[Andrew T.]

While passing through the town of Kenton, Ohio (northwest of Columbus), I came across this wonderful, pyloned store at the intersection of highways 31 and 53:



In my opinion, there's something that looks vaguely Colonial-ish about the store: Albers, maybe? That's just a random stab in the dark, though. Any thoughts as to what this store may have originally been?

[rich]

Albers had a store in Kenton. The pylon is a detail that other chains most likely didn't use (A&P very rarely did and Kroger used a different design in the few 50s pylons of their's that I've seen). It also looks like there's painted over corrugated metal, which was another Albers/Colonial detail. The only other possibility might be Big Bear, but I don't know if they expanded much into that direction. They tended to go more S & E of Columbus.

[Toby Radloff]

Big Bear did have a store in Mansfield in 1962. (I have a scan of the ad on my Ohio Grocery MSN Group site.) Whether they had other stores north of the Columbus area I don't know offhand.

[rich]

Big Bear did expand northward. They briefly had a store in Toledo during the late 50s; it became a long running Kroger in "The Colony" (an early not quite planned shopping center NW of downtown). They also had a store in Marion for awhile, but the critical mass of their locations tended to be more S & E of Columbus, where the competition tended toward the less intense and more familiar.

[BOB3]

I THINK I HELPED THEM FOR ONE DAY IN MEAT FOR ALBERS HERE. I WORKED IN THE ALBERS IN LIMA, OH AT MARKET AND METCALF IN THE EARLY 1960`S