Columbia | Former Albertsons #2785 - South Mississippi
Columbia
Food Store | Deli
Columbia, MS 39420
A&H Pit Stop | former Amoco Food Shop
Scroll Down for today's MTC post on former Albertsons #2725 in Hattiesburg
"You know, every now and then
I think you might like to hear something from us
Nice and easy
But there's just one thing
You see, we never ever do nothing nice and easy
We always do it nice and rough
So we're going to take the beginning of this post
And do it easy
Then we're going to do the finish . . . rough"
This is the way we do 'The Sing Oil Blog'.
And we're rollin', rollin', rollin' on Pearl River. As big wheels keep on turning, I keep on travelin' to new and exotic places for both the blog and for my own personal enjoyment.
While the Tina Turner song above may have fit the theme of my most recent adventure, we're going to rewind the tape back to an adventure I embarked on to South Mississippi in 2022. The road trip also included a visit to another Sing Store just downriver from here in Washington Parrish, and boy was that a sight! Likewise, I knew that the Columbia store was similarly exciting, it's just that I had to put today's post on ice for a bit due to the scare the Sing Oil Sidekick & I had while visiting.
Before I get to that, let's take a look at some background information.
The Sing we'll be exploring today was built in 1985 as Sing's seventh and final outlet in the Magnolia State. I still have to wonder why Sing picked Columbia, MS, of all places, to build a convenience store; I guess the demographics matched Sing's small town target audience?
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| The Columbian-Progress (Newspapers.com) - August 29, 1985 |
Anyhow, this station held its grand opening in August of 1985 and published a full-page ad in The Columbian-Progress to celebrate. Some of you should recognize the look of the station in the photo since this Sing was essentially a carbon copy of Bradfordville or Jacksonville #3.
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| The Columbian-Progress (Newspapers.com) - February 20, 1986 - Colorized (2024) |
This store seemed to be a darling for the press (or there wasn't much else of interest happening in Columbia) considering how I came across numerous articles mentioning it – many of which included pictures! The article above mentions how prices in the area have dropped since Sing came to town, but most of that is due to increased oil supply. The days of the 1970's oil embargo were over!
Thanks to the story on gas prices, we also catch a rare glimpse at Sing's mid-1980's sign design (so rare that I decided to colorize it). The look reminds me a lot of Sing's mid-1960's design, but only seems to have been used for a short time before the yellow and blue logo was rolled out in 1986.
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| The Columbian-Progress (Newspapers.com) - May 8, 1986 |
Our next stop on the publicity train is only several months past the last. In May of 1986, the convenience store held a drawing for a free trip to Panama City Beach. I wouldn't be surprised if the lucky winner, Lucille Barnes, stayed in Sing Oil Company's own condo that was typically allocated for store managers to take vacations. During one of my several conversations with Tom Perry, former Sing VP, he mentioned that this was one of the benefits offered to employees, and it also seems it was an easy way to drum up business in new stores. It's also worth noting how the new Sing logo is featured on the drawing box while the employees' hats still feature the old one.
In 1986, local high schoolers held car washes:
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| The Columbian-Progress (Newspapers.com) - September 25, 1986 |
1986 continued on with more mentions of the gas station as being the site for high school fundraiser car washes, or just a "more than convenient" place to grab a deli sandwich.
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| The Hattiesburg American (Newspapers.com) - August 13, 1987 |
In 1987, things soured a bit as Marion County endured some severe flash flooding that summer. The Hattiesburg American interviewed a man who said that water was three feet deep in the parking lot of the Sing. 12.2 inches of rain fell between 1 and 8 AM, with all of that water simply not having anywhere to go. Thankfully, while still rising 4 feet, the Pearl River stayed well below its flood stage which prevented the scene from getting even worse. The Sing seems to be situated on a small hill, so I would imagine that it fared slightly better than the stores downtown or its own parking lot.
After that, there wasn't much mention of the store other than a 1989 Halloween-themed ad and a 1990 article describing new fuel tank leak testing procedures that were mandated by new federal, state, and local environmental regulations.
Sing, of course, sold to Amoco in October 1990, and it wasn't until April 1993 when the Chicago-based oil company got around to selling this South Mississippi station to an independent operator.
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| The Columbian-Progress (Newspapers.com) - June 30, 1994 |
The old Sing officially reopened as an Amoco Food Shop in June 1994 with all sorts of pomp and circumstance for the upcoming Independence Day holiday. A different ad touted how "crystal clear Amoco gasoline" was returning to Columbia at the former Sing (as if the gas sold at the station for the last three years wasn't already from Amoco. Who knew a convenience store grand opening was such a big deal!
The new Amoco seemingly operated as such for a number of years before becoming the independent Pit Stop it is today. Let's return to the present and see what else we can learn in Marion County.
