Year Three of The Sing Oil Blog: The Museum

LaGrange #1 Sing Stop 'N Shop - LaGrange, GA

Year Three of The Sing Oil Blog

The Museum

    It's hard to believe that I've been at this for three years:  part of me feels like it hasn't been that long, but the other part feels like it has been an eternity.   This blog has seen its fair share of changes over the last three years; take for example how my first posts only included a short description of a former Sing Store and maybe a few historical photos.  I've since certainly learned how to be long-winded!  Just over a year ago, I also broke one of my early principles by publishing a post on the blog that had nothing whatsoever to do with a former Sing.  Only time will tell if that was the correct decision, but my all-time readership has increased by 200% in the last year alone; that has to mean something.  Sing posts aren't going anywhere, considering how I have at least 22 unpublished locations on my station roadmap, but I have also found that I need to occasionally cover other topics to keep me (and likely my readers) interested.  (Now's the perfect time to remind you that links to those "other" stores can always be found on my More Than Convenience page.)

The Events:

Over the last year, we've seen a lot of changes, likely the most notable of which was the news of Aldi acquiring Winn-Dixie and Harveys.  This really shook up the rumor mill, but it also reinforced my notion that nothing in this world is ever permanent.  As much as I thought the dated "Golden Girls" Winn-Dixie Marketplace stores would last forever, it became apparent that they, too, were mortal.  If that news didn't give me a good kick in the rear to document anything related to Southeastern Grocers, then I don't know what would.  Just have faith that I have amassed years' worth of more SEG content to tickle your fancy.  Additionally, Fresco y Más was officially spun off today, leaving behind a chunk of 28 stores that will still carry on the spirit of Southeastern Grocers to some degree.

This is also the perfect time to announce this year's edition of Marketplace Madness.  Last year, we toured Fran-Dixie, one of the last Winn-Dixie stores in the state of Georgia, along with the amazingly preserved Food Pavilion store outside of Pensacola, and a funky Pub-Dixie in Chattanooga.  This year, I'm striving for four posts consisting of Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, and Something Blue.  I'll leave it up to y'all to come up with any guesses, but rest assured that these stores won't disappoint!

In addition to the collaborative AL-DIxie post, some of my personal milestones this year included a new series on Bruno's, a few grocery store auctions, some interesting Publixes, and of course, Sing Stores.  

I'm ashamed to mention that I only recently realized that I totally ripped off Retail Retell's O Kroger, Where Art Thou? décor series with my own O Bruno's, Where Art Thou? segments.  It's amazing how the subconscious works sometimes, and I apologize if he thought I was totally skimming his mojo because that was not my intent!  I obviously understand where the reference comes from (despite me having never seen the movie) and thought the ambiguity of the Bruno's mystery and the commonality of the word "Bruno" with the original "Brother" just fit so well.

Regardless, the highlights of that series include a trip through one of the final Bruno's stores, a look at a shockingly well preserved former FoodMax (with a funky tie in to a post from my friends at Houston Historic Retail), and an exploration of the only surviving Pubno's store.

But my coverage of extinct (or almost extinct) Alabama grocers didn't stop there.  Publix announced last year that it would retire the GreenWise Market concept and convert all eight stores back into standard supermarkets, and now I can exclusively report that the Mountain Brook store (which I covered in April) is scheduled to begin the conversion process next week.  It seems that this officially marks the beginning of the end (considering how I have not heard any other reports of conversions commencing), and while I'm saddened to see the concept killed off, at least we learned that many of the prominent features will live on in Publix' new 55M concept that launched last Spring.  On the bright side, the Birmingham GWM is slated to gain a full-service bakery and retain some form of its POURS taproom & extensive FINDS wine department.  The "new and improved" Publix #1676 will otherwise drop many of the organic SKUs it currently carries and eliminate the fresh-to-order burrito & pizza bars.

