Possible ex-Kroger

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Ephrata1966
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Possible ex-Kroger

Post by Ephrata1966 »

There is a Big Lots at 10951 FM 1960 in Houston, TX. I just realized it looks kind of like a Kroger greenhouse. All I know for sure is that it used to be a MacFrugal's that was acquired by Big Lots. This shopping center was built in 1983, during the greenhouse era. I have my doubts, though. The store has an unusual facade that I doubt MacFrugal's would have added. From what I recall, that store had turnstyles at the entrances. The sales floor was set up a flight of steps. The glass atrium has a different pattern than most greenhouses. If this store was a Kroger, I think it may have relocated after ten years. The store was a MacFrugal's by 1999. There is a Kroger (now Kroger "Signature") at Jones and West Road that opened in 1993.

side note: The Hobby Lobby next door was a Kmart. In the early 80's, Kmart had started to build smaller stores. Few of them lasted. There was a Target across the street that relocated a few years ago.
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Re: Possible ex-Kroger

Post by wnetmacman »

That was an early greenhouse. There are examples in Baton Rouge that have the same structure. The earlier stores had a straight wall with the curves just like that one, and were in the direct center of the store's facade. Later versions followed the angle of the greenhouse section, and were usually off center.
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Andrew T.
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Re: Possible ex-Kroger

Post by Andrew T. »

Yep, definitely an ex-Kroger. Here is a similar store in Lynchburg, Virginia:

Image

I'm not completely sure of the chronological spread of this design, but I associate it most strongly with 1979-80. Most early 1980s Kroger stores had a wider greenhouse with three "bays" between support columns and no curves in the adjoining walls, which in turn widened to five "bays" by the time the mid 1980s rolled around.
"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."
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Re: Possible ex-Kroger

Post by Andrew T. »

For comparison, here's the Houston store. The facade's been added onto a bit, but the greenhouse and curved walls are still intact:

Image
"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."
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Ephrata1966
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Post by Ephrata1966 »

Andrew T. wrote:Yep, definitely an ex-Kroger. Here is a similar store in Lynchburg, Virginia:

Image

I'm not completely sure of the chronological spread of this design, but I associate it most strongly with 1979-80. Most early 1980s Kroger stores had a wider greenhouse with three "bays" between support columns and no curves in the adjoining walls, which in turn widened to five "bays" by the time the mid 1980s rolled around.
Well, here is a greenhouse from 1981: http://www.roanealliance.org/building_list/22 The shape and size appear the same as the Houston store, but the greenhouse looks different. Do you know when greenhouses in general were built? I am thinking it was around 1980-1984.

What I really would like to know is when and why the current greenhouse in Katy (near Houston) replaced a smaller greenhouse!
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Re: Possible ex-Kroger

Post by wnetmacman »

Ephrata1966 wrote:
Andrew T. wrote:Yep, definitely an ex-Kroger. Here is a similar store in Lynchburg, Virginia:

Image

I'm not completely sure of the chronological spread of this design, but I associate it most strongly with 1979-80. Most early 1980s Kroger stores had a wider greenhouse with three "bays" between support columns and no curves in the adjoining walls, which in turn widened to five "bays" by the time the mid 1980s rolled around.
Well, here is a greenhouse from 1981: http://www.roanealliance.org/building_list/22 The shape and size appear the same as the Houston store, but the greenhouse looks different. Do you know when greenhouses in general were built? I am thinking it was around 1980-1984.

What I really would like to know is when and why the current greenhouse in Katy (near Houston) replaced a smaller greenhouse!
Greenhouses were built between about 1979 and 1984, give or take a couple of years. Kroger replaced a lot of the early ones pretty quick. The stores with the curved fronts were quite small, for the most part. This Houston store was no exception. It looked to be not much bigger than 30k s.f. That's small for Kroger, especially in a #1 or #2 market. Most of the Signature stores are 60-70k. A 30k store wouldn't stand a chance.
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Re: Possible ex-Kroger

Post by KrogerTexas »

That was a Kroger store. Probably what was called a Super Store II, which were smaller sized stores, around 30K square foot rather than the 45K size store. One thing that gives it way in the aerial shot is the covered up air intakes and fan exhaust for the engine room in the corner of the store.