Since I had time to kill and only one other stop on the agenda, I decided to take a leisurely stroll through downtown Columbia to see what all the town had to offer.
My first stop was the Marion County Historical Society, which I seem to remember as being in the city's old train depot. It was a neat little museum featuring exhibits on the local rodeo, area veterans, and how life used to be in rural South Mississippi.
Of course, I homed in on the topics I could relate to, one of which was the opening of the local A&P Centennial store.
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| Photo from the Marion County Historical Society |
The top left photo depicts a lot full of 1950's cars in front of a classic example of a Centennial façade, while the remaining pictures show various scenes from inside the store. The biggest thing that caught my attention was the sign saying, "Do not ride babies in buggies". While 1950's shopping carts were seemingly not up to the safety standards for holding a human, I at least feel validated that I am not the only one who uses "buggy" as the word for the thing you push around a store!
What's even more interesting, albeit, less surprising, is how the building looks largely the same today as it did when it opened in 1961. At the time, the state-of-the-art, 9,020 square foot store featured modern amenities such as four fully automatic checkout counters, over 100 feet of refrigerated and frozen food counters, and its own meat department. The lucky housewives of Columbia could leisurely peruse the seven spacious aisles while enjoying a fully air-conditioned store. What a thrill!
Heading back downtown, I noticed several interesting buildings, with the first being the Cook & Fortenberry pharmacy. While the building itself has plenty of charm, the "Walgreen Agency" script on the overhead neon sign immediately caught my attention. Based on a quick search, it looks like Walgreens set up franchising agreements with local drug stores to sell Walgreens-branded over the counter products in areas that were outside of the pharmacy chain's existing service area. That program seemingly ran from the late-1920's through the late-1970's.
Surprisingly, the local pharmacy was not required to remove the branded signage following the expiration of the franchising agreement and remains open to this day. Columbia now even has a modern Walgreens on the south side of town, in addition to this rare piece of advertising history on Main Street. I wonder if the neon still works.
Also on that block was this mural for the long-gone Walker Brothers Druggists. The advertisement was uncovered for a short time during a building renovation, but has since been sent back into obscurity, masked behind a white stucco wall (next to the Edward Jones building in the street views). It's a shame that the vintage look couldn't be preserved; however, at least I managed to photograph it during its short exposure.
Turning to the right 90 degrees, we can see the Marion County Courthouse off in the distance in addition to some tents for a local festival. I think I remember it being Christmas related, but that seems a little strange for the beginning of October.
The county courthouse looked very stately amidst the partially bricked streets – I do appreciate an aesthetically pleasing historic courthouse!
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| Photo from the Marion County Historical Society |
Speaking of aesthetically pleasing historic buildings, we'll take a look at my final find from the Marion County Historical Society. According to the photo caption, High School Avenue is named for the former Columbia High School that was on the present-day site of Columbia Elementary School. The high school burned down, as shown in the photo, and was rebuilt several blocks away. Based on the clothing of the people in the photo, I'd guess that the fire took place in the 1920's or early-1930's.
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| Courtesy Preservation in Mississippi - Columbia High School |
If there is one thing I regret not seeing in the town, it is the "new" Columbia High School. I am a sucker for International Style architecture, and I just love the geometric design of this building.
Preservation in Mississippi goes on to describe the photo by saying, "Of course, the International Style didn’t really get to Mississippi much until the 1940s, but we do have a few 1930s buildings that qualify at least as in the International camp, the most famous being the Columbia High School down west of Hattiesburg. Designed by Overstreet & Town, it was built 1937-38 as a PWA project. Looking at it again, I wonder if it is as much Art Moderne as International? It certainly has a weightiness to it that Hitchcock and Johnson might scoff at, although it does seem to emphasize the volumes inside the various masses instead of the mass itself. It’s more on point with the second and third “rules.” What do you think?"
Additional photos of the school can be found here.
Jumping from Modernist to Brutalist architecture, we find ourselves right where we'd expect: in front of a Sing Store.
It wouldn't be the 1980's at Sing Oil without some corduroy concrete exterior walls! Some particularly interesting things to note from this angle are how you can see the lines for the individual blocks toward the bottom of the wall, and how the two back sides of the building simply received plain cinder blocks. I suppose the texture was too costly to waste on surfaces where it wouldn't be seen.
Turning our attention down the wall, we find the recently added Krispy Krunchy Chicken sign and a bright red (partially) mansard awning.
Oh wait, what do I see? Why, that looks like some original Sing shingles poking out from behind the metal siding! Doesn't it look like they were originally a shade of blue? Regardless, it appears that Amoco didn't bother to remove them when installed the sheet metal we see today.
