Warner Robins GA

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Edric Floyd
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Location: Warner Robins, Georgia
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Post by Edric Floyd »

Dave wrote:
Edric Floyd wrote:... the only part of the Warner Robins Family Mart that is still owned by A&P is a small corner of the original parcel. A site that may have been used as or planned as a gas station. (the gas Islands and a concrete slab remain on this ground.)...
A&P may still own it because of environmental problems if it was a gas station; the site could be undergoing testing or remediation. On the other hand, if it's a large enough parcel, maybe they're land banking it to sell to a drugstore or something like that.
If anything like that, then the environmental problems could make sense as a possible reason why A&P still owns it. I doubt any other retail would purchase that parcel.

There are three fairly new drug stores within a mile on this street. Eckerds across the street (built the year before the Family Mart closed), Walgreens (2001) to the south and CVS (1999) a couple blocks north. Also Fred's discount store pharmacy and Piggly Wiggly pharmacy are on the same corner as the CVS.

I doubt that any "new" retail will come to this particular street. Not enough traffic to support it. The Piggly Wiggly reduced their hours (former 24 hour store), The bowling alley closed, Big Lots moved from this street to a former Wal-Mart on a much busier street and the area's lone fast food restaurant, (Hardee's) closed a couple months ago. (we still have 2 Hardee's left in town)

Add to that, the Eckerds and Save-A-Lot stores along this same street are hanging on by a thread. People are willing to drive a couple miles either west or south to shop at Wal-Mart, Kroger or Publix (we have two of each).
krogerclerk
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Post by krogerclerk »

Isn't there a colonial A&P on Watson Blvd in one of the older strips in Warner Robbins as there are some older shopping centers that date to the late 50's to the early 60's? I presume the Family Mart replaced that particular store.
The old Winn-Dixie was at Houston Mall and I don't know if any location predated that store. Some of the Piggly Wiggly's were fairly old prior to Bruno's taking over and may represent some of WR's oldest grocery stores.
I would expect Colonial/Big Star to had had a presence though the retail development of Warner Robins seems have only began in earnest in the late 50's, so there must have been some question that Robbins AFB would be a permanent base from WWII until period between the Korean and Vietnam Wars. I never went into Warner Robins until the eighties, so most of the earlier stores had been replaced and Houston Mall was waning well before Houston Galleria was built.

A&P only opened Family Marts in markets it already had a presence, Columbus, Albany, and Warner Robbins, GA, Montgomery and Decatur, AL, Columbia, Greenville, and Spartanburg, SC , High Point, NC and the Tampa Bay, FL area. The concept was ahead of the competition in most of the South, yet they didn't expand the format to Altanta where they had a significant store count which could have been leveraged to bolster market share. The format didn't make it into markets in the northeast where A&P could have benefited with larger stores and new formats. Instead Giant-MD and Pathmark and Shop Rite were the early food-drug combo in excess of 40,000 sq ft to build in the Northeast, not withstanding some Food Fair/Pantry Pride locations.
Edric Floyd
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Post by Edric Floyd »

krogerclerk wrote:Isn't there a colonial A&P on Watson Blvd in one of the older strips in Warner Robbins as there are some older shopping centers that date to the late 50's to the early 60's? I presume the Family Mart replaced that particular store.
The old Winn-Dixie was at Houston Mall and I don't know if any location predated that store. Some of the Piggly Wiggly's were fairly old prior to Bruno's taking over and may represent some of WR's oldest grocery stores.
I would expect Colonial/Big Star to had had a presence though the retail development of Warner Robins seems have only began in earnest in the late 50's, so there must have been some question that Robbins AFB would be a permanent base from WWII until period between the Korean and Vietnam Wars. I never went into Warner Robins until the eighties, so most of the earlier stores had been replaced and Houston Mall was waning well before Houston Galleria was built.
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Sorry for the long answer but here it is.

There was an A&P at the corner of Watson Blvd and North Houston Road in Warner Robins prior to the Family Mart. I have no idea what years this store was open but it was not a colonial style building. Or it may have been extensively remodeled. for many years this building was SHAHEEN office supply dating back to the 1970's. The building was torn down and a Walgreens was built in its place.

Shaheen moved west like many older local merchants. They all moved into new strip malls near the "Galleria at Centerville", the mall that replaced the Houston Mall in 1995.

The Winn-Dixie at Houston Mall moved a mile west on Watson Blvd in the late 1980's. It became a Winn-Dixie Marketplace co-anchored with Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart moved to a new Supercenter in 2000 and the Winn-Dixie closed less than two weeks before '9-11" in 2001. For a few years there were two Winn-Dixies in Warner Robins. The SECOND Winn-Dixie opened in 1998 on the south side of town and is still open.

I don't know of any WD location predating the Houston Mall store, which opened in 1971.

