Food World #782 - East Dublin, GA

Food World #782

Former Southern Family Markets #782 | Former FoodMax #765 | Former Piggly Wiggly

613 Central Drive

East Dublin, GA 31027

<Insert Store Name Here>

A New Frontier:  Check out this week's companion post from Mike at Houston Historic Retail

Howdy, y'all, welcome back to The Sing Oil Blog!  Two weeks ago, we traveled down to Southwest Georgia to take a look at how an independent grocer has maintained a misfit menagerie of supermarkets past, and today's post will oddly enough parallel that with similar scenario.

Today will also mark the second official post (but the fourth in total) of my O Bruno's, Where Art Thou? series.   My last post on the topic dove into the history of the regional grocery chain following the 1991 plane crash which killed nine people, including six top company executives.

If you haven't figured it out by now, the years that followed this event led to the former empire essentially evaporating, leaving behind only vague clues scattered across the Southeast.  Today we'll examine another puzzle piece to learn more of the company's story following the 1998 divestiture of its Nashville & Chattanooga stores.  

Much of my Bruno's knowledge has been gained from trends in former locations that I've spotted over a decade following the chain's dissolution, so parts of it are as firm as a sand dune; however, I think the store today will present some convincing (and ironic) evidence about its past.

Many of you have probably never heard of a Food World, considering most of my readers aren't from Alabama or Northwest Florida.  To be honest, I hadn't heard of the brand either prior to getting into this hobby.

Bruno's Food World (unrelated to Publix's own Food World brand), dates back to April 11, 1972, when the first store opened in Center Point, AL (a Birmingham suburb).  This was followed by a second store on May 9, 1972, in Fairfield, AL, and the rest was history.  

Bruno's marketed the new chain as a "discount food store" that "offers the housewife savings of $5 to $15 each week on her grocery bill."  Part of what makes research these topics so interesting is the cornucopia of extra context I dig up.  As indicated by both of the grand opening articles above, women were essentially the only ones expected to shop for groceries in the 1970's while their husbands were off climbing the corporate ladder at work.  Obviously, times have changed (I'm a guy who personally loves to grocery shop—shocker), but I'm especially curious as to whether store layouts, fixtures, or interiors have since evolved to cater toward women and men shopping in supermarkets.  Did shelf heights increase (since women are, on average, 5.5" shorter than men)?  Did this drive an increase in male-associated items (like hardware and beer) being sold in stores?  Did men's restrooms become larger or more plentiful?  I don't know the answer to any of these questions, but they are some food for thought.

The first Food World was "a new creation in discount food super stores" that presented "45,000 square feet of name brand foods at discount prices . . . 21 kinds of steak in the Meat Department and more than 10 dozen kinds of fruits and vegetables in the Produce Department." – 10 dozen sounds like a very convoluted way to say "over 120"!

Essentially, Food World was a discount supermarket along the lines of today's Harveys or Food Depot, rather than a specialty discounter like Aldi, since it still offered most features of a traditional store.  Food World allegedly offered "the largest selection of quality brand name food to be found anywhere at discount prices."

The concept was so successful that the company began to phase out the older Bruno's name and concept in favor of new Food World stores.  The Bruno's name would essentially disappear from Alabama until it was revived in 1983 as the "gourmet" alternative to Food World.

Courtesy NorthEscambia.com - Food World #913 - Atmore, AL - 2010

Despite this revitalization of the "flagship" brand, Food World continued to expand across the Yellowhammer State and into the Florida Panhandle throughout the Twentieth Century, with many locations surviving into the late 2000's. 

Now that we know a bit more about Food World, let's pick up where I left off in the Bruno's saga last time (I'd encourage you to read that post if you have not done so already).

Chapter II:  Post-Bankruptcy Bruno's

Following the 1998 filing, the company would emerge from bankruptcy in 2000 after shedding numerous locations, exiting several markets (including Atlanta & Nashville), and forfeiting any stock distributions.  The new & improved debt-free Bruno's operated 152 stores at the time and would go on to acquire 17 new locations from Jackson, MS, based Jitney Jungle, who had filed for Bankruptcy themselves in 1999.  15 of the 17 stores operated under the Delchamps banner; you can read more about the Jitney-Delchamps acquisition here, and I'll eventually get around to giving my own tour of the new life of a former Delchamps.