If you look up under the canopy, you can also see the original recessed florescent light fixtures which would have backlit a small strip of canvas running around the perimeter.
Sorry for the haze, but I was a bit dazed and confused as to what I had just stepped into (or maybe that is just 4/20 getting to me) – the blue and yellow were really throwing me off!
I know what you may be thinking: did I just walk into another original Sing? I don't think I'm quite that lucky; however, there is still quite a bit to unpack here.
First off, I instantly recognize the faux brick tiles as being original in addition to the general configuration of the store. The space still looks similar despite the shelves being rearranged from their original perpendicular orientation. I do think this change makes the room feel less open, though.
The next thing I see is how the original strip lights were swapped out for drop-in fluorescents. Also, why is the ceiling grid painted blue?
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| Bradfordville Sing Store - July 1984 The right side of the store, from the front door |
Previously, we would have been looking directly at Sing's garden and hardware departments, with automotive and the seating alcove being just off to my right.
Speaking of the seating alcove, it is still partitioned off from the rest of the store and appears to be used for storage now. It's only in retrospect that I noticed the original pendant light hanging behind that Styrofoam cooler – darn it!
The rest of the pendants seem to have been removed, and I'm sure the signature orange booths are long gone by now. At least I know where to find my new wardrobe and everything I need to clean it, burn it, or feed it. Oh wait, that's a bag of dog food.
As for the restrooms, they still seemed to be right where Sing left them. I wonder why the current store owners resorted to using plywood partitions here. Oh well, I didn't dare venture past the burning stick of incense to find out. I presume the men's room still looked something like this.
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| 1 2 3 4 . . . How many cameras are in this store? . . . I know you're stealing! |
Turning around, we also find the cashier counter right where I'd expect it to be. This picture also makes something else clear: this store had lots of cameras. More on that later.
But first, we'll turn on fish mode and swim on over to the seemingly spacious center aisle. From this angle, it looks like all of the original drink coolers have remained in place.
As has the creepy hallway used to access the back of the drink coolers and back-office space. (This space is much less creepy in Bradfordville.)
Popping over to the other side, we see that the old wine fridge has given way to a different cold beverage, while the old snack and frozen food nooks are now home to soft drinks and coffee. The former beverage island has also been removed in favor of space for more cases of beer.
Now, with our second to last interior photo comes story time. Seconds after I snapped this pic looking toward the old garden center and dining nook, a lady approached me and asked, "Are you with the distributor?" and I replied, "No."
At this point, I knew I had been busted and had no escape ramp like I did at Nam Dae Muntain, so I did my best to diffuse the situation.
She then asked something along the lines of, "Then why are you taking pictures?" and I quickly thought back to what I did several months earlier to get out of this predicament: tell the truth. It worked surprisingly well that time, so why not try it again!
I quickly and calmly replied something along the lines of, "Have you ever heard of Sing Oil Company? I have a blog online that documents the history of former Sing Stores and explores how they look today. This happens to be Sing's former location in Columbia and was built in the mid-1980's."
I can't exactly remember what happened after that, but I know she mostly grumbled as she walked back behind the counter and didn't say much else. The shock value of the sheer randomness of what I had just told her seemed to do the trick!
To add a cherry on top, I walked over to the counter to make my purchase as she stood confused in front of this extensive display of Kratom. I remember saying, "Ooh, look at that vintage orange tile. Can I take a picture of it?" I think she just gave me the side-eye as I raised my phone and snapped this image.
And that was that. The Sing Oil Sidekick paid for his drink, and the two of us made our way out of the store unharmed and just slightly shaken (not stirred). The adrenaline definitely kicked in the second she confronted me, but I was somehow able to remain composed while even throwing an extra punch with the photo of the old Sing deli tile. I'll just say that once we were in the car, neither the S.O.S. nor the S.O.B. wanted to hang around Columbia much longer . . . That's also why this post has sat on ice for a while, and why some of my subsequent convenience store photo journeys have turned out a bit less visually appealing. But hey, I've only been confronted one time since then when I was being a bit bolder in my documentation of a Winn-Dated. It's all just part of the game, and thankfully, I don't have to be afraid of telling the truth.
As for the content of the photo itself, we find the transition from the Krispy Krunchy Chicken prep area to the space behind the cashier counter. While we of course know that the bold orange tile is original, I also see a vintage cutting board (under piles of junk) that is mounted to the orange Formica countertops. The only other place I've seen one of these was in LaGrange #5, and I didn't even notice this one until I was writing the post!
Despite the unexpected surprise, I'd say that my Fall 2022 trip to South Mississippi was very fruitful with regard to the number of Sing relics I uncovered. We remember that Bogalusa was likely the best-preserved Sing I've ever seen, while Columbia held its own compared to others like Laurel or LaGrange #4.