On the topic of bygone Publix concepts, I'm thrilled that I was able to attend two Apron's Cooking School classes this year before the concept was permanently discontinued.  I previously shared my experience from the first class, but still have plenty more to discuss from my second and final excursion (with some interesting discoveries, too).

Finally, I was afforded the chance to document Georgia's last P01 Target store.  I can also confirm that the Warner Robbins store has begun (if not completed) its remodel to P22 marking another chapter in the conclusion to the package.

That's enough of a monologue, let's dive into the meat and candy.

The Posts:

This past year, I published a total of 17 posts on my blog and covered a total of 10 former Sing Stores, 8 Publixes, 2 Winn-Dixies, 2 former Harveys stores, 2 Krogers, and a Target.  A list of my posts in the order for which they were published can be found below.

Post	Location	Publication Date	MTC Topic
Macon	Macon, GA	2/04/2023	Target T-1380
Columbus #9	Columbus, GA	3/04/2023	Winn-Dixie #439
Thomasville #6 (Revisit)	Thomasville, GA	3/10/2023	Publix #476 (Revisit) / Publix #1498
Publix #672	Marietta, GA	4/01/2023
Tallahassee #13	Tallahassee, FL	4/13/2023	GreenWise Market #1573
GreenWise Market #1676	Mountain Brook, AL	4/28/2023
Smyrna (Revisit)	Smyrna, GA	5/13/2023	Kroger #451
Kroger #259 (Auction)	Atlanta, GA	5/27/2023
Camilla #2	Camilla, GA	6/10/2023	Hendricks & Hays IGA
Food World #782	East Dublin, GA	6/23/2023
Tallahassee #7	Tallahassee, FL	7/24/2023	Publix #150 / Northwood Mall
Publix #721	Alpharetta, GA	8/20/2023	Aprons Cooking Schools
Moultrie	Moultrie, GA	9/16/2023	Piggly Wiggly Sylvester (Revisit 12/17)
LaGrange #1	LaGrange, GA	10/14/2023	Publix #540 & Big Lots #64
Former Bruno's #595	Montgomery, AL	10/29/2023
Powder Springs (Revisit)	Marietta, GA	11/12/2023	Standard Oil Company of California
Former Publix #460	Statesboro, GA	12/25/2023	Former Winn-Dixie #147

The top five posts from my blog this year were: 

1. Thomasville #6 (Revisit) | The Happy Penny | Former Publix #476 | Publix #1498 

Thomasville, GA

I'm not going to lie, this one surprised me a little bit.  Even for being a refresh of a previously fleshed out post, my coverage of the Thomasville #6 Sing, et. al. took the top spot for posts authored or overhauled in 2023.  I believe the primary portion I updated was my coverage of former Publix #476 to include some auction photos GeorgiaPubDude uncovered, but that, along with my coverage of Sing's smallest convenience store, Sing's failed discount grocery venture, and Thomas County, GA's "new" Publix must have been just what y'all were looking for. (Either that, or somebody left the post open in a tab for too long and their browser kept reloading it.)

2. Publix #672

Marietta, GA

Another interesting post to land at #2.  I'll admit that this one was a bit more creative than most of my pieces, but I'm ultimately surprised that my April 1st coverage got y'all's attention.  If you need a recap, we explored what Publix #672 would look like if it were to receive a funky variant of Wavy Pastels and saw a few cameos from Plato the Publixaurus. 

3. Kroger #259 (The Afterlife)

Atlanta, GA

Okay, I will say that I enjoy visiting supermarket auctions because you never know what you will stumble upon.  Petrified lime: check.  Broken clock: check.  Fresh Fare signs that are now leaned up against my washing machine: check.  An unforgettable experience with the Sing Oil Chaos Crew: you bet!  Disco Kroger's last dance is certainly one for the history books.

