Kroger Family Centers

[krogerclerk]

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 pharmacy. This would be the closest store to the Quad-Cities, were Hy-Vee and Jewel-Osco are dominant and Eagle was based.

Also, Harvey's Supermarket(Delhaize, parent of Food Lion) on 2310 North Slappey Boulevard Albany, GA began life as a Kroger Family Center according to a long-time Kroger employee. This was the first Kroger in Albany, opening around 1972, just after closing Columbus area Kroger's. The other location in Albany on Sylvester Road, was a more common greenhouse design from 1982. Both locations were closed in 1986, sold to Piggly Wiggly Southern, eventually becoming a Bruno's format- Food Fair for Sylvester Road and FoodMax for the old Family Center. Bruno's then sold the pair to Harvey's, pre-Delhaize in the mid-90's.

[Andrew T.]

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 pharmacy. This would be the closest store to the Quad-Cities, were Hy-Vee and Jewel-Osco are dominant and Eagle was based.

I had been curious about that photo: Not being familiar with the Family Center concept, I just assumed that it was a non-Kroger store that the chain later took over. This thread answered a lot of questions.

I do agree that the architecture does seem to forshadow the superstores of a few years later...though some details (particularly the tapered T-shaped supports in front of the entrances) seem particularly evocative of the late 1960s...

[Edric Floyd]

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 pharmacy. This would be the closest store to the Quad-Cities, were Hy-Vee and Jewel-Osco are dominant and Eagle was based.

Also, Harvey's Supermarket(Delhaize, parent of Food Lion) on 2310 North Slappey Boulevard Albany, GA began life as a Kroger Family Center according to a long-time Kroger employee. This was the first Kroger in Albany, opening around 1972, just after closing Columbus area Kroger's. The other location in Albany on Sylvester Road, was a more common greenhouse design from 1982. Both locations were closed in 1986, sold to Piggly Wiggly Southern, eventually becoming a Bruno's format- Food Fair for Sylvester Road and FoodMax for the old Family Center. Bruno's then sold the pair to Harvey's, pre-Delhaize in the mid-90's.

The Sylvester Road Harvey's is still open, this former Kroger also had a separate drug store located to the left and was incorporated into the greenhouse design. (had its own "greenhouse" entrance) It is the only "greenhouse" Kroger I have seen with this addition here in Georgia. I have photos of it and will post them when I have time.

The drug store at the Sylvester Road location was most recently a Rite-Aid. This Rite-Aid store closed after the Eckerd/Rite-Aid merger. There is a larger Rite-Aid (former Eckerd) on East Oglethorpe Blvd a few blocks to the west of this former greenhouse.

The exterior of this store is very intact. The drug store portion is vacant.

The north Slappey Blvd store is one of THREE Harvey's markets on this street. You can drive to each of these stores in under 10 minutes depending on traffic lights. There are 6 Harvey's markets remaining in the city. Each of them were formerly something else. the South Slappey (at Gordon Ave) definitely looks like a former Piggly Wiggly Southern/Foodmax. The one at the corners of Slappey at Gillionville Rd/Dawson Road (I think this is the 100 or 200 block of North Slappey Blvd) is a small Harvey's grocery store. I have always wondered what this was prior to Harveys. The 2300 North Slappey location appears small to have been a Kroger Family center as they have been described by others. It does show its age. Harvey's is basically a "hometown" supermarket to Albany, with its headquarters about 50 miles away in the town of Nashville Georgia. The "headquarters" is still in Nashville (south of Tifton)

I do remember the local TV in Albany made a huge deal of the passing of Joe Harvey (the chain's founder) a couple years ago. Appearantly, he had some famous local TV commercials and was a well liked person in the community for decades before he sold his company.

I might add there is a Harvey's on Dawson Road in North Albany in a former K-mart food location, the K-mart itself along with this store are pretty much as they were in their 1970's vintage (except for sinage). Harvey's stores are in former Piggly Wiggly, A&P, Winn-Dixie, Big Star and Colonial and Food Lion stores. I don't think Harvey's ever built stores of their own pre Delhaize. Also the Central, South and Southwest Georgia Food Lion stores were converted to Harveys after the Delhaize buyout except for the four remaining Food Lion stores in the Macon/Warner Robins area. Only recently have there been completely NEW construction Harvey's locations built. These are replacing very tiny older stores in small communities all around Georgia.