The only thing that would have made this better is if the store had retained its 1990's Amoco livery long enough for me to witness it in person. I have no idea when the exterior of this store was remodeled, but I know I was personally shocked when I first found this station during my 2019 research stint.
I'm still just amazed that the Amoco branding lasted long enough for a Google Street View car to capture it in 2009. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any images of this station from the time between 2009 and 2022. If you uncover any, I'd love for you to send them my way!
Speaking of the '90s lasting longer than they should have, just take a look at this snapshot from the Marion County tax appraiser's office:
I've seen a lot, but I have yet to come across another property sketch that was constructed using colons, periods, and backslashes. I suppose it works, despite lacking any sort of dimensional accuracy . . .
Let's take a look at some aerial shots before heading east on Highway 98 to our next destination.
Aerial Views
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Historic Aerials - 1981 Future site of the Columbia Sing Store |
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Google Earth - 1996 Amoco station with original Sing canopy |
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Google Earth - 2019 A&H Pit Stop as it stands today |
Additional Resources:
Marion County Property Records
Le Dirtbertsons
Welcome to the More Than Convenience portion of today's post, sponsored by the Dirt Cheap Chicken.
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| Courtesy Dirt Cheap |
"The DCC wants you to have a cluckin' fun time with the S.O.B., that's why he has sponsored today's post. Get ready to take flight with today's adventure! While we may only scratch the surface of this Treasure Hunt, rest assured that somebody will crow about it in much more retail one day 👀. Now that the easy part is done, let's ruffle some feathers and bark like a dog, because it is about to get rrrrough."
Dirt Cheap #47
Cloverleaf Center
Hattiesburg, MS 39401
Updated: April 26, 2024 | Original Publication: April 20, 2024
Named for the cloverleaf intersection out front, our next destination is Cloverleaf Center (née Cloverleaf Mall) which is situated just to the Southwest of downtown Hattiesburg. I'd imagine the interchange of US Highways 11 & 49 served as the primary commercial district for the region when the mall was constructed, especially since the I-59 corridor had just been completed and was still several miles out from the city.
I made my trek to the cloverleaf back in October 2022, and have to say that the area has certainly seen better days. Most of Hattiesburg's commercial district has migrated to US 98 just west of the Interstate, leaving behind a bit of a void that will come into play later.
I also wasn't alone in my desire to visit this former supermarket, as Retail Retell himself traveled to H-burg in July 2022 to document the area. I graciously appreciate all of the photos he contributed to this post considering how I wasn't compelled to take many of my own.
That's enough fluff, who is ready for some meat (or, more specifically, lobster)? While exploring the 'burg, I noticed a few other sights of interest, one of which was the local Red Lobster restaurant.
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| Red Lobster - Hattiesburg, MS - October 2022 |
I've only dined at The Dead Lobster once in my life, but I quickly noticed how this restaurant had still maintained its circa 1995 logo which was phased out in 2011. Does anyone agree that this signage looks much classier than the modern version?
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| Red Lobster - Meridian, MS - April 2022 |
Probably the only reason I took note of the Hattiesburg location is because I saw signage of the same vintage as it was removed from the Meridian restaurant. I often don't pay attention to things until I see them disappear, and this Red Lobster sign is the perfect example. Interestingly, Meridian still has the old logo on the restaurant per this Google Street View.
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| Amoco sign - Hattiesburg, MS - October 2022 |
Our last stop on the vintage express is this old Amoco sign still standing proud outside a Texaco on Hattiesburg's north end. I've only seen one other example of this era of sign remain in place over the last decade, so I figured it was worth noting on an oil company blog!
The thing I enjoy most about covering small news markets is that they always have extensive coverage of new businesses in town – especially when those businesses are also new to the region. Albertsons #2785 fit the mold perfectly for The Hattiesburg American, so buckle up folks, because we have a lot of newspapers to read!
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| The Hattiesburg American (Newspapers.com) - August 4, 1998 |
In 1998, the 62,000 sq ft Albertsons opened as the third anchor of Cloverleaf Mall and was joined soon after by JoAnn Fabrics, and a new OfficeMax outparcel. Across Highway 49, a Super Walmart and new Sonic also opened that summer.
The new stores were part of a revitalization effort to "de-mall" the complex which began when the complex lost three anchors, McRae's, J.C. Penny, and Sears, to US 98's shiny new Turtle Creek Mall in 1994. Cloverleaf pivoted toward being a discount center, attracting Stein Mart, Hudson’s Treasure Hunt, Big Lots, and Apple Dollar Store before the new grocer signed on.