It wasn't long before KKR decided they wanted out of their Alabama investment, as they decided to sell Bruno's to Royal Ahold in 2001 for roughly $500 million (That's less than 1/2 what KKR paid six-years prior).  Two years later, Ahold began to consolidate the management of Bruno's and BI-LO to Mauldin, SC, as a way to cut costs for both chains.  As if both BI-LO and Bruno's weren't struggling enough, it was later revealed that Royal Ahold's US Foodservice overstated its 2002 profits by half a billion dollars which led to three executives being charged with fraud by the SEC—wow.  All of this drama, combined with poor sales, forced Ahold to put Bruno's and BI-LO up for sale in 2004.

Former Southern Family Market / Former BI-LO - Manchester, TN - June 2023

The combined 455 store chain sold for somewhere between $560 - $660 million (that figure was contingent on certain sales targets) in 2005 to Lone Star Funds.  Following this sale, Lone Star turned around and sold 104 locations to C&S Wholesale Grocers six months after C&S had assumed operation of all BI-LO Holdings' distribution centers.  A bell should be going off in many of your heads because the latter move is shockingly similar to what the company would do eight years later with BI-LO Holdings' newly acquired Winn-Dixie DCs.  It appears that both Lone Star and C&S initially operated stores under the Bruno's family of banners, while C&S created the Southern Family Markets name to eventually re-badge the majority of its acquired locations.  My oh my how the web just continues to get more tangled!

BI-LO and Bruno's eventually went separate ways when Lone Star decided to spin off BI-LO in 2007 and reunite Bruno's with its Birmingham home by moving the company's headquarters back west.  I'll just say that this was probably too little too late.

Former Southern Family Market / Former BI-LO - Manchester, TN - June 2023

If you haven't picked up on the seemingly unrelated pictures I've dropped in this section, they depict a former BI-LO store in Manchester, Tennessee, that C&S acquired in 2005 and converted to an SFM.  That location likely closed around 2010 but has maintained all of its exterior signage into 2023—I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures of it when I passed by!

Former Southern Family Market / Former BI-LO - Manchester, TN - June 2023

As for the inside of this store, there is a very good chance it has remained untouched for the last decade, but I couldn't get a good idea of what it looked like thanks to the glare on BI-LO's interior set of vestibule doors.  I'll also say that BI-LO may have also gone the way of the dinosaur Bruno's, but eventually I will share a similar store that is inhabited by a surprising competitor . . .

Round II

Anyway, back to Bruno's; if one bankruptcy wasn't enough (ehm, Winn-Dixie), the newly-independent Bruno's and BI-LO both filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on February 5, 2009.  This appears to have involved a complicated plan to ultimately sink Bruno's while keeping BI-LO afloat by shifting debt around to prevent C&S Wholesale grocers, who serviced both chains, from gaining control of both companies thanks to the massive amount of debt the wholesaler held by controlling the distribution operations of both flailing chains.

By the end of the year, all 56 remaining Bruno's, Food World & Piggly Wiggly stores were sold to C&S Wholesale Grocers, with 25 stores closing and no additional locations converting to the Southern Family Markets brand.  Most of the SFM stores C&S purchased back in 2005 had already closed by 2009 due to lackluster performance, so I'd assume the Wholesaler didn't see a reason to expand the largely unsuccessful brand.  

Courtesy AL.com - Southern Family Markets stores acquired by Belle Foods
Notice how only two SFM-branded stores (East Dublin & Columbus, MS) survived until the 2012 sale and how the FoodMax moniker had been eliminated entirely.

This essentially marked the end of the Bruno's corporation; however, the brand would survive until 2012 when C&S sold its 57 remaining Southern Family Markets, Bruno's, Food World & Piggly Wiggly stores to Bill & Jeff White.  The Father / Son duo announced they would rebrand all of the acquired stores to the Belle Foods brand, which was created specifically for this acquisition, in July 2012.  According to AL.com, the Whites had extensive experience in the supermarket industry from other regions and had long dreamed of owning their own family-run company.  I'll just say that the grocery industry must not be as easy as some would guess, and a flailing company definitely isn't the preferred method of entry.