(back on topic..Kroger)

I work in the Albany area several times a month and I can post photos of any of these (former Kroger) stores sometime soon.

Does anyone know of any other Kroger locations in Albany Georgia? I was told by someone that there was one on Dawson road as well. And I have questions about a former Supermarket that's now a fitness club in the shopping center at the corner of Westover Blvd and OLD Dawson Road.

[krogerclerk]

To my knowledge, Slappey Boulevard was the first Kroger in Albany.
I've seen the Sylvester Road store as Kroger and Piggly Wiggly, but not since becoming Harvey's. I know of two other "dual greenhouse" Kroger/SuperX locations in Georgia-a closed store on the corner of Jimmy Carter Blvd and Lawrenceville Highway at the Gwinnett/DeKalb county line in a center that also once house a Richway. The SuperX became an Eckerd and the Kroger relocated closer to Norcross while the Richway became Target and was essentially replaced by the Stone Mountain SuperTarget.

The other location is still operating, Cleveland Highway in Dalton, but an expansion of the store into the former SuperX space eliminated the dual greenhouse . Opelika, AL was the most recent operating Kroger dual greenhouse location. The SuperX stayed open as a Kroger Drug Store. This location closed in 2006, and was located near downtown along US 29. The relocation is along US 431 near the I-85 interchange and is the closest operating Kroger to Columbus. The vacant store should still be fairly intact.

Kroger closed in Albany sometime in the 1986-88 timeframe, selling to Piggly Wiggly Southern. The store employees took a non-sanctioned strike and Kroger closed the stores. I believe Kroger was offering a contract specific to only the two Albany stores that had different pay/benefit clauses than the previous Atlanta area contract, but I don't know the specifics. It was the era in which Kroger exited markets it didn't rank #1 or #2 in market share, including St. Louis, Cleveland/Northeast Ohio and Pittsburgh.

Moving off topic, an A&P Family Mart was in the same general area, and I wonder if it wasn't mistakenly id'd as the Kroger Family Center. I think the A&P closed around 97-98, just prior the closing of the Atlanta A&P division.

[h8wlmt]

Add Paducah, KY as having a Kroger Family Center. Currently Paduch has 3 Kroger locations and is operated out of the Delta(Memphis) division. The store was fairly large and opened around 1972 or 1973 just as the Kroger superstore format was being rolled out. I knew I had seen a Kroger Family Center away from its Gulf coast concentration and finally recalled the location. It closed as a Kroger sometime in the mid-80's and not having been to Paducah in quite sometime don't know the status.

Do you have any idea of the address? I would love to visit the former store, it's much closer to me than Texas.

As stated, Paducah has three stores. The a Superstore, a Greenhouse, and an early former Schnucks. All of the stores are in poor shape but the former Schnucks looked like it was preparing for a remodel when I was in there about two months ago. The former Schnucks is probably the largest followed closely by the greenhouse, but none of the three are even close to the requisite 65k SqFt.

Also, I've heard of a former Kroger in Cape Girardeau, Mo that had quite a selection of furniture and apparel. I'm thinking that this was likely a Sav-On prototype for the St. Louis division but, based on conversation with some "locals", it also seems like it could have been a Kroger Family Center. Anyone know about this store?

** Never mind about the Cape Girardeau comment. Information for those curious can be found here.

[Edric Floyd]

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 pharmacy. This would be the closest store to the Quad-Cities, were Hy-Vee and Jewel-Osco are dominant and Eagle was based.

Also, Harvey's Supermarket(Delhaize, parent of Food Lion) on 2310 North Slappey Boulevard Albany, GA began life as a Kroger Family Center according to a long-time Kroger employee. This was the first Kroger in Albany, opening around 1972, just after closing Columbus area Kroger's. The other location in Albany on Sylvester Road, was a more common greenhouse design from 1982. Both locations were closed in 1986, sold to Piggly Wiggly Southern, eventually becoming a Bruno's format- Food Fair for Sylvester Road and FoodMax for the old Family Center. Bruno's then sold the pair to Harvey's, pre-Delhaize in the mid-90's.