Preparations began as an old Jitney Jungle outparcel was torn down to provide better visibility for the new Stein Mart, while Albertsons demolished most of the old Sears building to construct the new supermarket. Now, only the south façade of the circa 1969 department store remained for several smaller shops. We can see the piece of the old Sears, which was left behind in the photo above, and the building unsurprisingly looks the same in 2024. The rest of the mall tenants were less picky and seemingly took up residence in the former palaces of retailers past.
Speaking of Hudson's Treasure Hunt, that chain is now better known as Dirt Cheap, and is one of the few remaining tenants to have stuck around since the revitalization. The current "regular" Dirt Cheap store (formerly branded as Hudson's Treasure Hunt) at Cloverleaf Mall also serves as the chain's de facto flagship considering how it is likely the oldest and largest store in the chain. (Just because the store had a few old Publix shopping carts when I visited doesn't mean it was very clean or organized, though.)
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| The Hattiesburg American (Newspapers.com) - January 25, 1999 |
All of the news articles I read mention how Albertsons was bringing a revival to the dying retail corridor since it was pouring a notable investment into the area. Estimates say that the Idaho grocer spent roughly $3 million on the new building, which brought all sorts of fanfare along with it.
I've also noticed that this newspaper enjoyed publishing unflattering candid photos of the people it interviewed: just take a look at the picture of Mr. Parker above and Mrs. Harris below.
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| The Hattiesburg American (Newspapers.com) - January 25, 1999 |
"We sell Seiko watches, film developing, videos, tapes. We'll have an on-duty florist from about 10 o'clock in the morning until 7 at night. We'll have an on-site cosmetician to explain the different cosmetics we carry. We even have a cologne bar with a lot of the national brands." That's quite the assortment of merchandise, and I'm still to this day surprised that a supermarket could be profitable while stocking high-dollar items such as watches and cologne.
With such a large new store, customers needed to be able to navigate their way through the maze of aisles. To solve that, an Albertsons representative mentioned that “We have what we call destination categories . . . You'll see a big chip bowl hanging from the ceiling and that’s where you'll find all the snacks. The Pet Center sign is always revolving and we actually have ice cream for dogs." I'm not sure who bought ice cream for dogs, either, but I guess Rufus would like that better than the bag of "Field Trial" back at the Columbia Sing.
If doggie ice cream isn't your thing, this store still had "Quick Fixing Meal ideas, or QFM, are located near the front of the store. Created in 1996, QFM features the ingredients for weekly recipe ideas that can be made in 30 minutes or less." – that sounds a lot like Publix' circa 2001 Aprons Simple Meals to me!
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| The Hattiesburg American (Newspapers.com) - January 28, 1999 |
Albertsons #2785 officially held its grand opening on Wednesday, January 27, 1999, and the first day seemed to be a success. Noting the grocery palace décor, local clinic manager DeeDee Davis mentioned, "I like the way it's set up . . . For the sodas, they've got the display up top where it’s easy to locate."
Just as this store opened, the rest of the front page of The American was covered with news discussing the President Clinton impeachment trial. The new developments from day 13 were that the senate voted 56-44 not to dismiss the charges, which also meant it lacked the numbers to remove him from office. It's also worth noting that the senate subpoenaed three witnesses to testify, one of which was Monica Lewinsky.
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Courtesy Retail Retell (Originally from LoopNet) - Aerial view of Cloverleaf Mall circa 2000
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Note that the OfficeMax remains open, the new Rite Aid has been
constructed, the former Jitney Jungle parcel (between Rite Aid and Stein
Mart) is still a patch of dirt, the former Sears Auto Center remains,
and that the Sack and Save across the street has already been vacated.
A while back, Retail Retell dug up this neat aerial photo from an old LoopNet listing and shared it on his own page discussing this store. What he didn't realize, and I didn't catch initially, is that the image shows a small Albertsons Express fuel canopy in the Northwest corner of the parcel.
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| The Hattiesburg American (Newspapers.com) - May 3, 2000 |
The three pump fuel center and 90 square foot payment kiosk opened just over a year after the main supermarket on May 3, 2000. It's amazing to think that #2785 was already halfway through its short life by the time the miniature gas station opened for business, which goes to show that the Idaho-based chain had not lost all hope on the venture at that point.
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| The Hattiesburg American (Newspapers.com) - May 20, 2001 |
A year later, the only known closeup photo was published in The American as part of an article mentioning how the outlet had some of the cheapest gas in town. Maybe that was a last-ditch effort to draw in customers? Regardless, all I know is that the fuel center was so short lived that it had already been demolished by the time Google Earth's next satellite imagery was captured on August 24, 2004.
