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Wrigley in Atlanta?

Posted: 30 Jan 2008 19:18
by buckhead
Back sometime in the early 70's (I think) I recall some new grocery chain operation in Atlanta, but I'm not sure of the name. For some reason the operator name of Wrigley sticks in my mind but I would not swear on that one. I vaguely remember a store somewhere near the old Atlanta Stadium. I think it may even have been visible from The Connector (I-75/I-85) on the east side of that road. Arlan's was already gone, and I don't think these stores went in as replacements for those grocery operations. Colonial/Big Star/Richway Foods, Big Apple/Food Giant, Winn-Dixie, and Kroger were still all pretty strong at this time. A&P was in marked decline. Thrifttown/Big Buy was a minor player. So a new entrant was rather interesting. Still, I can't really recall who it was, and frankly don't think they lasted very long. For some reason Wrigley sticks in my mind, yet I also have "visions" of a Shamrock or Clover (not Clover Farm). OK, so does ANYONE out there recall another new supermarket operator that entered the Atlanta market with just a handful of stores? Cub was still a few years away.

Re: Wrigley in Atlanta?

Posted: 30 Jan 2008 19:31
by Groceteria
Wrigley was a banner used by Allied Supermarkets, who operated some of the Kmart Foods locations in the southeast. As I mention in the Charlotte section of the site, and in the Kmart Foods topic, Allied rebranded some of the Kmart Foods locations in Charlotte as Wrigley stores in 1975. It was a very brief transformation; most of the stores were sold to Bi-Lo within a year. So the name could have conceivably appeared in Atlanta as well.

Re: Wrigley in Atlanta?

Posted: 30 Jan 2008 23:47
by jimbobga
While I didn't live in the Atlanta area at that time, I was in Savannah and made it to Atlanta on occasion. At that time, the area around the old stadium on the east side of the interstate was already in a state of decline. In addition to the stadium, a large Howard Johnson's complex was there along the interstate, and it seemed to be sandwiched in between a lot of older, in-the-process-of-becoming-rundown homes. However, you may be right. If you go south on the interstate to Cleveland Avenue, there has been a KMart on the east side of the expressway since the early sixties. It may be possible that since Wrigley was a name associated with KMart in the southeast, there may be have a store with that name at the Cleveland Avenue location, and it could have easily been seen from I-75. The only other "W" chain in the Atlanta area that I know of that operates in lower-income areas is Wayfield, and I have no idea when they came into existence. They still exist, so Wayfield probably wasn't in that memory.

Re: Wrigley in Atlanta?

Posted: 31 Jan 2008 00:19
by rich
Wrigley also had a relationship with Arlan's (Arlan's Foods), which had a large presence on their home turf of Detroit. They may have operated Arlan's Foods elsewhere and converted those to a different banner when Arlan's went out of business. Wrigley's housebrand (in all of their banners) was Meadowdale--maybe that's the Clover you're thinking of; Meadowdale was the anme that was on their trucks.

Allied consolidated some of its banners in Michigan under the Wrigley name in the mid-70s, so Wrigley conversions may have coincided with that, as well. They see to have stopped opening K-Mart Foods stores sometime in the early 70s, although K-Mart found other partners to open stores next to K-Mart in their own name (A&P and Grand Union were among these).

Re: Wrigley in Atlanta?

Posted: 04 Feb 2008 12:15
by krogerclerk
The Cleveland Avenue Kmart Food operated for many years as a Food Giant, but I don't recall a tenure as Wrigley. Alterman Foods, the parent of Atlanta area Big Apple/Food Giant was the Kmart Food operator in most of Georgia and some of Tennessee and Alabama while Colonial/Big Star operated most Kmart Foods in the Carolinas, South Georgia, North Florida and Virginia. I believe Allied, Wrigley's parent operated Kmart Foods in Central and Southern Florida, but cannot confirm that. It's possible that due to proximity to existing Big Apple/Food Giant locations that Allied had rights to first refusal on the any former Kmart Foods, as Allied was the original and primary Kmart Foods operator. It could even be that Wrigley was licensed to Alterman's or another operator. Also, Alterman's was both a wholesaler and retailer and independents could have used the name. To date, I can't find any print ads for Wrigley's using the local college's microfiche and microfilm copies of the Atlanta paper.

Re: Wrigley in Atlanta?

Posted: 05 Feb 2008 10:14
by Steve Landry
"I believe Allied, Wrigley's parent operated Kmart Foods in Central and Southern Florida, but cannot confirm that."

Yes, Allied did operate Kmart Foods in the above named area. Kmart Foods, along with A&P, Food Fair/Fredricks/Pantry Pride/J.M.Fields and Grand Union/Grandway were the only Union stores in that market.

Re: Wrigley in Atlanta?

Posted: 26 Aug 2021 21:51
by EDEW
Wrigley appears in print ads in the Atlanta newspapers @1975. At least one location posted are is NOT adjacent to K-mart stores from that period.

2965 Stewart Avenue (Metropolitan Pkwy), was turned into a Big Star relocation from Crossroads@Stewart-Lakewood, then into a Kroger which still remains there.

2426 Piedmont Road, not sure if K-mart was here, But no paper trail or visual memory comes to mind, And factoring in the Alterman connection to K-mart foods; It would probably have not have made sense considering these stores were Wrigley branded. (Input gladly accepted). These stores may have been toehold entry attempts by Allied.

Also, K-mart new construction partner of choice switched to Big Star @1974
(Non K-mart foods branded)

5615 Memorial Drive, Stone Mountain.
2975 Headland Drive, Atlanta.

Re: Wrigley in Atlanta?

Posted: 30 Aug 2021 07:46
by rich
The Piedmont Rd and Stewart Ave locations were Arlan's built on the sites of drive-in theaters which had had the same ownership. The Piedmont location had a long-running nightclub, if memory serves,--don't know if it was a redone commercial building or something else.

Headland and Stone Mountain look like old KMarts, so maybe these were stores that Food Giant didn't want. Headland is the area around Greenbriar Mall which had/has multiple shopping centers so they could have had a Food Giant there already.