We only have one Piggly Wiggly left, an operation of Southern Family Markets/C&S Wholesalers. The history of Piggly Wiggly locations and the former incarnations as Foodmax and Piggly Wiggly under the ownership of Brunos is too much to put in this thread. Where there were once 5 stores in town, theres just one. And at different times it occupied three of the four corners of its current location. One of those was as a FOOD WORLD, another Brunos nameplate most commonly used in Alabama.

An old Piggly Wiggly building dating to the 1950's was most recently a MAXWAY discount store. Maxway closed last month. As a PW, it closed shortly before I moved here in the early 90's.

I remember years ago going through old phone books and the now defunct local newspaper and I never found info on Colonial/Big Star operating in Warner Robins. Only Red Apple, Piggly Wiggly and A&P. But I plan to make time to visit the library for a more detailed research in the very near future.

When I complete that, I'll make a webpage and post a link here with photos.
Edric Floyd
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There was a BIG STAR in Warner Robins!

Post by Edric Floyd »

krogerclerk wrote: I would expect Colonial/Big Star to had had a presence though the retail development of Warner Robins seems have only began in earnest in the late 50's, so there must have been some question that Robbins AFB would be a permanent base from WWII until period between the Korean and Vietnam Wars. I never went into Warner Robins until the eighties, so most of the earlier stores had been replaced and Houston Mall was waning well before Houston Galleria was built.

I found out that there was a BIG STAR in Warner Robins. Thanks to a 1979 8th grade Junior High School yearbook. One of my co-workers brought this book in tonight and I took a look.

One of the sponsors included a text advertisement for Big Star with their address as 2065 Watson Blvd. This address sounded odd for retail with that high an address at the time. I immediately thought about our current K-Mart.

I checked the current phone book and K-Mart's address is 2063 Watson Blvd. The old Big Star was 2065 Watson Blvd. And this is just west of the old Houston Mall.

I asked the owner of the yearbook, who moved here in 1978 and he told me that the K-Mart was there when he moved here and there was a supermarket there until 20 years ago.

The current K-mart looks old and is an unusually long building. the front of this store is a complete plain concrete block in three sections. One of those sections was the old supermarket. The K-Mart expanded into the former Big Star and a complete remodel of the front gives NO hint of any other store. The old auto center starts the building (hence the address 2063) and the store entrance is at the other end where 2065 Watson blvd, (Big Star's old address) would have been.

This is one of the most bland concrete structures I have ever seen. Our local K-mart looks more like a warehouse without windows.

I still have yet to do a more detailed research. That will happen in early 2007 when I have more time.

BTW: other grocery sponsors in the 1979 yearbook were "Red Apple discount foods" and "Giant Discount foods" with two locations, (one still remains today)
krogerclerk
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Post by krogerclerk »

Most Kmarts in Georgia, outside of Atlanta and the 2nd tier cities were built after the Kmart Foods banner/concept had ended. During the mid and late-70's, Colonial/Big Star seemed to be the primary co-anchor to Kmart.
LaGrange and Dalton were co-anchored with Big Star. LaGrange didn't survive the bankruptcy closings and the Big Star only closed around 94, after the Big Kmart remodel, so it was never absorbed. The Dalton Big Star closed in the early 80's, and Kmart enlarged into the space when the the new logo, mart on the upper arm of the K was adopted. Calhoun is another late 70's location with Kmart and Big Star, though a former Eckerd separated the two.

The remodel left the facade of the center windowless, with the exception of the entrance foyer. Even the relocated entrance is off center under the signature Kmart overhanging awning.

Most older Kmarts in Georgia that were paired with Kmart Foods ended up with a Food Giant as the occupant of the Kmart Foods space. I believe Alterman's operated the Kmart Foods in Georgia and Alabama while Colonial had the remainder of the Southeast. I believe the end of the arrangement left Colonial as the primary southern co-anchor. Kmarts built in the 80's tended to be co-anchored with any chain seeking a new site.

I suspect the Giant Foods and Red Apple stores are SuperValu supplied and remnants of either Alterman's Big Apple and Food Giant chains or long lasting independents that were supplied by Altlerman's wholesale arm that was absorbed by SuperValu. I believe Macon had a Red Apple in the Bloomfield Gardens area until the late 80's.
EDEW
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Re: Warner Robins GA

Post by EDEW »

This topic has been covered in the macon, ga history partially, But A&P was never in a centennial style building in warner robins. the first a&P was in a flat front building on watson boulevard that was vacated in 1966. The Warner Robins Sun has a picture of the location in late 1966 when a furniture store had relocated there, and the building had no resemblance of that architectural style. A&P, I believe, always underestimated their potential in warner robins in the early years which is what caused them to take a short break before re-emerging, but 1968-1999 were pretty strong years, even though family mart cleanliness and product quality declined severely in the 1990's.
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