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| The Hattiesburg American (Newspapers.com) - December 7, 2001 |
Unfortunately, the Albertsons supermarket would only last a hair under three years. This store’s closure was announced in the summer of 2001 along with that of 164 other locations, with its final day of operation being December 6th; this left eight remaining Albertsons in Mississippi. The center also lost its OfficeMax store in the same year, and JoAnn Fabrics would close in May 2002. Mall management went on to claim that the shutterings were simply coincidental and had no reflection on the desirability of the location. They went on to say that despite the closures, Bruke's Outlet was brought on as a tenant during that same period.
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| Courtesy hattiesburmemory (Flickr) - February 21, 2009 |
More specifically, management said that Albertsons didn't promote the store well enough and that residents weren't familiar with the company. A University of Southern Mississippi professor went on to say that Hattiesburg's demographics likely made it hard for Albertsons, a mid-tier store, to compete against more budget conscious options. George Carter said, "What killed that store in my judgement is that very few people shopped there." I think that may be the ticket.
Despite a lack of foot traffic in Hattiesburg, the larger Albertsons chain was going through financial troubles of its own to start of The New Millennium. Some of the troubles that aided to expedite this closure are said to be linked to Albertsons' 1999 acquisition of American Stores, which included brands such as Acme and Jewel. That purchase produced a whole lot of debt, and the company seemingly wasn't prepared to deal with it all. It wasn't long before the rest of the Mid-South stores went down with this one.
Update: I want to thank Retail Retell for reminding me of some additional information regarding this store in his comment below. I have since updated the post with a few additional pictures and links, like this one to his own Flickr post on the store.
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| The Hattiesburg American (Newspapers.com) - May 3, 2002 |
"Who says you can’t get a deal at Albertsons even when the store is closed?" That's how The American approached the subject, saying that despite groceries being taken off the shelf, the site of the old Albertsons still had plenty of savings for area citizens.
Hattiesburg resident Ray Sims purchased the store & parking lot, which were valued at an estimated $7.5 million, for a cool $1 million at auction. He didn’t know what he intended to do with the space, but the sole bidder figured it would be a wise investment. The article goes on to mention that the store’s fixtures, freezers, and shelving were also included in the deal – as well as $83,472 in tax debt to local governments.
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| The Hattiesburg American (Newspapers.com) - May 3, 2002 |
In the end, Sims was right, because it turns out that the former Albertsons didn't stay vacant for long. In November 2002, the University of Southern Mississippi purchased the former Albertsons for $1.2 million in hopes of using the space for new nursing school classrooms. I'd say that wasn't a bad deal to make 200 grand over the course of six months, would you?
While the school was looking for funding, Hudson's Treasure Hunt on the other side of the mall was looking for space to house a temporary furniture liquidation sale. The old Albertsons seemed like a natural fit. In August 2004, Hudson's Treasure Hunt signed a $10,000/month lease with Southern Miss to house the temporary store for two months with the option to extend. Like we saw before, this move was heavily advertised in the local newspapers.
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| The Hattiesburg American (Newspapers.com) - October 27, 2004 |
But wait, there's more! At first glance, I saw this ad and thought it looked like one for any other discount furniture store; then I zoomed in.
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| The Hattiesburg American (Newspapers.com) - October 27, 2004 |
Upon closer inspection, I realized that all of the Albertsons décor was still in place! Even the Albertsons logos! Right now, we would be standing in the back third of the store looking toward the packaged bread alcove between the bakery counter and the International Deli. What's even better is how the floor tiles remained in place!
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| The Hattiesburg American (Newspapers.com) - October 27, 2004 |
The next thing that caught my eye was this living room display adorned by a curvy soffit for Fresh Dairy & Frozen Foods. We can even see the old dairy barn in the distance! Now that's a furniture store I'd bet even The Albertsons Florida Blogger would walk into!
I guess this all makes sense considering how the lease was only designed to be temporary. After all, why bother changing things when the lessee will be out of the space in a matter of months?
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| The Hattiesburg American (Newspapers.com) - January 9, 2005 |
Well, they weren't. By 2005, the furniture prices may have decreased, but the fun sure didn't. Hudson's decided to continue the fun into the new year and ran new ads in The American which, of course, included plenty of additional pictures.
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| The Hattiesburg American (Newspapers.com) - January 9, 2005 |
How would you like to buy your next piece of office furniture sitting atop confetti adorned flooring and under a giant basket of snacks?
I suppose that the Treasure Hunt furniture sale wrapped up in the months following this ad, but it was still noted in the newspapers how the plans for a new nursing school had yet to materialize by May 2005. The college needed to raise an additional $6-8 million dollars to renovate the space and wasn't entirely sure of where to pull the funding from.
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| The Hattiesburg American (Newspapers.com) - September 18, 2005 |
Many of you will also remember another 2005 headline: Hurricane Katrina. The super storm cost the Gulf Coast hundreds of billions of dollars in damage and took thousands of lives along its path of destruction.