Round III

As if what was left of the company wasn't battered enough, Belle Foods filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 1, 2013, which was essentially the final nail in this drawn out death spiral.  Belle would cease to exist by October 2013, and all remaining stores were closed, marking the official end to the Bruno's saga . . . or so we thought.

Enter Homeland

I was poking around Google Maps one day several months ago when I came across one of the East Central Georgia Food Worlds.  I'm not sure if the significance of the name clicked, but I instantly realized that the particular store had an otherwise extinct interior as of last year.  My interest was piqued by this independent, but I didn't really give the matter much more thought at the time.  Several weeks later, frequent reader Anonymous in Houston mentioned how I should consider visiting one of the Georgia stores operated by an Oklahoma grocery chain called Homeland.  It was then that I realized Homeland ran the store I had seen several weeks back in addition to several other locations with their own nearly-extinct interiors; I knew I had some trips to plan.  In total, Homeland's eight remaining stores consist of three Delhaize acquisitions and five Belle locations, all of which have convoluted past lives of their own.

The story of Homeland is full of its own twists and turns, beginning with its inception that arose from a nasty Safeway divestiture in 1987 (wow, Kroger wasn't the only one who faced a hostile takeover attempt by Dart Group during the 1980's).  In this week's companion post, Mike from Houston Historic Retail dives into the Homeland story and how this company similarly ran into many of the financial issues Bruno's did.  The main difference is, however, The Oklahoma chain continues to exist today while the Alabama retailer is little more than a vague memory.   

Homeland Food World #792 - Former Harveys #2374 / Food Lion #443 - Statesboro, GA

Homeland acquired a total of 11 stores from the bankrupt Belle in late-2013 following a 43-store buyout by the Associated Wholesale Grocers, a C&S competitor and Homeland's current distributor / former owner.  Those eleven stores included banners in the following towns:

• Piggly Wiggly:  Cochran (Former BI-LO), Dawson (Former Piggly Wiggly Southern), Eastman (Former PWS), Gordon (Former PWS), Macon (Former PWS), Milledgeville (Former PWS), Milledgeville (Former Bruno's FoodMax), Monroe (Former BI-LO), and Warner Robbins (Former PWS)
• Southern Family Markets:  East Dublin (Former PWS)   
• Food World:  Troy, AL (Former Bruno's Food World)

Some of the locations have obviously closed over the last few years, while others have remained open just as they were under Belle, Southern Family Markets, and who knows who else.  The piece that I'm still confused about is how Homeland wound up with the Food World intellectual property, and why in the world they decided to use that name for four stores in Georgia; like I said before, Bruno's has a history of  misguided management, but the plethora of previous owners never operated a Food World in The Peach State!  The brand is essentially meaningless in the three East Central Georgia towns for which the Grub Planets now grace, so I just wonder why Homeland didn't opt to operate them as Piggly Wigglys instead.  Maybe there were licensing issues in those areas?

Maybe the fact that Homeland purchased the Troy Food World and none of the other AWG members cared to carry on the name is the reason the Oklahoma company wound up in this situation in the first place, but this just seems to be one more management misstep in the long, slow decline of the Bruno family's legacy.

To sum things up, I was talking with a friend who lives in Statesboro several weeks ago, and somehow the topic of supermarkets came up (again, shocker).  I think I mentioned something I had seen at a Whole Foods recently, and he remarked, "oh yeah, we have one of those!"  I probably looked at him a bit cross-eyed since I knew there isn't a WFM within an hour's drive of The Boro, until another person said, "oh, you mean Food World!"  I about cracked up to myself!  Regardless, I suppose Food World (and Whole Foods, for that matter) needs to do a better job of marketing its brand in East Georgia!

We've now heard a lot about Bruno's, Homeland, and a whole host of other players, so let's see how all of that relates to the East Dublin store we'll be touring today. 

For those who aren't familiar with the area, East Dublin, Georgia is a town of roughly 2,500 people located in on the East bank of the Oconee River.  Likewise, the Laurens County seat, Dublin, GA, is seated just opposite the Oconee and boasts a noticeably larger population of 16,000 people.  Both municipalities are positioned just north of I-16, roughly 1/3 of the way from Macon to Savannah.  Interestingly, according to the town's Wikipedia page, Dublin, "was one of the last encampments at which Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his family stayed before being captured by Union forces in May 1865," and also was the site of Martin Luther King's first public speech in 1944.  There are two things I never knew before today!

