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img_6617_1410_e_michigan_ave_ypsilanti_mi.jpg 1410 E. Michigan Ave., Ypsilanti, MI. This one has a street-flush alignment and corner entrance, like the supermarket in West Dundee (and many others). It also has a much larger footprint, a canopy, and a massive sign. Late 1950s? Kroger, maybe? Nothing...

I spent a week's vacation in Michigan last month, and tried my best to take pictures of the more-interesting supermarket relics I saw along the way. img_6435_S_1st_st_west_dundee_IL.jpg S 1st St., West Dundee, IL. This was an early 1950s-era construct with a corner entrance, but I have no idea what ...

Those are great pictures. And the store itself is one of the Safeways with exacting brick details from the early 1950s. There was a thread about another store from that era here; although the pictures in it are long-gone.

Whew! It makes your head spin. Since the "spark" push got under way, some stores have even been updated more than once. One of the older Wal-Marts 'round these parts (in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin) was repainted and re-signed with the new logo early on, then it was expanded and renovated into ...

My guess, though I don't know firsthand, is that it didn't start out this way. My bet is that the Kroger didn't originally have one. The CVS may have originally been something else; possibly a SuperX. When the store was sold, there was no longer a need to worry about 'competing with themselves', so...

Are there any Wal-Mart stores (or "Walmart," as they call themselves now) left in existence that haven't yet been remodeled, repainted, and re-signed with the 2008 "spark" logo? The last one I knew of off-hand was the Supercenter in Chilton, Wisconsin that was updated at least on...

A few years ago, I happened upon a strangely-remodeled store in West Virginia that I dubbed the "Frankenstein Kroger." Recently I discovered this scene in Chillicothe, Illinois (greater Peoria), and it gave me the same vibes... Chillicothe3.jpg Chillicothe1.jpg Chillicothe2.jpg This was a ...

I saw the pill-shaped signframe, saw the vaguely 1970s supermarket-like roofline, and my instinctive thought was "Hey! Maybe that's an old A&P!" http://www.andrewturnbull.net/new/milw-store-1.jpg http://www.andrewturnbull.net/new/milw-store-2.jpg But when I looked at it more closely, I...

Thanks for the suggestions. When I was in Des Moines I browsed through city directories back to the 1950s, and I didn't find any trace of Kroger ever being in the area at all. As for National, it's a chain I don't know enough about to make accurate inferences at all. So, #2 is still all a mystery!

I was in Iowa a couple weeks ago, and photographed a few supermarket buildings while I was there. 1302 1st Ave W, Newton. Apparently this used to be a Hy-Vee store. From the aerial footprint, it looks like it was expanded to twice its original size: http://www.andrewturnbull.net/new/newtonia1.jpg 18...

This is a picture (not mine) of the former Family Bargain Center store in Collinsville, Virginia; which opened in 1971. Note the alternating brown-tan pattern on the walls: http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6149/5974707937_2893c55020_z.jpg A building absolutely identical to this stood in Princeton, WV f...

*Always* an Ace? Oh well; that's something of a disappointment, I guess. Thanks for the reply!

Does anyone have a guess what might have been the original occupant of this store (assuming it was a supermarket in the first place)? It's located directly opposite the store referenced in this thread.

Thanks for the update. The Indianapolis research ought to be useful: I'm sure that I'll scout out some of the addresses for pictures the next time I pass that way again.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll file it under "enigma/hardware" for now.