Search found 689 matches

by Andrew T.
03 Mar 2008 15:55
Forum: History: USA Mid-Atlantic
Topic: Former A&P, Smith St., Charleston, WV
Replies: 0
Views: 2754

Former A&P, Smith St., Charleston, WV

This photo appeared in a local paper today, and I couldn't resist sharing it here: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/andrewt3660/smithststore.jpg The corresponding article described it as a "former A&P and Fas-Chek" (the latter being a local chain), which certainly makes sense. I'...
by Andrew T.
03 Mar 2008 15:47
Forum: History: Miscellaneous and Not Region-Specific
Topic: Kroger Family Centers
Replies: 126
Views: 87975

Re: Kroger Family Centers

Looking at the Kroger gallery on this site, I noticed the same architecture on Sterling, IL, altered using a greenhouse era exterior sign. I'm assuming the store has downsized and no longer uses the full footprint. Kroger's website lists hours of operation 6 am to 11 pm, and does not have a pharmac...
by Andrew T.
25 Dec 2007 00:52
Forum: History: Miscellaneous and Not Region-Specific
Topic: Chains with two stores very close to each other
Replies: 30
Views: 20354

Re: Chains with two stores very close to each other

In Princeton, WV, there was once a Kroger superstore with a SupeRx implemented in the building design. Next door to it was (and is) located another small shopping center (the "Stafford Plaza"), with a Roses department store and an Eckerd pharmacy. Kroger moved to a larger location down the...
by Andrew T.
09 Dec 2007 01:16
Forum: History: Specialty Retail Chains
Topic: RIP CompUSA 1984-2008
Replies: 16
Views: 9421

I can't help but feel a little sorry to see a retail establishment go: I have fond memories of their catalog and of visiting their Novi, Michigan location back in the early '90s when all the computers on display were running DOS and Windows 3.1. It was impressive! That said, the chain definitely los...
by Andrew T.
01 Nov 2007 12:40
Forum: History: USA Mid-Atlantic
Topic: A VA/WV-area Acme Markets chain?
Replies: 34
Views: 30450

So that's the explanation for this local, otherwise little-known chain! Wow, all of a sudden everything makes sense. I hadn't fully put the connection between Acme, Allen's, Grant's, and Big A together before, or known that they started shuffling around the brands quite a few years before I thought ...
by Andrew T.
31 Oct 2007 10:43
Forum: History: USA Mid-Atlantic
Topic: A VA/WV-area Acme Markets chain?
Replies: 34
Views: 30450

How confusing! If fascinating...
by Andrew T.
30 Oct 2007 00:00
Forum: History: USA Mid-Atlantic
Topic: A VA/WV-area Acme Markets chain?
Replies: 34
Views: 30450

Hi krogerclerk, Wytheville, Virginia is just south of where I live, so I'm sure it would have been the same chain. I actually didn't think to make the connection to the other Acme company of Road Runner fame at the time, although I did think of it as an odd name for a store! Here's their '90s era lo...
by Andrew T.
29 Oct 2007 15:44
Forum: History: Miscellaneous and Not Region-Specific
Topic: 1970s and 1980s Kroger store layouts
Replies: 5
Views: 12824

There's another greenhouse layout that, oddly, has a solid wall separating produce from the rest of the store. The wall ends near the back of the store to traffic allow circulation and stops short of the front but effectively separates produce from everything else. I've only seen it in a few stores...
by Andrew T.
29 Oct 2007 15:29
Forum: History: USA Mid-Atlantic
Topic: A VA/WV-area Acme Markets chain?
Replies: 34
Views: 30450

A VA/WV-area Acme Markets chain?

Is anyone familiar with the background on a grocery chain in the southwest Virginia/southern West Virginia area called Acme Markets? I believe this was a different Acme from the Ohio- or Pennsylvania-based chains of the same name. Speaking firsthand, I wasn't familiar with Acme until the early '90s,...
by Andrew T.
26 Oct 2007 01:54
Forum: History: Miscellaneous and Not Region-Specific
Topic: 1970s and 1980s Kroger store layouts
Replies: 5
Views: 12824

1970s and 1980s Kroger store layouts

Kroger, I've noticed, tended to follow a pretty standard interior layout for its superstores in the 1970s. Practically every store of this vintage I've seen was arranged in this fashion, more or less: http://www.andrew-turnbull.net/kroger70slayout.png In the greenhouse era of construction, they esse...
by Andrew T.
24 Oct 2007 01:28
Forum: History: Miscellaneous and Not Region-Specific
Topic: 1970s superstore-era Kroger store interiors?
Replies: 14
Views: 11901

Well, in a way I answered my own question. In a bit of random searching, I came across a treasure trove of Kroger store images on a Portage, Michigan library website; some dating back to 1960. Lo and behold, there were some interior shots of a Kroger superstore as it appeared upon opening in 1973; s...
by Andrew T.
22 Oct 2007 22:42
Forum: History: Miscellaneous and Not Region-Specific
Topic: 1970s superstore-era Kroger store interiors?
Replies: 14
Views: 11901

Wow, thanks! That's a lot of detail. Would you happen to know what the wall signs looked like? A very interesting-sounding store interior package, in any case. I wish I could see a picture of it! The "pergola structures" sound relatively similar to what was hung over the flower section in ...
by Andrew T.
22 Oct 2007 22:32
Forum: History: Miscellaneous and Not Region-Specific
Topic: Number plates on shopping carts
Replies: 10
Views: 6461

The local Kroger store has toyed around with number plates on shopping carts off and on since the 1980s at least: Originally flat plastic blue-on-white affairs, then later black-on-white embossed plates similar to the one at the top of the thread. Nowadays, they seem to have largely given up on the ...
by Andrew T.
22 Oct 2007 17:36
Forum: History: Miscellaneous and Not Region-Specific
Topic: 1970s superstore-era Kroger store interiors?
Replies: 14
Views: 11901

1970s superstore-era Kroger store interiors?

Kroger is by far the most dominant supermarket chain in my neck of the woods, so naturally I've become well-acquainted with their store styles over the years. I've long been curious what the Kroger's interior wall graphics prior to the "greenhouse" era were like, however. All still-extant ...