The Macon Telegraph (Newspapers.com) - February 24, 1980

I realize that I haven't had the chance to dive into the story of Piggly Wiggly Southern, but I think that topic will have to wait until next time.   The historical tidbit that matters for this post is that PWS opened its new East Dublin store in Spring 1980.  

In 1988, Bruno's purchased Piggly Wiggly Southern's stores and Vidalia, GA, distribution center for $30 million.  It is reported that Kroger and Food Lion also had shown interest in purchasing PWS but were beat to the chase.  The thought also just crossed my mind that I wonder if cracks were forming in the Bruno's foundation even before the plane crash.  I'd imagine that such a large acquisition put financial strain on the company, and I wonder if that created more internal stress following the management loss.  Do you think Bruno's could still be around today had they not bought those extra stores just three years prior to the corporate structure collapsing?  It does seem like a small drop in the bucket for a company that would sell for 40x that amount less than a decade later, but you never know.

Logo Courtesy Ryan Brotherston

Following the sale, business would continue as usual in East Dublin until 1997 when Bruno's (under KKR at this point) announced it was dissolving its franchise agreement with Piggly Wiggly. This resulted in the conversion of Pigs in 21 East and South Georgia cities to Bruno's own FoodMax banner.  I'm presuming most of the converted stores underwent interior remodels in addition to the exterior signage change based on what we will see inside.

The Macon Telegraph (Newspapers.com) - September 18, 2005

In 2005, more change would come around following C&S Wholesale Grocers' purchase of 104 stores from BI-LO/Bruno's.  That's when the three Dublin and East Dublin FoodMax stores converted to Southern Family Markets, presumably because there was already a Piggly Wiggly in the market.  

This store seemed to continue to operate as such until the collapse of Belle Foods (assuming the company never got around to performing a conversion) and would be picked up by Homeland several months later.  Homeland reopened this store under Bruno's old Food World moniker in 2013.

The Gamut of Bruno's Brands

As I was writing this section, I thought of a comment I read on the article where I found the picture of the Atmore, AL, Food World store.  It stated, "The name of this store in Atmore has changed so often that when I park out front I’ve often wondered if I’d been transported to another town…..or parallel universe as in Fringe…..lol Wonder what the name will be this time."  (In case you are curious, this was also my inspiration for the "<Insert Store Name Here>" post title.)

I feel like this pretty much sums up Bruno's M.O. during the final years, and how the revolving door of management seemingly had no clear long term goals.  In this case, I can almost guarantee you it wasn't the labor unions who brought this ship down!

To summarize, here is a timeline for this specific location:

 

Now that we know more of the anomalies of this store, let's take a look inside.  Conversely, I'll certainly give you a minute if your head is spinning like a globe right now!

I have to say that the exterior of this store is probably one of the most drab things I've photographed in a long time.  The corrugated metal makes this look like your run-of-the-mill 40+ year-old shopping center that was designed without any corporate identity in mind.  Even the old Fred's off in the distance has a signature look to it!  

Contrary to what we learned earlier, the Laurens County property records state the ~25,000 sq ft structure was erected in 1985, which is much newer than I would have guessed.  On the other hand, Historic Aerials reinforce the 1980 opening timeline since the building was absent in 1973 and present in 1981.  Let's just say that I've learned to take local tax appraiser websites with a grain of salt!

Courtesy Nicola B (Google Maps) - December 31, 2017

I didn't get a photo of it, but shoppers are immediately greeted by the checkout lines upon entering the store, with the customer service desk off to the left.  This layout particularly reminded me of the numerous Winn-Dixies I've been to.

 

Speaking of Winn-Dixie, I didn't realize it until I was well inside the store that the buggy I grabbed hailed from The Beef People (thanks to the W/D engraved on both sides).  I had other things on my mind besides looking for a date stamp, but I believe Winn-Dixie used this design of shopping cart in the years surrounding 2010.  I have no idea where these could've come from considering I'm not aware of any WDs to have survived that long within a two hour drive of this store!