Since many Dirt Cheap and Treasure Hunt stores were located in the areas hardest hit, several of them had to close for repairs including the flagship Hattiesburg store. Hudson's didn't want to be without this location while the extensive roof repairs were being performed, so it once again looked across the mall at a familiar site.
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| The Hattiesburg American (Newspapers.com) - September 21, 2005 |
As if things couldn't get any more confusing, Hudson's announced it was moving its main Treasure Hunt store to the old Albertsons space following Hurricane Katrina – temporarily. It appears that once the building across the mall was spruced up, Hudson's flew back home, and the former supermarket was once again a revolving door for consignment sales (September 2007) and furniture blowouts (December 2008).
I guess the university was never able to secure adequate funding for the nursing school project because the state officially listed the property for sale in March 2008. CCM Capital Assets, LLC, a subsidiary of Dirt Cheap, purchased the property in October 2010 and continues to own it, along with the other mall store it purchased in January 2006, to this day. The purchase makes sense considering how the Hudson's family of stores had been the only consistent tenants for the past decade!
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| The Hattiesburg American (Newspapers.com) - June 24, 2010 - Page 2 |
With the new location also came some new drama. Around the time of the Albertsons parcel purchase, Hudson's Treasure Hunt and Hudson's Dirt Cheap decided to drop the surname in attempt to distance the brands from any particular person (presumably some of the founders who were no longer with the company).
Around this time, state senator and former Hudson's Treasure Hunt / Hudson's Dirt Cheap CEO Billy Hudson decided to launch a new, unrelated retail venture called Hudson's Outlet. Let's just say that Treasure Hunt / Dirt Cheap wasn't thrilled by the move, considering how Billy had sold his shares in the company to Channel Control Merchants, LLC (CCM) all the way back in 1997, and decided to take action against the new competitor.
The Dirt Cheap parent company sued Hudson's Outlet following the opening of its Hattiesburg location which kicked off a flurry of lawsuits between the two salvage companies. There was some bad blood. The article goes on to say that the Hattiesburg Treasure Hunt and Dirt Cheap stores readopted the Hudson's name several months after the initial summer 2010 drop. That didn't last long!
I didn't have time to follow the whole saga, but it seems that CCM came out on top considering how Hudson's Outlet (now Hudson's Salvage) only has one store remaining despite the website still claiming locations in Magee and Laurel.
CCM also isn't as large as it once was, but continues to operate 7 Dirt Cheap Building Supplies stores (Bossier City & Hammond, LA, Hattiesburg, Lucedale, & Ridgeland, MS, Jacksonville, AR, and Pensacola, FL), one Treasure Hunt (Gulfport, MS), and 66 "regular" Dirt Cheap stores sprinkled across the Southeast. This is significantly scaled back from the roughly 100 locations it had back in 2021.
Now that we have all of the dirt on this store, let's take a look at what may be left behind . . .
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| Courtesy Retail Retell |
Well, the front of the place certainly still looks like a Grocery Palace Albertsons; it even boasts all of the defining features of the Grocery Palace interior: flooring, lighting, and paint!
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| Courtesy Retail Retell |
Turning to the right, I'm inclined to believe that this store still has a little bit of Soul despite having Walmart buggies parked in the cart corral. We can also see a piece of the old Sears building off in the distance.
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| Courtesy Retail Retell |
Is it just me, or does the street number alignment on that window bother anyone else? It also looks like Dirt Cheap opted to replace Albertsons' old swinging doors with manual ones.
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| Courtesy Retail Retell |
Doesn't this store look rough? Once inside, we can see that much of the store's front end was ripped out to reveal the old cart vestibule windows. We previously would have seen the old video rental shop and Trustmark Bank branch off to the left, and the pharmacy box was directly in front of us.
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| Courtesy Retail Retell |
Likewise, the old Albertsons Reading Center appears to just be a shadow of its former shelf. At least we can see some of the diagonal scarring from the long-gone tile that was in front of the deli!
Does anybody know what those grey banners are that are hanging behind the warehouse shelving?
Refrigerators have taken up residence in what would have been the old Snack Central and seemingly decided to kick out the giant junk food bucket. At least we get more natural light as a consolation. I'm not sure that makes up for the scarred, unpolished concrete.
Speaking of scarred concrete, this design can only mean one thing: we are standing in the midst of the old bakery! This store's departmental layout may not be as obvious as the Pinson Winn-Thriftie, but at least the ugly concrete helps give a few clues. Further off in the distance would have been the old meat and seafood counter under the lower ceiling; the only reason that structure was preserved is because it still houses a machine room with all sorts of air conditioner equipment. Albertsons was a big fan of these mezzanine-level machine rooms because even the older #4413 in Fort Myers had a nearly identical mechanical configuration over the dairy coolers.
