, sometimes Winn-Dixie does themselves in by applying an otherwise okay decor package quite cheaply by leaving things behind that are Winn-Dated or by leaving behind tile-scarred concrete floors. That's not the case here. The Golden Girls have mostly been cancelled here!
ReplyDeleteThis might be a controversial statement, but I think this store actually looks nicer than the Publix I've seen here and on AFB/MFR. Maybe I'd have a different opinion if I actually shopped at the stores (I have not been to a Winn-Dixie or Publix since 1997), but I like what I'm seeing here! The floors here look very nice, especially the fake wood which looks nicer than Kroger and Safeway's fake wood (not that they look bad at Kroger or Safeway), and the color/decor scheme seems to fit the design of the store well. The aisles seem wide (though I'm not sure why the charcoal is just floating in the middle of the aisle like that), kind of like a Publixsons, and there is a certain unfussy feeling to the store. It's not trying too hard to be fancy. It's a pretty classy affair. It's too bad Winn-Dixie abandoned this design.
Pardon my ignorance of Winn-Dixie decor packages, but I wonder if this decor package came during the period when Randall Onstead was the CEO of SEG/Bi-Lo. Randall Onstead is the son of the most visible co-founder of the 1966-1999 version of Houston's Randall's chain, Bob Onstead, and Randall himself was an executive at Randall's for many years until Randall's was sold to Safeway (Randall later ran Dominick's for Safeway, but the Onsteads had no involvement with Safeway's operations of Randall's/Tom Thumb). The point in saying all of this is that this decor has a classy look like something Randall's would have done. Now, this decor is a bit cheaper than what Randall's would have done in Houston at least, but I do wonder if maybe Randall Onstead had a little influence on this.
74 cents for bananas?! That's bananas! Winn-Dixie and Publix have ridiculous pricing. Kroger in Houston sells those bananas for 52 cents/pound. I got a digital coupon from Randall's this week for 29 cents/lb. bananas. Randall's has that promotion quite frequently these days. I think otherwise Randall's charges 55 cents/lbs. and Randall's is considered Houston's expensive store! I'm sure even the well-loved Northeastern chains that Wegmans charge less even with their surely higher costs of business in the Northeast.
The point about today's Winn-Dixies often being replacement stores for older Winn-Dixies is something I'm mentioning quite frequently in my The Year of Kroger posts about Houston Kroger stores! It is interesting how some things are in common with different chains in different parts of the country.
I cracked up when I saw you mention the "Fran-Dixie" name in your comment! If you are wondering, it is an obscure inside joke targeted at only one or two readers, but it is one of several that I buried inside the post (as I do with most posts). Probably the best part about this decor package, as you mentioned, is how the chain didn't really leave any traces behind of how this store looked with its Golden Girls package. I guess Winn-Dixie should have adopted "cancel culture" more often because the effects are surprisingly quite nice!
DeleteI can't say I fully agree that this store looks nicer than a Sienna-built 54M or a well-presented 65N Publix, but I'm not offended by your opinion in the least since you picked one of Winn-Dixie's most-presentable stores from the last decade as your favorite! I'd be a bit more upset if you had said the same about the Tallahassee WD we saw a few weeks back. While it's a shame Winn-Dixie abandoned this look after such a short time, their current Winn-Win scheme isn't anything to be ashamed of. I need to post a tour of one of those stores sometime soon because it is amazing how well an ratty ole Marketplace can clean up!
I had to look up Randall Onstead, but it appears that he may have had something to do with The Green Interior's existence. I found an article stating he stepped down in 2015, which would line up perfectly with the demise of the package. A while back, AFB mentioned that the CEO who replaced Onstead brought Winn-Dixie's subsequent package up from his previous employer, Cole's, in The Land Down-Down Under. This timeline would appear to make sense.
Particularly without SEG rewards, I sometimes think Winn-Dixie is even more expensive than Publix. That being said, I have seen prices over the last few months vary from 74 cents/lb. all the way down to 53 cents/lb. at a Publix in Atlanta. I paid 59 cents/lb. for bananas last week at a Winn-Dixie in Florida. On the other hand, a few weeks ago I saw where a bag of Publix-brand spinach jumped from $1.79 to over $3 in a matter of weeks. I recently heard that Wegmans prices some of their store-brand products higher than the national brands so I'm not so sure I would go that far!
It is interesting how some of these chains have such deep roots in their territories, similar to AFB's MFR post from yesterday.