Turning to the right, we see the produce department off in the front corner of the store.  I found the grid of orange lines on the floor up front to be a bit strange, but I seem to remember seeing pictures of other discount Bruno's banners having these as well.  Who's ready for a game of hopscotch!

Speaking of things I've seen in other Bruno's discount stores:  these checkout cubes.  The red, blue, green, and yellow matched the package I've seen used at other locations, which would be too coincidental for these to not be original.

On the other side of my photo above, I noticed this hand-drawn Food World sign advertising "Where Good Food Cost Less!  Thanks For Shopping at Food World. ☺"  Despite the fact that somebody seemingly slighted to supply an "s", I thought it was random to have this sign taped to the side of the ice freezer.

Skipping ahead, we'll examine a more permanent fixture in this store:  the artificial flowers produce department signage. This store appears to use a modified version of FoodMax décor considering how the lettering matches what Ryan Brotherston saw at the closed Oxford, AL, store.

Something I've spotted in several South Georgia supermarkets is the presence of fake flowers on top of the produce coolers.  This seems to be a trend I most often associate with Harveys, but it is certainly exploited by the many ghosts of retailers past as well.

What's even better is how some of the curved accents that can be seen in Ryan's photo also managed to survive here.  

Anybody up for some "Homegrown Quality" flip-flops for $3.49?  I didn't notice this sign until I started analyzing this picture (why in the world does this store sell flip-flops?), but it is almost certainly a reference to the Oklahoma Overlord.

Finally, if you weren't already convinced that this interior dates back to this store's stint as a FoodMax, take a look at the slogan plastered on the front wall:  "The Low Price Place."  That just so happens to match the text in Ryan's photo of Oxford's back wall, and the lettering we can see here from the front of the Oxford store while it was still in business.  I would presume that "The Low" previously overlaid a shadow FoodMax logo painted on the wall, with the aforementioned words collectively being the same width as "Max".

So why in the world is everything in here painted green?  

I hate using vague anecdotal evidence to prove a point, but I visited a Southern Family Market on several occasions roughly 15-years ago and seem to remember a similar shade of green on the walls.  My guess is that SFM decided to paint whatever existing décor was present in a given store to match their branding.  I don't think the green and off-white paint is original to this package based on the fact that the checkout lane lights match the color scheme I would expect to see here.

I can't exactly speak as to where the aisle signs hail from, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were from SFM as well.

Taking a look at the rear of the store, we see more painted FoodMax signage over the meat department and more orange grid on the floor.

I suppose that hand-drawn sign on the right should read "Thanks For Your Continued Loyalty Throughout Our Multi-Decade Identity Crisis."

Jokes aside, there wasn't anything particularly off-putting about this store:  the shelves seemed well-stocked and organized, the floors were mostly clean, there wasn't a pungent smell, and I wasn't creeped out by the other people inside.  It seems like Homeland has done a decent job at running a rural Georgia supermarket on the back of a dead Alabama grocer!

Speaking of Homeland, I'd be curious to see if our Texan friends Mike from HHR or Anonymous in Houston pick up on items or finishes which resemble this store's siblings out West.  For one, I know this store carried "Best Choice" private label products which are sold by Associated Wholesale Grocers.  That shouldn't come as much of a surprise considering Homeland is specifically listed on the AWG Wikipedia page, and it makes sense for these stores to use the same distribution center as Bob & Jeff's (and most other South Georgia IGAs or Piggly Wigglys) rather than stocking an exclusive operation.

I suppose Homeland decided to think outside of the box when it came to supplying these far-fetched supermarkets (wouldn't it be ironic if they carried the Homeland name as well), and when it came to setting up merchandise displays on aisle 7.  I'm especially confused by the wire frame surrounding the pink, green, and yellow items off to the right.

Are those kiddie pools off in the distance really for sale, or are they just for when it rains hard enough for the roof to leak here?  Also, who in the world is going to try and stick one of those in a buggy?!

Whispers:  "I wanna Winn!" 

Poof:  two more Winn-Dixie carts appear out of nowhere.

I guess aisle 10 was winning today with all of the wonderful surprises it had in store.  In front of the retired WD buggies, I spy something else vintage.