4. Publix #721

Alpharetta, GA

Wow, another post that has nothing to do with Sing Oil Company – am I noticing a trend?  Regardless, Publix #721 certainly deserved its own post considering how crazy it is to see one of A&P's final (and largest) stores in Georgia done up as an ultra-premium Publix.  Add on top of that my coverage of the cooking class the Publix Pirate & I attended, and you have one heck of a meal!

5. Macon | Target T-1380

Macon, GA

Rounding out the top five is a post I certainly spent a lot of time on.  For this article, I took a deep dive into the Flood of '94 which devastated Middle Georgia and forever changed the region.  It was during this research that I unexpectedly uncovered several rare photos of the former Riverside Drive Sing as an Amoco station (and under several feet of water), along with some crazy news footage of the area from WMAZ.  In addition to the Sing, I also toured Middle Georgia's only Target (which happened to be the last in the state to bear the P01 package) and explained some of the possible reasons why Macon became the largest city in the nation to lack the brand.

Now that we've reflected on my Sing Oil Blog posts, let's take a look at what I've written and published elsewhere.

Post	Location	Publication Date	Publication Site
Winn-Dixie #535	Pensacola, FL	2/18/2023	MFR
Publix #1165	Chattanooga, TN	3/18/2023	MFR 4
Publix #1808	Tampa, FL	3/26/2023	MFR
Publix #119	Hendersonville, TN	4/23/2023	AFB 5
Kroger #259	Atlanta, GA	5/27/2023	MSRB
Publix #582	Tampa, FL	7/08/2023	MFR
Publix #852	Tallahassee, FL	7/30/2023	AFB
Albertsons #4315	Tallahassee, FL	7/30/2023	AFB
Winn-Dixie #500 (Revisit)	Pinson, AL	8/07/2023	MFR
AL-DIxie Merger		8/25/2023	MFR
Publix #1867 (Construction Update)	Atlanta, GA	9/28/2023	MFR
Harveys #1667	Gray, GA	9/30/2023	MFR
Safeway #3411	Tacoma, WA	11/29/2023	AFB

 The top five posts from this year were: 

1. Publix #1808

Tampa, FL

Unsurprisingly, my top post the year was where I broke the news of Publix' brand new store prototype which also paved the way for the chain's entry into Kentucky.  As of yesterday, there are now three 55M stores in operation, with at least four more in the pipeline (the most notable of which is Publix #1867 in Buckhead).  This post wouldn't have been possible without the photographs graciously provided to me by HR2012TPA.

1. AL-DIxie?  Thoughts on the Pending ALDI / Winn-Dixie Merger

This post also was essentially tied for the #1 spot, as it was only one or two views off from my Publix #1808 the few times I checked over the last two days.  I thoroughly enjoyed working with The Albertsons Florida Blogger, Retail Retell, and The Sing Oil Sidekick to flesh out our thoughts on how the unexpected news would pan out.  If anything, it seems that Southeastern Grocers has certainly put the brakes on its previous efforts to reinvent Winn-Dixie.  This is considering how there were still several Marketplace stores as of a couple of months ago showing no sign of a major remodel.  Additionally, I'll just say that the rollout of the new Know & Love brand has been haphazard at best.  There's no doubt 2024 will be an interesting year on this front. 

3. Winn-Dixie #535

Pensacola, FL

This has to be one of my favorite stores I've covered, so I'm glad y'all seemed to like it too.  I'm still amazed at how well-preserved this old Marketplace & Food Pavilion was in 2022 and the original finishes helped answer a lot of questions I had regarding the concept.  Add on top of that the circa 1993 photos I found in old annual reports and the similar shots uncovered by Keith - Cape Kennedy Retail, and you just have the perfect storm of vintage supermarkets primed for a visit by Rose, Blanche, Dorothy, and Sophia.

4. Publix #1165

Chattanooga, TN

Continuing the Winn-Dixie trend is my post on Tennessee's only Pub-Dixie and Chattanooga's first Publix.  If it wasn't for the Bamboo / Classy Market 2.5 signage and paint, this store would still be your typical mid-1990's Winn-Dixie Marketplace.  It's amazing how Publix can move into somebody else's space while keeping the existing layout almost perfectly intact, and it's also amazing how well an old Marketplace can clean up!