Photo of the Sylvester Road store in Albany, taken 5/12/08

[kris-alyx]

oh i know where one was in virginia it was at roanoke va's tanglewood mall along with super x drugstores, they redid it a few years ago to just a regular kroger store.

[kevinc1965]

In 1968 a kroger family center was opened in cape girardeau mo. It was complete with cafe,auto center,clothing dept. etc. IT operated intact untill
1972 when they placed a wall down the center of the store the left part of the building was remodled to a early superstore and right part of the building became a super x drug store. This operated untill 1976 when super x closed and the entire building became a kroger sav-on it lasted with little change untill 1982 when the store closed.The building became a mini mall with a ice rink and closed in the late 90's it is now vacant and falling apart.

[wnetmacman]

I found a picture of the sign on Flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/romleys/24 ... 554248@N24

I don't remember the tagline being there, but the rest is pretty accurate, including the font on the sign.

[sbtinme]

oh i know where one was in virginia it was at roanoke va's tanglewood mall along with super x drugstores, they redid it a few years ago to just a regular kroger store.

This was NEVER a Kroger Family Center, sorry.

[Andrew T.]

I noticed that Dave at Pleasant Family Shopping put together a great piece on Kroger Family Centers yesterday; complete with background information and a set of exterior and interior photos from 1968-69:

http://pleasantfamilyshopping.blogspot. ... roger.html

[Rob72830]

Does anyone know where any of these Kroger Family Centers were located in Arkansas? Since I live in Arkansas I would love to go and see one up close. Thanks

[krogerclerk]

I found the old Albany Kroger Family Center at 2017 N Slappey Blvd. Both Albany Kroger locations were sold to Piggly Wiggly Southern of Vidalia, GA, which was acquired by Bruno's. The Family Center served as Food 4 Less under PWS ownership and FoodMax under Bruno's ownership. The Sylvester Road Kroger, currently Harvey's was sold to Harvey's when Bruno's eliminated Piggly Wiggly as a banner.

The Family Center is presently a Goodwill store, Badcock Furniture and UPS Store, so all remnants of its original use are gone.

http://www.bing.com/maps/explore/#5872/ ... 939&o=&a=0

[wnetmacman]

A couple of stores I missed:

Hattiesburg, MS. Timothy St. Hidden behind a car dealership on Broadway. Currently a Dirt Cheap.
Paris, TX. 1310 Clarksville St. Still Kroger, but currently a Signature store.

The Lafayette, LA store is now completely gone. The remainder was torn down a couple of months ago for a Multimodal Transportation Center (read Train and Bus Depot). Morgan City, LA is now an Automotive Dealership, using the whole building.

[wnetmacman]

Further updates:

The Sterling, IL store is no longer a Kroger; the store moved to another location (which appears to be a former Eagle) on the other side of town. It was subdivided prior to Kroger moving out; the store only took up half of the building.

I also found one in Austin, TX, on Burnet Rd. It currently houses a Ross Dress for Less and a Chuck E. Cheese. The Ross store uses the Kroger FC facade and covered walkway.

So, as I've been able to find thus far:

* - Still operating as Kroger
# - Still a grocery store but not Kroger

TEXAS:
*Longview - W. Marshall
*Marshall - East End Blvd.
*Baytown - Ward St.
*Orange - N. 16th St.
Austin - Burnet Rd.
*Paris - Clarksville St.
*Nacogdoches - North St.
Harlingen, TX - N. Sunshine Strip

LOUISIANA:
Lafayette - E. Cypress St.
#New Iberia - E. Main
Morgan City - Brashear Ave.
*Lake Charles - Sallier St.

ILLINOIS:
Mattoon - E. IL 16
Sterling - E. 4th St.

MISSOURI:
Cape Girardeau - Independence St.

MISSISSIPPI:
*Greenville - US 82E
Hattiesburg - Broadway at Timothy

GEORGIA:
Albany - N. Slappey Blvd.

I'm not adding Paducah because I can't find the store on Live Maps or Google Maps. I see several others (a Superstore, a Greenhouse and an aquisition), but no Family Center. There may be others; this is not a guaranteed list.