Also, if you haven't been to a Winn-Dixie in the last few years, The Beef People have begun to randomly insert the preceding catchphrase along with an advertisement in the Muzak stream.  The ridiculousness of it makes me crack up nearly every time I hear it!

Hmm, a grey honey-comb basket.  I wonder where that could be from?

Upon closer inspection, it appears this Unarco (Retail Regents, feel free to correct me) came from Wal-Mart.  At least that makes more sense in Dublin than one from Winn-Dixie!

We'll next hop over to aisle 12 and take a glance at the bulk of this store's frozen foods.  I wonder how many people notice that the coolers on the left have different doors than the ones on the right . . . Also, more pools!

Continuing up front, we see the deli & bakery come into view.  Nothing particularly Earth-shattering here, but it is nice to see that this Food World still offers some form of hot food and cold cut deli items.  

On the bakery home-front, I'm doubtful this location offers anything besides the pre-packaged items we see here.

Turning down the left wall of the store, we see the dairy and frozen food departments come back into view on aisle 13, along with those miniature pools we saw earlier.  I really wish I could have taken a photo of the "Fresh Dairy" signage to my left, but another shopper was just behind me when I took this shot and I wanted to remain conspicuous.

Interestingly, the font used here for "Frozen" matches what we saw for the old FoodMax slogan up in the produce department.  I recall the "Fresh" in "Fresh Dairy" followed suit as well.

Our last look inside will showcase the front end of this store and leave us pondering who in the world painted this store green.  Upon further reflection, it's not out of the realm of possibilities that Belle Foods was the one who last "remodeled" this store; however, I'm still inclined to think it was SFM.  I came across a website showcasing a company who specialized in "recycling" décor in new and creative ways.  One particular page showcased a Belle-owned Food World in Tuscaloosa, AL, which gave me pause on Southern Family Markets having been the last one to remodel the East Dublin store.  That store used the same style of aisle sign and appeared to be painted the same color green, which seems to indicate Belle was the one of also remodeled East Dublin.

On the contrary, the site also showcases a Belle-Dixie in Florence, AL, which also used the same color green and had the same aisle signs.  I know that store was previously a Southern Family Market as well.  My theory is that if Belle had thoroughly remodeled all three of these stores, they would have used pea-green and purple on the walls rather than softer green we see here.  This leads me to believe Belle only swapped out the department lettering and logos in the Florence and Tuscaloosa stores, while leaving behind the SFM green and aisle signs.  Furthermore, I'm not sure if they ever got around to converting the East Dublin store from a SFM store, meaning the interior is likely one of the only extant examples of such in 2023!  Feel free to disagree with my logic, as I'd love to hear your theories in the comments below.

One thing I do know is that the decorative portion on the top of the sign post out front is from FoodMax.  We've seen similar implementations in Tallahassee and Hendersonville, and this ornamentation seems to have been a common feature for the Birmingham-based company.

The crazy thing is this sign has moved and grown!  Even if the structure we see today isn't entirely original, at least the top portion has survived.

Now on from one failed company to another.

It's increasingly rare that I come across a Fred's store which hasn't had its sign painted over, so I figured I might as well take a photo of the one next door even if I never had a strong connection to the company.  Don't get me wrong, I've ventured inside a Fred's a time or two, but I never shopped there often and thus didn't languish the chain's loss in 2019.  If you do want to learn more about Fred's, I'd recommend you check out my friend Retail Retell's series chronicling the company's demise.

The blacked out portion below the sign previously advertised Fred's pharmacy up until the ailing company sold off its prescription business to Walgreen's in 2018 (a stark contrast to the idea that Fred's would acquire hundreds of Rite Aid pharmacies just a year prior).

 

Like many other locations, the East Dublin Fred's never received the company's newer green and blue logo despite closing with a remodeled interior.  I'd also like to point out that this store was built by Fred's and uses the building design I most often saw around South Georgia and North Florida.  The pride of Coldwater, Mississippi, may have floated on down the Oconee, but it left behind another retail relic for East Dubliners to relish.

That's it for today's post, but make sure to check back in several weeks to see where I find myself next!  And again, make sure to check out Mike's post on the history of Homeland as well.

Until next time,

- The Sing Oil Blogger