5. Publix #119

Hendersonville, TN

Rounding out the top five is a store that has been on my bucket list to visit for years (well, I guess I haven't been in this hobby for that long).  I was very intrigued to see how Publix would treat an old Colonial-style Bruno's FoodMax, and this store did not disappoint.  Thankfully, several of my friends let me drag them along for the ride and wandered around the store commenting on regional soda brands while I was photographing the supermarket.  At least we all got to enjoy some soft drinks from the deli at the end!

Since we now have that over with, let's move on to the final part of the post, which also happens to be the namesake portion.

The Exhibits:

While I was planning out this year's anniversary post, I contemplated what I could do to make it special.  I eventually landed on the idea of showcasing my long-shot ambition of opening a museum one day (we'll see if that ever pans out).  If that possibility were to come true, here's an idea of what the exhibits may look like.

2008:  The Glory Days of Publix? 

A look at an invigorating chapter in Publix' history based on relics from two former stores.

Signage from Former Publix #1331 - Fort Myers, FL

I have an entire store's worth of department signage; what else do I have to say?

Mysteriously Ratchet: A Photo Series on Winn-Dixie in the 2020's

Photos from Winn-Dixie's transition from America's {Forgotten} Supermarket into a Winning (?) combination with ALDI.

Winn-Dixie #580 - Theodore, AL - August 2023

The last 5 years have been some bizarre ones for Winn-Dixie; we went from thinking the stereotypical Marketplace stores would never disappear to realizing that The Beef People may have a fighting chance after all.  Then the news of the ALDI merger came and all hell broke loose.

Saturday Night Fever:  The Signs of Time Stood Still

An exploration of Kroger #259's past, and how the local icon ascended (next) to the Limelight.

If only I had paid attention to Retail Retell's original post, I never would have been in this situation!

Sing Oil Company:  A South Georgia Town's Second (or Third) Claim to Fame 

I feel like this one is obvious, but a Sing Oil Blog Museum wouldn't be complete without artifacts relating to Sing Oil Company.  As for the subtitle, Thomasville, GA's Wikipedia page may reference the City of Roses or Flowers Foods, but the lack of any mention of Sing Oil Co. is one of the driving factors as to why I'm here.

It's not that I feel it particularly important for everybody to know about Sing, but it is more about the topic being a fascinating research outlet that lacks almost any easily attainable information on the internet.  If somebody is willing to put in the effort, he or she can become a far more polished subject matter export on a topic of history if there is no mention on sites like Wikipedia than if a subject is already widely covered.  Don't get me wrong, general information websites are great jumping off points, but I've become a much more resourceful investigator and have not been presented with the biased, misleading, or incomplete information that somebody glancing over a Wikipedia page may encounter.  And after all, doesn't it feel good to know a whole lot about something that very few others do?  On top of that, I can share all of this information with the world and inspire new people to explore historical research at the same time.

Digital information is great, but there is something to be said about cold, hard, physical object.  Let's take a look at the Sing-related artifacts I've uncovered over the years.

First up is a set of matchbooks dating back at least to the 1950's.  You'll notice that the one on the right mentions the Sing Oil station at the corner of Broadway and Chestnut, managed by R. G. Burgess.  I believe this to be in Asheville, NC, but have yet to confirm it.  The eBay lot also came with these other three books including one advertising an unbranded service station in Eddington, PA, a Sinclair station in Courtland, NY, and a DX station in Mooresville (Indiana?).

Next, we have several reams of N.O.S. Rand McNally Florida atlases from the early-1960's and one Georgia / North Carolina / South Carolina map from the same era.  While I never intend to sell these, I'd be curious to know what a ream of 60 year old maps would go for, much less eight of them.