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| Courtesy Retail Retell |
While Retail Retell took far more pictures of this place than I did, I find it interesting how neither of us photographed the back left corner of the store (Albertsons' old produce department). That section either looked extremely boring or had bulk construction crates of items scattered around which weren't very photogenic.
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| Courtesy Retail Retell |
We'll next jump back to the front half of the store and take a look toward the old pet corner. If this were a Publixsons, we'd be looking down a line of registers toward the freezers, but since it's not, we only see 10¢ caulk tubes and some above-toilet cabinetry.
Some things may change, but others just stay the same. By the time I made it to the Dirtbertsons in October, the stone countertops were still in place; however, the toilet cabinets had given way to ceiling fans (does that mean the sh*tter hit the fan?) and the void to Retail Retell's right now offers faucet displays for sale. I know there are buyers for all sorts of things, but I'd earnestly love to know who would buy a faucet shell that is mounted to a piece of plexiglass.
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| Courtesy Retail Retell |
Now we find something that this store needs more of yet lacks a shortage of – flooring. If only some of this was actually on the floor . . .
This shot also gives us a nice head-on look at the old seafood counter, and how the HVAC unit was either decommissioned or is now just dumping air directly onto the sales floor slab.
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| Courtesy Retail Retell |
Well, at least I can quench AFB's curiosity as to why the Walmart Neighborhood Market in this post retained the old meat counter structure: Walmart didn't really have a choice.
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| Courtesy Retail Retell |
Flipping back to the front of the store, we find traces of the old dairy tile design on the desolate side of the flooring aisle. It's also worth noting how the light fixtures on the left side of the ceiling are different than those on the right since this store now lacks a curvy soffit.
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| Courtesy Retail Retell |
It wouldn't be a Dirt Cheap without a testing table! Granted, I'm not sure how many unboxed, test worthy items a Dirt Cheap Building Supplies offers. I've certainly taken advantage of one of these in a regular Dirt Cheap, though, because you never know what condition that returned speaker you picked up is going to be in!
Oh, and the reason Retail Retell took this shot is to highlight the old Albertsons paneling which lines the emergency exit hallway in the front right corner. Don't those dropped ceiling tiles look nice as well?
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| Courtesy Retail Retell |
Even a Dirtbertsons couldn't escape "The Internet's Most Famous Aisle". I guess it wouldn't be true Dirt Cheap without some half-opened boxes and a true Retail Retell post without an aisle 12 photo!
Turn around, every now and then I get a little bit tired, and I don't know what to say anymore.
Turn around, every now and then I start to quote random songs when I am all out of ideas.
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| Courtesy Retail Retell |
I finally found the dump bins!
It's honestly surprising to see this many unopened packages in a Dirt Cheap and to see everything this well-organized. Maybe Anonymous in Houston will be impressed? (Hah, who am I kidding!) At least he can still have some solace in the fact that this used to be a Houston Division Albertsons store!
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| Courtesy Retail Retell |
Well, I'd say that the overall feel of this store when it comes to Albertsons relics was . . . yawn . . . boring. Maybe that's why I only took six pictures? The thing is . . .
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| Courtesy Retail Retell |
. . . I missed a key find that Retail Retell picked up on: the bathroom tile.
As you've probably seen, I haven't been afraid to photograph a restroom tile pattern so long as the space was empty, but the thought never even crossed my mind to peep around the corner and see what may have been left behind here.
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| Courtesy Retail Retell |
Thankfully, Retail Retell did and found that the old Albertsons tile remains completely intact in the Men's room . . .
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| Courtesy Retail Retell |
. . . and in the women's room across the hall. At least that, along with the shards of paneling, can serve as a small reminder of this store's former, much classier, past life (Although, I'm sure it would have been much classier if the school had taken over).
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| Courtesy Retail Retell |
All in all, I think this space would have looked much better if Dirt Cheap had taken the Spirit Halloween approach rather than making the building look dirt cheap by ripping everything out.
At least the "Y" signpost facing Highway 49 stuck around, as shown by my poorly framed shot.
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| Courtesy Retail Retell |
Wow, it's almost as if the Heavens were shining down upon the sign when Retail Retell took his photo – why did my have to turn out so ratty?!
Anyway, that will conclude today's journey through South Mississippi, so I hope you enjoyed the ride. I'd like to give a big "thanks" to Retail Retell for contributing to this post and to the Sing Oil Sidekick for being with me through the Columbia incident. Make sure to check back in two weeks to see what else I've gotten myself into and if you want to see more examples of Grocery Palace in full color, check out Mike from HHR's post on a Houston Food Town, or of course one of the several posts on The Albertsons Florida Blog, or the table of Mississippi Albertsons stores he compiled a while back.
Until then,
- The Sing Oil Blogger
