Dutch Square Mall, Columbia SC: A&P?

[Groceteria]

I'm guessing it was an A&P. It looks like a detached A&P from a similar mall in High Point NC. Anyone want to confirm?

[krogerclerk]

I believe it was the last operating A&P in Columbia, closing in the early 90's after FoodMax and Harris-Teeter entered the market and just prior to the arrival of Publix. But the facade is very Winn-Dixie-like and could have possibly originated as W-D.

[terryinokc]

I'm leaning more toward A&P. This looks very similar to stores they had in the Atlanta area in the 1980's.

[krogerclerk]

I'm leaning more toward A&P. This looks very similar to stores they had in the Atlanta area in the 1980's.

It's very similar to the former Memorial Drive A&P which replaced a colonial A&P. The store closed as A&P just prior to A&P buying the Big Star locations from Grand Union. The Big Star was rebranded A&P, bring the tea company back to Stone Mountain after a one or two absence and remained open until the chain exited Atlanta.

I beleive another A&P in the Covington Highway area had similar architecture.

[Groceteria]

I beleive another A&P in the Covington Highway area had similar architecture.

Like I said earlier, it reminds me of the former A&P at what used to be Westchester Mall in High Point NC. There's also a similar one, also a former A&P, on Albemarle Road in Charlotte which is now a Save-A-Lot and a thrift store.

[kg4peq]

I was browsing this board at work earlier today and a co-worker noticed the name of the shopping center. He lived nearby and used to shop there "all the time." He insists that was a Winn-Dixie, and as others have pointed out it certainly looks Winn-Dixieish. Perhaps it was originally an A&P and spent a period of time as a WD?

[danielh_512]

While both chains had similar facades on stores, and there are examples of A&P architecture in the Mid-Atlantic resembling this, if you'll notice, the elongated middle section for signage to me indicates Winn-Dixie here, not A&P. A&P, while having this architecture, had a smaller area in the middle for signage, not needing as much for at the time what was the oval-shaped A&P logo.

[Groceteria]

While both chains had similar facades on stores, and there are examples of A&P architecture in the Mid-Atlantic resembling this, if you'll notice, the elongated middle section for signage to me indicates Winn-Dixie here, not A&P. A&P, while having this architecture, had a smaller area in the middle for signage, not needing as much for at the time what was the oval-shaped A&P logo.

You'd think so, but in my experience, the narrower middle section was actually more common on Winn-Dixie stores. It's just something I've noticed through observation over the years. By way of explanation, A&P stores of that 1960s vintage usually surrounded the circular A&P logo with "super" on one side and "market" on the other...

[danielh_512]

A&P had two variants, some of which were very short and only contained enough for the A&P oval. Unless the store I'm referencing (PA 56, PA 403 & Broad St., Johnstown, PA), now serving as a Giant Eagle, wasn't an A&P after all.

[Groceteria]

A&P it is, per Columbia Closings:
http://columbiaclosings.com/wordpress/?p=579