Food Giant, Ogletree's

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parkave231

Food Giant, Ogletree's

Post by parkave231 »

I hope I didn't botch the name of the third one, but I'm looking for general info on these chains. Here's what I know:

Food Giant: We (me and my family, growing up in Atlanta) shopped here a lot -- at least I think we did. Dad swears it was actually Food Lion, but I swear it was Giant. After doing a little bit of research on the web, I saw that these stores were acquired by Super Valu, and I can confirm that the one near our house did change to a Super Valu before closing. I can think of 2 in metro Atlanta offhand, but I'm sure there were more at some point. The other one I know of was an A&P before closing.

Ogletree's: We shopped here even more. I want to say there were 5 stores in Atlanta, but I'm not sure. I know the locations of 2 for sure. These were eventually bought by Bruno's.

Thanks in advance!

Matt
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Re: Food Giant, Ogletree's

Post by Groceteria »

parkave231 wrote:Food Giant: We (me and my family, growing up in Atlanta) shopped here a lot -- at least I think we did. Dad swears it was actually Food Lion, but I swear it was Giant.
How about Giant Food? I donlt know anything about it, but I remembered shooting one when I was in Atlanta in 2001, and sure enough I did:

Image
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Post by krogerclerk »

Food Giant was the discount operation of Alterman's, the traditional supermarket was Big Apple, most of which become Food Giant during the 1970's. Alterman's and Colonial were the 2 leading grocers in the Atlanta area in the post-War era. Alterman's wholesale counterpart was Alterman Bros. By the early 80's. the Big Apple banner was resurrected on warehouse formats. Alterman's was acquired by a joint venture of Delhaize and SuperValu and Alterman Bros. solely by SuperValu. Both Food Giant and Big Star(Colonial) lost their former dominance to Kroger and Winn-Dixie during the late 70's and early 80'sc while under outside ownership. Super Discount Foods was formed as the operating company for Food Giant, Big Apple and CUB Foods which was introduced in the mid-80's to the region. The Food Giant and Big Apple banners slowly faded, many becoming SuperValu supplied independents. About half a dozen Food Giants were sold to Big Star aound 88 or 89 and eventually ended up as A&P. CUB Food survived until the end of 2001, and the assets were split between SuperValu and Delhaize. The Delhaize connection is primarily the reason Food Lion has only been opened in the outer suburbs and exurbs.

Judging from the font of the Giant Food, it's probably a former Food Giant, with the signage reversed. I have seen some Giant Food in rural central west Georgia(Manchester, Greenville, Montezuma, etc) and I'm not sure if there is a connection between those and this one. Also, a large number of former Food Giants operate as Wayfield Foods, Piggly Wiggly and Tri-county Quality Foods.
parkave231

Post by parkave231 »

That picture is spot-on as far as the font is concerned...I had a chill run up my spine when I saw it! But I agree with krogerclerk -- I think someone bought it and switched the letters around. Thanks for the pic.

And krogerclerk, I bow to your knowledge! It also answered another one of my nagging questions, that being how SuperValu/Cub got into Atlanta in the first place.

Thanks a bunch!

Matt
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Post by terryinokc »

In several Alabama cities in the mid to late 80's----there were Food Giant stores adjacent to Kmart......probably originally Kmart Food. The Food Giant logo on their brand of products was very similar to the current Food Lion logo.....I found a couple of vanilla extract bottles still in their original boxes in my collection that were Food Giant brand.
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Ogletree's and Alabama Food Giant

Post by krogerclerk »

Ogletree's became part of Bruno's in c. 1987, operated as Ogletree's Fine Foods then Bruno's Fine Foods. I am familiar with 3 locations, though more existed. Sandy Plains at Shalllowford(across from a Big Lots in a former Food Giant and a mid-80's greenhouse Kroger), Dunwoody-divided into a now closed Harry's in a Hurry and others and a Big Star/A&P in Dunwoody Hall, and Sandy Springs Circle, now empty. The Sandy Springs Circle location was relocated by Bruno's into probably the largest most upscale Bruno's I've been in, it had catering, and wine steward, etc. The store is now a Kroger, replacing a superstore Kroger at the corner of Roswell Rd and Abernathy-now an Office Depot. Bruno's was already opening the more price-oriented FoodMax stores in the market and after the arrival of Publix a few years later, rebranded FoodMax as Bruno's in the region to consolidate advertising and other overhead. Bruno's exited the region, selling to Ingle's who subsequently sold several locations to CUB Foods and Kroger, keeping ,maybe about 1/2 dozen as Ingle's, mostly in further out 'burbs.

I've seen the Alabama Food Giant stores, which sold SuperValu brands such as Flavorite, and Alterman's and Colonial were the primary operators of KMart Foods in the Southeast, so it's possibly either an Alterman's rebranding of a former KMart Foods or SuperValu using and extension of an existing banner from a neighboring state.
parkave231

Re: Ogletree's and Alabama Food Giant

Post by parkave231 »

krogerclerk wrote:and Sandy Springs Circle, now empty. The Sandy Springs Circle location was relocated by Bruno's into probably the largest most upscale Bruno's I've been in, it had catering, and wine steward, etc. The store is now a Kroger, replacing a superstore Kroger at the corner of Roswell Rd and Abernathy-now an Office Depot.
Was the one on Sandy Springs Circle where the former Harris Teeter was? Right next door to Target?