I was wondering where the Fran-Dixie name came from! Ah, okay, now I know...well, kind of, lol. I thought maybe it was a reference to Rue McClanahan, the woman who played Blanche on The Golden Girls and Aunt Fran on Mama's Family. That's probably not likely though. You never know though, Mama's Family does have a small role in GA supermarket history as unlikely as that might sound. I was reading an old Atlanta Journal-Constitution from 1985 when I came across an article discussing how the grocery union was running anti-Food Lion ads in Augusta, GA featuring Vicki Lawrence playing her role as Mama from Mama's Family! The union was playing up Food Lion being owned by Europeans. Here's a video I found of the commercials along with some other ones Vicki Lawrence made for the union. I suspect these played in more than just Augusta, GA. but I don't know since that's all the AJC mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRAevFnCFcs
DeleteSpeaking of Food Lion, it is my understanding that Homeland, a supermarket most generally associated with Oklahoma, has a few supermarkets in old Food Lions in GA under the Food World banner. I'm not sure if you've come across those.
I went to the Wegmans website and saw how much bananas are there (I picked Niagara Falls, NY as the location, but it also gave me Fairfax, VA as the closest location so I saw the prices at both places) and both locations have bananas for 49 cents/lb. for regular and 69 cents/lb. for organic! That's actually cheaper than most Houston grocers barring a sale like what Randall's has this week! We're being ripped off! Maybe Wegmans is aggressive on banana subsidization since they know people tend to evaluate supermarket pricing on things like bananas.
That's some good information about Randall Onstead. Yeah, this Winn-Dixie decor package looks like something Randall would have approved of. I know Randall's time as a big figure in southern retail was quite short, but he was a big deal in Houston for a number of years. Most people have a favorable view of him since he ran classy stores. Here's a short video from 1992 of Randall Onstead describing Randall's New Generation stores if you want to see him in video form: https://youtu.be/h-eLf2uurLU
You really got into the weeds if you were reading about a 1985 union riot against Food Lion in the AJC! I suppose Publix wasn’t the only one to draw scrutiny from the unions in the Peach State either. I’ll also say that those commercials are something else; imagine if something like that was on TV today.
DeleteFunny that you mention the Homeland Food World stores because I just came across one of those several weeks ago and added it to my list of places to visit. That store happens to have an otherwise extinct décor that I’d like to photograph before it is totally gone. Of the four Food World stores I found, two of them were built as Food Lions while two were built by Alabama’s own Bruno’s to operate under one of the chain’s many banners. Three of the four stores eventually operated under Delhaize’s/SEG’s Harveys brand before becoming Food Worlds. Strangely enough, the current Food World logo that Homeland uses appears to be the same one Bruno’s used for their Food World stores that operated in Alabama and North Florida. I’m not entirely sure how that came to be.
Wow, I’m surprised how cheap the bananas are at Wegmans! Maybe they are a hot comparison item and therefore a loss leader for the chain?
I’m glad that you pointed out that info regarding Randall Onstead because that adds a lot of context as to why The Green Interior turned out the way it did.
I did some price comparisons between the Wegmans in Niagara Falls, NY (the closest Wegmans that I ever went to, but I didn't go there...I was in Niagara Falls for a couple of days some years ago and needed supplies, but I went to Kmart instead of Wegmans since I had not been to a Kmart in many year since they left Houston in 2003) and HEB and Kroger stores in Houston. Shockingly, the Wegmans was very competitive in price to HEB and Kroger even if they were slightly higher than those two! I then nearly had my socks blown off when I decided to compare the Niagara Falls Walmart to a Houston Walmart. Shockingly, the Niagara Falls Walmart is cheaper than the Houston Walmart! The prices are the same for most products except for some perishables like milk and eggs where they are cheaper in that part of New York than here in Houston! I really don't get it...and Houston is cheaper than Florida and Mississippi at least so maybe there are places in the north where prices are less than here in the south. I know that seems illogical, and I wouldn't have believed it before researching it, but that's what my research on the Walmart website shows! It might just be possible that the Niagara Falls/Buffalo market is a strange one.
DeleteHomeland is similar to the defunct AppleTree chain in Houston as they are/were both the product of the continuation of old Safeway stores after Safeway left markets in the late 1980s. Unlike AppleTree, Homeland has had success in becoming a dominant grocer in their area, but Homeland has a reputation for taking over old supermarkets from other chains and then leaving them untouched with the old grocer's decor for decades. I know your blog would be an unlikely place to see Homeland research, but your blog might be the only one that is in an area where Homeland has a presence (albeit a small one in GA). Well, anyway, I don't know if anyone else would like to see those Homeland/Food World stores covered, but I can think of a few people in the Houston retail enthusiast community, myself included, who would like to see them!