You may ask how I ended up with those, and it turns out that they were gifted to me by somebody who knew I was interested in the history of the chain.  I was told that the maps, along with several of the other items I'll share today, were found in an old barn and came from a stockpile of items removed from a Sing dealer station.  The maps, specifically, were in a disintegrating box that wasn't worth saving, except for the shipping label pasted to one end.  Here we can see the Rand McNally logo along with a stamp for "500 SING FLA".  What's most interesting, though, is that the box was addressed to "Sing Oil Company, Inc.  - J. Philip Seabo - Pelham, Georgia" – the typist misspelled the name of former Sing executive J. Philip Leabo!

Our next batch of items includes several photographs you may recognize (ehm, the Thomasville #5 and Sandy Plains Sing Stores), along with a rust-covered Styrofoam cup and two cases of matches.

Fun fact: the yellow Sing logo you see in my profile picture (and thus the bird graphic in the watermarks) was traced from a scan of one of these match bundles, back when I still had access to Adobe Illustrator and much more time on my hands!

As for the old cup, you can read up on its past in my Thomasville #5 post – a story that is true, except for the parts I made up.  I'd encourage you to brush up on the tale if it has been a while since you read it!  Regardless, the drinking vessel was indeed wedged under a paint can when I found it and also as some paint that resembles Benjamin Moore's Essex Green caked on the inside.

Furthermore, the two match bundles are bound with a thin piece of wax paper and contain 50 of the books shown above.  While I never intend to open one, the cases still seem like they would make a rather unique museum piece.

Continuing on, we find those same match books joined by a plethora of older specimens.  If you haven't heard the story of the Sing logo change by now, the blue books likely date back to the mid-1980's while the white books were produced at some point between 1964 and 1980-something. 

As for the credit cards, they are likely the only remaining Sing-issued cards that aren't buried somewhere in a landfill.  I presume the white one is from the mid-1960's and the blue and grey one is likewise from the late-1980's.

In case you wondered what it was like to apply for a Sing credit card, I have an answer for that too!  I'm amazed how a full ream of these survived in that old barn!

We'll take a quick glance at a couple of those older match books, along with a Winn-Dixie book that was thrown in the collection.  I would guess the WD matches are from 1988-1990 based on a quick search of the catchphrase on Newspapers.com.

Continuing on, we find one of the more random pieces of my collection:  a Sing Oil flag.  A former Sing executive's widow gave this to me shortly after her husband passed away, and while I appreciate the gesture, I'm still very confused as to why the item was made in the first place.  On top of that, it was in such good shape and was folded so neatly that I'm not sure it was ever flown.

Our next collection features the April 1961 edition of the Sing Oil News, a few sheets of Sing letterhead, and a napkin & decal featuring a graphic that I've heard referred to as the "Dickey Bird".  

The newsletter was in the same group of items as the Florida maps, and features an article about the Cuthbert, GA, Sing run by Ross & Lockett Taylor, along with other company news from the month.  It is certainly showing its age, but at least it is no longer in a musty old barn!

On the other hand, I believe the napkin and letterhead may have been given to me by the same lady who gave me the flag.  I didn't realize this until recently, but the term "Dickey Bird" may not just refer to the fact that the bird is wearing a dickey (it's more of a vest in my opinion, but that is beside the point), but it may even be a reference to Dickie Bird, a former English cricketer.  The latter seems like a long shot for employees of a South Georgia oil company, but I've heard stranger things.

Joining the other barn finds were these N.O.S. car garbage bags.  The hole implies they were intended to hang on one of the many knobs inside a 1950's car, but none of these seemed to make it that far.  Ideally, they provided the perfect destination for any garbage one might acquire during one's journey and in turn allowed drivers to "Help Keep Your State Beautiful".

Next up, we have a business card I found advertising the old Camilla #1 Sing managed by Horace Gillard.  I always crack up when I read the "Sing While You Drive" lines on the back!