This store's replacement was on Jones Road which was a 45K greenhouse. A new Signature store opened just south of this Big Lots in the mid 90's on Jones, and the 45K greenhouse was replaced with a Signature store after that.
Ephrata1966
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Re: Possible ex-Kroger

Post by Ephrata1966 »

KrogerTexas wrote:That was a Kroger store. Probably what was called a Super Store II, which were smaller sized stores, around 30K square foot rather than the 45K size store. One thing that gives it way in the aerial shot is the covered up air intakes and fan exhaust for the engine room in the corner of the store.

This store's replacement was on Jones Road which was a 45K greenhouse. A new Signature store opened just south of this Big Lots in the mid 90's on Jones, and the 45K greenhouse was replaced with a Signature store after that.
Any idea when the greenhouse now a Big Lots was built? And what about when the 45K greenhouse opened?
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Re: Possible ex-Kroger

Post by KrogerTexas »

The Big Lots greenhouse was probably built in the late 70's or early 80's. It did not operate long as a Kroger before being replaced by the 45K greenhouse, probably in 82 to 84 I would say as those were big building years in Houston
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Re: Possible ex-Kroger

Post by pseudo3d »

Someone on Wikimapia called "burntheoil" (it may have been one of you guys, I dunno) made this description, which largely remains intact: "This store was built as a Kroger in 1983. Kroger relocated in 1993 and this one became a MacFrugal's, a chain acquired by Big Lots in 2002."
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Re: Possible ex-Kroger

Post by KrogerTexas »

That store may have opened in 1983, that would be about the right time and style for the smaller greenhouse. It was not relocated in 1993 as there were no new stores built in Houston from about 1988 to 1992, and I worked at it's replacement store in the early 90's and it was not a brand new store at that time. A new store was built south of this smaller greenhouse in about 1993, but it was new construction and was not a replacement build.
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Re: Possible ex-Kroger

Post by Ephrata1966 »

According to a government website, Jones Square (the small greenhouse center) was built in 1977, and I know I read somewhere that the later Kroger greenhouse in Katy (which also replaced a small greenhouse now a Goodwill) was built in 1985, so I would guess the store now a Big Lots was open from 1977 to 1985.
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Re: Possible ex-Kroger

Post by KrogerTexas »

The location is wrong as the small Greenhouse is not in Katy, it is on 1960 and Jones Road. But the replacement time frame would be right, about 1985 for the new store on North Jones Road, which has also since been replaced.
Ephrata1966
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Re: Possible ex-Kroger

Post by Ephrata1966 »

KrogerTexas wrote:The location is wrong as the small Greenhouse is not in Katy, it is on 1960 and Jones Road. But the replacement time frame would be right, about 1985 for the new store on North Jones Road, which has also since been replaced.
No, I wasn't saying any of the stores on Jones and 1960 were in Katy. But there also was a tiny late 70's greenhouse in Katy that moved in 1985 to a bigger greenhouse. The first of those two now is a Goodwill.
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Re: Possible ex-Kroger

Post by pseudo3d »

The original Greenhouse FM 1960/Jones Road Kroger was likely built in '77, not '83, because I think I've noticed that older greenhouse walls "curved" out to the greenhouse part instead of having normal 90° points like later ones do. The '77 opening date is backed up by a comment on this blog, which states that it moved to the northeast corner of Jones and Cypress North Houston in 1985 to a larger Greenhouse, which then was razed after it moved again in 2006. The Albertsons-turned-Kroger near the first Kroger wasn't a replacement store, though the Albertsons there replaced an older store.
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