[Groceteria]

Odd store. I think it was originally a 1950s Kroger.

The interior has wall signage reminiscent of the Kroger greenhouse era BUT I'm not sure if it belongs there. Why? Because it seems unlikely to me that this store was a Kroger during the late 1970s/1980s, as there was a superstore (since replaced with a new store) just a couple of blocks away.

[submariner]

I'm going based on the lowercase 'e', it's close to the greenhouse font, but not exact... I'm going to say it's a later addition:

[rich]

Kroger often used signage like that at the entrance. OTOH, they usually had a vestibule at the entrance. Perhaps some chance it was a 50s store that got a cheap remodel in the late 70s.

Kroger tended to put very little money into stores until the mid 90s and there were some relics from the mid to late 50s that were little touched even into the 80s. I sometimes visited a store in the Melrose section of Nashville which was one of these period pieces, which had had some remodeling in the late 60s or early 70s, but otherwise was a late 50s store that lasted until at least 1990.

[carolinatraveler]

I can confirm that 1415 Dunbar Avenue was a Kroger in 1970, but had changed to Fas-Chek #6 by the time the 1980 directories were published. Prior to this time, Fas Chek #6 was located at 1326 Ohio Ave in Dunbar. Working from copies of "Charleston Suburban" city directories of that year, 1970, Kroger locations are as follows:
307 Sixth Avenue, St Albans
1300 E. Dupont, Belle
9112 MacCorkle Ave, Marmet
1415 Dunbar Ave, Dunbar

By 1980 the listings were as follows:
6313 MacCorkle Ave
9112 MacCorkle Ave, Marmet
966 Dunbar Village Shopping Center, Dunbar

Fas-Chek Markets, Inc is listed at 369 Campbells Creek Rd in Charleston, and in suburban Kanawah County there were stores (1974) at:
4008 Malden Dr, Marmet
1806 Kanawah Terr, St Albans
1326 Ohio Ave, Dunbar
so the operation goes back at least 35 years.

There are some older Charleston phone books out in the garage, I'll see what else I can turn up for in town locations in another post. It certainly helps research when you have a room full of old phone books...


Wayne Henderson

[Groceteria]

966 Dunbar Village Shopping Center, Dunbar

Thanks. The Dunbar Village location would be the superstore that replaced the Dunbar Avenue store in the 1970s. It's very apparent when you visit this center that it used to contain a superstore, given the dark brown brick and the old Kroger pole sign in the parking lot. The superstore appears to have been torn down and replaced by the current store in the early to mid 1990s.

I'm guessing the signage was something Fas Chek did on its own, maybe to give a Kroger-style appearance or maybe just because it was easy.

[Andrew T.]

I can actually pinpoint the day the Dunbar Village Shopping Center superstore opened for business (and, presumably, this older store closed as a Kroger): Tuesday, December 4, 1973. I just happened to come across and save this brief article when going through Charleston, WV newspaper microfilms a year ago.