The other Ogletree's I can think of was at Merchant's Walk. The building is gone, but it was where the PetsMart and OfficeMax (or is it Office Depot?) are today. I'd say (based on my old memories) that it was about 90% identical to the Sandy Plains one.

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Post by krogerclerk »

No the store next to Target(nee Richway), was Big Star, then A&P and lastly Harris-Teeter. IIRC, the old Ogletree's was across from the current
Kroger/Bruno's on Sandy Springs Cir. Kroger does currently hold the lease on the vacant H-T. and utilizes it for storage, etc.

I never went to Merchant's Walk before reconstruction, but I know the shopping center had faux Charleston architecture and had forgootten Ogletree's there, which operated briefly as Bruno's before closing for the center's reconstruction. Merchant's Festival housed a late-80's Big Star prototype(very Grand Union) which became A&P, then Bruno's-replacing the Sandy Plains location, and then Ingle's. Big Star had originally been with the KMart across Johnson Ferry, low volume KM that oddly survived the round of closings which resulted in several higher volume units closing-though lease costs and desiribility for reuse for a big factor in the two rounds of KMart closings.

Since we're discussing East Cobb, does anyone recall the Big Star in back of the Cobb Parkway Richway/Target near Windy Hill? I never saw another supermarket accessible from the back of a discount store and wonder if there was ever a Richway Foods. Also, I never went to Parkaire Mall before reconstruction into Parkaire Landing, but I think the original Kroger was a superstore while its replacement is greenhouse style.
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Post by Groceteria »

krogerclerk wrote:No the store next to Target(nee Richway), was Big Star, then A&P and lastly Harris-Teeter.
Interesting how Harris-Teeter ended up with some of those old Atlanta Big Stars, just like they did in NC, only with an intermediate step (A&P) involved...
Last edited by Groceteria on 13 Feb 2007 15:00, edited 1 time in total.
parkave231

Post by parkave231 »

And it is funny how Grand Union-ish that Big Star at Merchant's Fesitval was, complete with red dots everywhere! We went there all the time. One of the things that stands out the most in my memories is those talking cash registers that would say the price each time an item was scanned. I've always wondered why that particular location has never amounted to anything -- there have been 4 grocery stores there, and the site is vacant today. I'm thinking access may be to blame. I think if there had been a stoplight on the Roswell Road side, it may have done better. The cut-through to Providence helps, but still, one has to turn left on Providence with no stoplight to get to Roswell Road. But I digress...

As far as the Richway/Big Star on Cobb Parkway, sorry...no help there. We never went to that store since we had one from us down Sandy Plains (sans grocery store, though). But I can say with reasonable certainty that the original Parkaire Kroger store was a supercenter.

Matt
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Food Giant!

Post by Atlswan »

I just found this site today so I'm sorry this is coming rather late in the conversation.

You asked about Food Giant in the Atlanta area. I grew up on the Southside, down in Fayetteville. When we arrived in 1973, there was only one grocery store in town. That was Colonial Foods, complete with the red rooster, in Hudson Plaza II. For some reason, we rarely shopped there. The store eventually became a Big Star and then an A&P. It now houses a Michael's craft store.

Instead, we went up to Riverdale and shopped at the Food Giant. YES! I can even remember that on Christmas Eve, my father would fake that we needed milk and drive me and my sister up there while Mom put out the presents. Eventually, they built a Food Giant in Fayetteville and we shopped there every week. I even remember the Lenox Park store brand they used. I think it eventually became a Winn Dixie. But it now houses a Big Lots. I still remember the Food Giant sign with a big giant on it. A very elderly farmer used to sell boiled peanuts next to the checkout lanes. I also remember we took our glass bottles there to get money.

A Treasury Drugs operated next to the Food Giant. It has the requisite JCPenney catalog center inside. I can remember going in to buy pipe tobbaco for my father as a child and being teased by the clerk about getting carded.

I think that Food Giant in Riverdale became a Baby Superstore. There's actually a Little Giant (farmer's market-type store) in front of that shopping center.

Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane!
noseriously

Post by noseriously »

I worked for Food Giant in the '70's. So did my dad. I then became the real estate director for Brunos which bought Ogletrees. That purchase required Brunos to allow Ogletrees to operate 1 store on Hwy 78 in Lilburn so his son could have something to do.

The Giant Food stores were Food Giant units that were taken over by an independent operator shortly after Delhaize crashed the company. It was cheaper to reverse the letters than to buy new signs.
parkave231

Post by parkave231 »

So there is a Delhaize connection after all?

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Post by Groceteria »

parkave231 wrote:So there is a Delhaize connection after all?
Yup. I was just reading about this over the weekend. Delhaize purchased Food Giant a few years after purchasing Food Lion. Food Lion management was a little peeved, because they had Atlanta expansion plans which Delhaize had effectively halted by buying a unionized chain. It didn't work well all the way around (bad locations, management problems, etc.) and Delhaize sold its Atlanta stores to Supervalu after a few years. However, it did retain majority control (80%) of some warehouse stores that eventually became Cub Foods.

This is per "Lion's Share", a 1991 history of Food Lion.
parkave231

Post by parkave231 »

Groceteria wrote:This is per "Lion's Share", a 1991 history of Food Lion.
Well, I've seen you quote that book at least twice now, so I guess I'm going to have to read it myself! :wink:

I hope they have one at the Char-Meck library......if not, I have connections at the Delhaize headquarters... 8)

Thanks, Dave....

Matt
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