I recently had a chance to go back to West Virginia for a few days, and came across this bizarre Frankenstein-like spectacle of a store in St. Albans while I was there:
Evidently, this was built as a Kroger superstore/SupeRx pair in the 1970s. Then in the 1980s, the Kroger half was either razed and rebuilt or expanded and renovated beyond recognition into a greenhouse store...leaving the SupeRx-turned-Revco-turned-CVS with superstore windows, superstore columns, and two covered-over archways' worth of a superstore parapet.
According to satellite imagery, this was a normal-looking greenhouse until not long ago. But now it's been renovated; 3/5 of the greenhouse glass has been covered over by a boxy facade, and 2/5 is still in place. Weird...
The rest of the shopping center has "turrets" at the ends topped by superstore-facade notches:
Frankenstein Kroger store (St. Albans, WV)
Moderator: Groceteria
Frankenstein Kroger store (St. Albans, WV)
"The pale pastels which have been featured in most food stores during the past 20 years are no longer in tune with the mood of the 1970s."
Andrew Turnbull
Andrew Turnbull
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Re: Frankenstein Kroger store (St. Albans, WV)
That's wonderful and headache-inducing. You can just sort of view the passage of time from left to right.
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Re: Frankenstein Kroger store (St. Albans, WV)
Judging from the Food & Pharmacy signage, the store has received its own pharmacy during one of its expansions/renovations. All traces of the superstore design have been removed from Kroger while the CVS soldiers on its thinly disguised superstore era SupeRx exterior.
Personally I think the latest iteration would meld better with a superstore exterior than a greenhouse exterior. That the remainder of the shopping center retains its superstore design elements, the Kroger would have looked less out of place as a superstore hybrid with the last remodel.
Personally I think the latest iteration would meld better with a superstore exterior than a greenhouse exterior. That the remainder of the shopping center retains its superstore design elements, the Kroger would have looked less out of place as a superstore hybrid with the last remodel.
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Re: Frankenstein Kroger store (St. Albans, WV)
The turrets used to be entryways to a small mall.