buckhead wrote:IIRC, the last remaining Colonial locations in Atlanta proper were the flagship store at Lenox Square and the location on West Paces Ferry Road, across from Sears. The latter location also had the area redemption center for Gold Bond (Holden S(?) Red) trading stamps adjacent to it. Once the chain had otherwise largely converted to the revived Big Star name, these last few Colonial locations, quit giving trading stamps, and became Big Star in everything but name. Expansion at Lenox Square took the Colonial location there. The West Paces location eventually shut down; it was rather small. The Richway Foods locations used that name for several years, but eventually took on the Big Star name. Not all area Richway stores had food operations. In some stores the food section was "buried" within the store, while later the stores were more or less configured as attached but separate retailers adjacent to the Richway. And one side note, once the Colonial name disappeared in Atlanta, it was NOT gone for good, for in later years the company opened a new, upscale grocery store under the Colonial Foods name. I think there was only one location, on Roswell Road in Sandy Springs. They used an italicized lower case logotype based on the letters "c" and "f" not totally unlike the old rooster logo. I do not know what became of the location. At one point I thought it was acquired by Ogletree's. In any event I don't think it was adjacent to the Richway in Sandy Springs. It may have been in the same center where Service Merchandise and later Whole Foods was to be found.
I vaguely recall hearing Colonial Foods was around as an upscale banner after the Big Star conversion, but never had the opportunity to venture into one. The former Ogletree's was on Sandy Springs Circle, across from the current Kroger, former Bruno's. The store has a colonial(as in A&P) appearance similar to a few Big Star/Colonial locations that were built in the mid-70's, but it would have been redundant to the Johnson Ferry Big Star. I don't recall if the Sandy Springs Big Star next to the old Richway on Johnson Ferry was ever a Richway Foods, but the Cobb Parkway at Windy Hill Richway had a Richway Foods/Big Star located in the back of the store, with its own checkouts and glass partitions separating it from the Richway.
buckhead wrote:Alterman Brothers did indeed become a player after the Second World War. They developed many of the suburban shopping centers in Atlanta, and anchored them with food (and later drug) stores that they operated and wholesaled to. Big Apple had an S&H Green Stamps franchise in Atlanta and most of its territory, except for Middle Georgia (and maybe some other areas) where it offered King Korn. The Food Giant name DID appear in many Atlanta area K-mart food stores. Prior to converting these stores to the Food Giant name, at least some of the K-mart Foods were operated by Alterman around the late 60's and maybe into the first years of the following decade, but I'm not sure how long that arrangement existed. The K-mart on Clairmont Road at I-85 comes to mind in this regard. During the 80's Big Apple reappeared as a warehouse roods concept. Stores included one on Cobb Parkway (near Cumberland Mall), Snellville, and Gray Highway in Macon among others.
Add Old National Highway in College Park to the Big Apple Food Warehouse locations. The format was new when Cub Foods was launched, and survived for a few years until 87 or so.
buckhead wrote:Thriftown and Big Buy operated numberous smaller stores around Atlanta, and beyond, at least to Monroe and Athens in the East. The stores appear to have been independents for the most part which probably functioned as some sort of buyers' cooperative. They offered common advertising, promotional programs, Holden S Red trading stamps in many locations, etc. For the most part these stores were located in smaller towns or less properous neighborhoods. Often times there moved in to fill the void left by a departing major, such as A&P. Typically they carried Shur Fine and related brands as their house brand. They were a tertiary player for a decade or so in the 70s, and maybe earlier, but eventually faded until just a few examples of each remain today.
I believe they were SuperValu supplied, as as you stated, located in a chains castoffs, particularly A&P, Big Apple/Food Giant and Colonial/Big Star. Canton and Ellijay were the northern reaches of the Thriftown while Bremen had Thriftown west toward Alabama and Villa Rica had a Big Buy, one of the last under the banner as recent as 88-89, prior to Ingles' and Winn-Dixie arriving in Villa Rica.
buckhead wrote:Piggly Wiggly has been represented several times in Atlanta. As already mentioned, most of the stores from the 30's, 40's, and 50's were eventually controlled by and absorbed into The Kroger Company. On the southern and eastern sides of the Metro area at least, Piggly Wiggly Southern operated some stores that opened in the late 70's and into the 80's and 90's. Some locations were taken over from previous operators, such as Big Apple/Food giant in Monroe, and Big Star in Athens. Some were totally new builds, including one adjacent to Richway in Athens.. I'm sure there were others. Today, there are several Piggly Wiggly stores in the closer in parts of Atlanta, such as East Point, Decatur, and Forrest Park which are more or less independent operations. C&S Wholesale also operates several stores under the Piggly Wiggly name in the areas surrounding Atlanta. Many of these were previously Southern Family Markets and before that Bi-Lo. South of town toward Middle Georgia some are remnants or resurrected locations from Piggly Wiggly Southern via the Bruno's/Bi-Lo/Ahold acquisitions and spinoffs. To the north of the city is/was yet at least one other cluster of Piggly Wiggly stores that appear to have shared supply channels with others in Northwest Georgia and East Tennessee.