Those Mama's Family ads were almost certainly quite scandalous even in the 1980s which is probably why the AJC gave it coverage. Today, well, it would be off the charts and it probably wouldn't be allowed on the air. I think the union did have some success with these ads because Food Lion did enter Texas with a stigma of poor labor relations and that probably did hurt their sales and helped contribute to their quick demise here. Granted, the ads did nothing to stop American-owned non-union grocers like Publix and HEB! Of course, given what you (I think, or maybe AFB) said about Publix having Publix people from Florida manage stores in GA instead of local GA people who worked at GA grocers before, perhaps the foreigner angle would work against Publix. In this case, the foreigners would be Floridians instead of Europeans, lol, so I'm not sure if people would feel so charged about the issue.
That is really surprising that prices in Niagara Falls are cheaper than Houston! Maybe there is a stronghold of Aldi fans or the like in the Niagara area?
DeleteOne way or another, I'm planning to cover at least one of those East Georgia Food World stores; I suppose you could write up some historical context for the Homeland chain that I can include if you'd like. Like I mentioned before, those stores are the only ones I've found with an otherwise extinct Georgia chain's décor and they use the logo for an extinct Alabama chain which just adds to the intrigue.
I know the unions did try to push the angle of Publix hiring "foreign" Floridians to manage the new Georgia stores in the 1990's, but it doesn't seem like that argument held much weight with shoppers. I wish I could find updated market share numbers, but I know Publix has to be either #1 or #2 in the state now, not including Walmart. Kroger still has a strong foothold in Metro Atlanta, but they seem to only close stores in the area (with a rare replacement here and there) all while Publix is still opening new locations. Publix is also inching their way into many of the smaller South Georgia markets, like a recently announced store in Douglas, to compliment places like Tifton or the Thomasville store I recently "revisited" on the blog.
I'm glad to hear that you are planning to cover a Food World store! That should be interesting. I will reach out to you via e-mail in the next few days about the history of Homeland. Mike from HHR is our local expert on Homeland as I know he has studied them quite closely due to the similarity to the former local chain here in Houston that was a continuation of Safeway, AppleTree. I'll ask him about his thoughts on things, but I know he has some other projects he's working on for the blog right now. Gordon Food Service Stores had their grand opening for their first batch of Houston stores today and so that is the big story locally right now. It is the first new chain to enter Houston since Aldi, The Fresh Market, and Sprouts entered in 2013. Sprouts is also closing 3 locations in Houston right now so that is a somewhat big story.
DeleteI'm not sure what the story is exactly in Niagara Falls and if there are other similar oddball markets for pricing in that region. I know milk prices vary quite widely by region due to USDA pricing standards or something like that. Egg prices can vary for other reasons. I'll have to research some other markets up north to see how the pricing varies. I know with Niagara Falls specifically, a lot of Canadians travel to Niagara Falls to shop due to the US having lower prices, but I can't imagine Canadians are shopping for groceries in the US since it is illegal to carry a lot of perishables across the border.
I wouldn't be surprised at all if Publix is no 1 or 2 in GA...not counting Walmart, of course. I would guess they are no. 2 behind Kroger, but if Kroger is stalling in growth, Publix might be able to pass them. In Texas, Kroger has not opened a new location since around 2017-18 or so and HEB is really beating them in the newest Houston suburbs. Even Albertsons is building new locations, mostly Tom Thumb stores, in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area in the newest upper middle-class suburbs and in some urban mixed-use developments, but Kroger is doing a whole lot of nothing. They aren't closing stores here either, not in any great number, but it seems Kroger is prioritizing online investments over B&M store construction. That's certainly a questionable strategy.
Funny to see "New Age Beverages" here -- I thought that was exclusive to Albertsons in the Awnings era (which, of course, is also much older than this package!).
ReplyDeleteI meant to comment on the 'New Age Beverages' in my earlier reply, but I think I forgot to mention it. In the 1990s, Snapple was often marketed as a new-age beverage. I'm guessing that is the historical reference to the term. Clearly Canadian and other clear drinks were also considered to be new-age and I've noticed that Kroger, in Houston at least, has been stocking a lot of Clearly Canadian products here lately. I'm guessing they just started making it again for the first time since the 1990s probably.
DeleteSo, yeah, I think 'New Age Beverages' refers to 1990s drinks. For a while at least, that was probably a dated reference, but now it is trendy again if the presence of Clearly Canadian at Kroger is any indication!
The "New Age Beverages" sign caught me off guard too. As Anonymous in Houston mentioned below, I feel like it would fit in much better with a 1990's Albertsons than a 2014 Winn-Dixie!
DeleteI'll have to take note as to whether I see any Clearly Canadian drinks on the shelf next time I'm at Publix or Winn-Dixie. Regardless, I still don't think Snapple (I don't think I've seen anybody drinking a Snapple in at least 15-years) or Clearly Canadian were flying off the shelves in 2014. I wonder who thought that sign was a good idea.