If the above maps weren't enough for you, they are joined by a few 1970's Amoco prints, a 1930's Amoco map of the Southeast, a KYSO map from the 1950's, and a BP map that appears to be from the 1960's.  Oh, and I can't forget the two 1950's Sing maps!  I may not have as many maps as AFB, but I'm slowly getting there!

Our next barn find is a ream of "Sing Certified Lubrication" checklists.  I understand what the phrase at the bottom was going for, BUT I FEEL LIKE THE DESIGNER COULD HAVE HELD BACK FROM USING ALL CAPS.  Also, don't you love that 1950's graphic of the Sing attendant at the top?

A collection of random service station forms wouldn't be complete without some employment applications.  Unfortunately, these appear to be generic rather than Sing specific, but they are still neat, nonetheless.  I want to point out the lines that read, "What physical defects have you?" or "Do you own your home?"  The application also asks for your sex, but then proceeds to ask if you support a wife – this is the 1960's after all.

I was also given two advertisements for the WCTV "Baseball Warm-Up" Presented by Your Sing Oil Dealer.  While I'm curious which baseball teams were highlighted, the most intriguing part is the WCTV logo that I haven't seen anywhere else.

Another clue to the time this barn stuff was filed away is this log from the Daytona, FL, Sing dated August 2, 1961.  While Sing may be long gone, the old Daytona dealer station surprisingly appears to be standing to this day.

Following the Daytona sheet are two more logbook pages that I still haven't figured out what to make of them.  They appear to list all of the Sings operating as of the early-1960's, but some of the writing has faded and none of the numbers make any sense on their own.  I typed up a full spreadsheet of everything I could read, so maybe I will share that one day and see what the internet can decipher from it.

Closing out our "behind the scenes" artifacts are a Sing envelope and a patch mockup that were buried in the box of historical photos.  The patch rendering is particularly interesting, as it features a hand-drawn version of the "Dickey Bird" along with thread samples for the colors that would have been used.  It also conveniently has a date of August 4, 1967, stamped on it.

 What could be cooler than an unused bag for Sing Party Ice?  I'm not really sure!

Maybe a Sing reusable coffee mug?  The one thing that has bothered me about this is how the blue lid doesn't match the white interior of the mug or the blue printed logo!

Our final specimen is an embroidered Sing trucker hat – I feel like you can't get more 1980's than that!

I hope y'all enjoyed this little trip through the Sing Oil archives; while it may not be as fun as the year we just completed, there are still plenty of neat things to examine.  

One thing that has been on my mind this past year is how I could be reimbursed for some of what I do.  Don't get me wrong, I really do love this hobby and get gratification from it every day, but the other side of me sees the amount of time, effort, and gasoline I have put into this and wants it to be marginally self-sustaining.  The obvious choices are ads, donations (think PayPal), or charging for admission.  All of those have some considerable drawbacks, on top of the fact that I would feel guilty not giving some back to the many people who have sent me countless leads and nuggets of knowledge to be featured.  Without y'all, this blog would be much more boring and would only have my bad puns and obscure references to spruce things up!

All that to be said, I'm still unsure of what to do because one of the biggest things I'd sacrifice with several of those options is my pseudonym.  Some of you already know me, and others may have figured me out, but I feel like the pseudonym enables me to publish things that I otherwise wouldn't feel comfortable having publicly available on the internet.  Maybe that means my best course of action would be a "best of" coffee table book.  Would anyone buy it?!  The rate things are going, I suppose this will just remain a "labor of love" since that method seems to work for plenty of others.  

Anyway, that will have to be a song for another time, as I'm already burning the midnight oil to finish this post on the 26th and missed my goal for publishing my other months-long creation today.  Make sure to check back in two weeks to see my next Sing Oil adventure, and maybe by then I will have everything else completed for my surprise . . .

Until then, cheers to three years!

- The Sing Oil Blogger