Various Piggly Wiggly operators include Piggly Wiggly Rome and Piggly Wiggly Alabama along the western boundary, Piggly Wiggly Atlanta in older DeKalb, Fulton and Clayton suburbs and Piggly Wiggly Southern east and sout of the metro. The operator due north with locations in Jasper, Ellijay and Blue Ridge escapes me, but they recently changed ownership.
buckhead wrote:IGA also has had stores in Atlanta over the years, typically standalone single-store operations. One location on Clairmont Road south of I-85, which had been a Food Giant, and later a Piggly Wiggly (in the 80's or 90's) comes to mind. An operator out of Gainesville, Gene Tyner's, had at least one store on Buford Highway south of Clairmont Road. They also had stores in Winder and elsewhere over the years. Some of the stores carried the name Gene Tyner's Foodliner, and during that era were probably affiliated with IGA. Current IGA units include those in Decatur, Norcross, and on Clairmont Road and Moreland Avenue among others.
Other minor players included Foodland, Supervalu (supplied and signed) stores, Jewel T, and a few more.
Ingle's, Bruno's/Foodmax/Food World, Ogletree's, Bi-Lo and Red's Market, and (Tri-County) Quality Foods information will be provided
in future as I recall more.
Ogletree's was the upscale local chain, most locations, Dunwoody Hall, Sandy Springs, Merchant's Festival Cobb and Sprayberry Crossing Cobb became Bruno's Finer Foods around the same time Bruno's was constructing FoodMax in the outer suburbs and about the sametime Bruno's acquired Piggly Wiggly Southern. Eventually the FoodMax stores in the Atlanta region were rebannered Bruno's as a cost-cutting/brand consolidation effort. Most locations were well received enough to offer Kroger and newly arrived Publix some competition, but like Harris-Teeter, couldn't carve out a niche in the longterm. Ingles' acquired all the stores, but re-sold several to Cub Foods and two to Kroger and shuttered a couple.
Ingles' itself has carved out a strong presence in North Georgia, particularly Northeast Georgia and a strong presence in the outer suburbs, enough to be the fourth largest food retailer after Kroger, Publix and Wal-Mart Supercenters today. Early Ingles' usually co-anchored with Wal-Mart and sometimes Kmart, originally with the chains stuck in the 70's store design, offbeat, funky yet somehow appealing use of gold, brown, orange and other earthtones. Few of these still operate as Ingles' as the chain has replaced its older locations often using the ex-Wal-Mart location, succeeding in face of the Wal-Mart Supercenter as a competitor.
Harris-Teeter arrived on the heels of Publix, which is likely one of the reasons the chain has joined the departed Atlanta grocers, operating from 92-01, selling its locations to Kroger. Harris-Teeter never could compete with Publix on price which also offered quality, service and larger stores. Harris-Teeter picked up several A&P's after the chain departed in 99, many of them former Colonial/Big Stars.
Publix by far represents the most successful new arrival to the region, opening its first two stores in 1992, and now operating over 120 metro locations, close to the count Kroger operates at the present. Publix has succeeded by sticking to many principles that would be considered old school-no loyalty card, full service, fresh foods with modern stores offering a fresh departments expected by most shoppers. The latest decor invokes the ambience of Panera Bread and Starbucks, evidencing their core customer is one that Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Super Target, The Fresh Market and many other alternative grocers target(no pun intended).
Aldi and Trader Joes are recent arrivals in the limited assortment niche, targeting opposite ends of the spectrum. Trader Joe's is cheap chic while Aldi's is simply cheap, making Atlanta one of a few, but growing number of markets that the two Albrecht banners operate.
Whole Foods entered the region later than many similar markets, and has taken over local based Harry's Farmer's Markets, . Greensboro, NC based The Fresh Market also has a presence catering to the same upscale shoppers. Earth Fare's closest location is Athens.
That's all I have for now, and may add more other posters jog memories and details.
P.S. Somehow the quotes from Buckhead are not separated. There was no intention to represent another's post as mine.
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Moderator note: I've fixed the quotes in this post. FYI to all, each segment of quoted material must be surrounded by the tags, so there should be one that looks like this at the beginning of
each segment quoted:
And one like this at the end of each quoted segment:
Sometimes the code gets a little hard to manage in the case of line-by-line quotes and responses. I find it's often easier just to quote one or two small segments and just make text references as needed for the rest (e.g. "Bubba mentioned the Kroger on Main Street.") just as a way to avoid all that nasty code...