Former Big Star/Colonial Locations Still Selling Groceries

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jimbobga
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Post by jimbobga »

A former Colonial Store in Savannah, Georgia, at the corner of Waters Avenue and Montgomery Cross Road closed as a Colonial/Big Star before I moved to Savannah in 1973, but has remained a grocery store. A local independent, Andy's, operated in this location through the late 1990's, and the building was then taken over by Sav-a-Lot, with very little change in the exterior. This store included the slanted faccia. Two other Colonial/Big Star stores in Savannah remain, although their architecture was somewhat generic from the beginning. Neither of these, one located at West Henry Street and Whitaker, and the other in the DeRenne Shopping Center on DeRenne Avenue near Abercorn Street, are grocers today, but the buildings remain basically unaltered.
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Groceteria
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Post by Groceteria »

Related: does anyone know of any stores specifically that made the entire Colonial >> Big Star >> Harris-Teeter progression and are still open as HT locations?

I can think of exactly one, the aforementioned Park Road Shopping Center store in Charlotte. Most of the others I can think of have closed in the past few years.
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buckhead
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Post by buckhead »

Another one that comes to mind is the location on the Marietta Parkway South (South Loop 120) and Victory Drive, currently it is a Food Depot which was before that A&P, and before that a Big Star (with the Grand Union type rounded rectangle sign). The old façade I'm sure originally had the 70's type Big Star signage, and considering the age of the shopping center was probably a Colonial prior to that.

The Thrifty Scot Warehouse food store at 1809 S. Semoran Blvd. in Orlando, adjacent to Kmart was at one time a Big Star. I do not know if this location was ever a Kmart foods location or just an adjacent build when it was Big Star.
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Post by Groceteria »

buckhead wrote:The Thrifty Scot Warehouse food store at 1809 S. Semoran Blvd. in Orlando, adjacent to Kmart was at one time a Big Star. I do not know if this location was ever a Kmart foods location or just an adjacent build when it was Big Star.
Probably the latter. A lot of Kmart/Big Star combos were built in the mid-1970s. Thus, it was probably never a Colonial either.
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Re: Former Big Star/Colonial Locations Still Selling Groceries

Post by EDEW »

Add 2 Big Star locations in Atlanta Area

Candler-Mcafee Shopping Center : Former Big Star that operates as Wayfield Foods.
Ash-Morrow Shopping Center: Former Big Star that operates as Food Depot.
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Re: Former Big Star/Colonial Locations Still Selling Groceries

Post by HarvestFresh »

There is an old Big Star on Morrow Road in Forest Park, GA (Atlanta Suburb) that is now a Food Depot. Mom used to shop there all the time as a kid.
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Re: Former Big Star/Colonial Locations Still Selling Groceries

Post by rich »

The "Publix on Ponce" near Highland in ATL was a Big Star, then an A&P, then demolished and replaced with the Publix (which probably has the same footprint as the predecessor store.
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Re: Former Big Star/Colonial Locations Still Selling Groceries

Post by krogerclerk »

720 Commerce Drive Decatur, GA began as a Colonial, became a Big Star, until 1992, operating as A&P until 1999, then as Harris-Teeter until 2001 and as Kroger since then. I believe H-T gutted the store and refacaded, so its no longer recognizable as a vintage Colonial Store. The Peachtree City Big Star also progressed from BigStar to A&P to Harris-Teeter to Kroger, but was closed in 2008, a sad fate for the first supermarket in the planned city. The Sandy Springs Big Star on Johnson Ferry adjoining Richway/Target(closed 2009), was closed in 2001 with the sale of the 15 metro Atlanta area Harris-Teeters to Kroger. A Kroger at the intersection of Hairston Road and Memorial Drive in Stone Mountain became Kroger in 1999 when A&P exited the Atlanta area.

Publix also operates several former Big Stars, in addition to Ponce De Leon, there is Roswell, on Holcomb Bridge Road, a later build Big Star from 1986-88; SpaldingCorners in Norcross at the intersection of Holcomb Bridge and Spalding Dr; Bells Ferry Road in Kennesaw; and Ansley Mall in Atlanta the the intersection of Monroe Drive and Piedmont.

The Raleigh area had several Harris-Teeters operating in former Big Stars until recent years, and some may still operate. Many of these reopened without the extensive remodels that H-T gave the Atlanta area stores. One had Grand Union's current decor package at the time of the 1986 purchase of the Carolina division Big Stars until the mid-90's, and was one of the highest volume supermarkets in the Raleigh region in the late 80's, though its location escapes me at present.
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Re: Former Big Star/Colonial Locations Still Selling Groceries

Post by rich »

The Decatur Kroger on Commerce has bizarrely remained in business despite very little volume (it did better as Harris-Teeter). It's main attraction is the beer and wine. H-T did a big prepared foods business which Kroger has been unable to replicate. The store is about 13K sf. H-T had renovated the store, but like the Ponce store, it was clearly an A&P by the time they left. It was vacant for a couple years after A&P pulled out.
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Re: Former Big Star/Colonial Locations Still Selling Groceries

Post by Edric Floyd »

As of July 2010, a former Colonial/Big Star in Macon Georgia is now open as a Save A Lot.

The location on Gray Highway in East Macon was a Farmer's Furnature store for decades but was recently renovated as a Save-A-Lot. And they are currently restoring a former gym in Warner Robins GA which was originally a Red Apple Market from the 1960's. It will open as Save-A-Lot by the end of August.
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Re: Former Big Star/Colonial Locations Still Selling Groceries

Post by Groceteria »

Edric Floyd wrote:As of July 2010, a former Colonial/Big Star in Macon Georgia is now open as a Save A Lot.
Actually, that happened two or three years back with a Big Star location at a former Zayre Shopping Center (Eastway at The Plaza) in Charlotte as well and I forgot to note it. This one was, I believe, built as a Big Star, circa 1969, which happened with many of the Zayre centers in NC.
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Re: Former Big Star/Colonial Locations Still Selling Groceries

Post by SuperBonusStamps »

The Food Depot in Forest Park, GA on Morrow Road is a former Big Star (shopped there many times with my mom as a kid). I believe it became and A & P next and has been Food Depot. A good bit of it still remains the same as it was in 1975.
jimbobga
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Re: Former Big Star/Colonial Locations Still Selling Groceries

Post by jimbobga »

Krogerclerk mentioned the Peachtree city, GA, Big Star/A&P/Harris Teeter/Kroger back in May, and I thought I had responded, but apparently I didn't. When A&P left the Atlanta area, Harris Teeter did put their only southside metro Atlanta store at that location in Peachtree City. Before opening as Harris-Teeter, however, they bulldozed the store and built a new building on almost the same footprint. Two smaller stores adjacent to the Big Star/A&P were razed to slightly enlarge the new Harris-Teeter's area. Peachtree City folks tend to shop at whatever is closest to them because commercial areas are clustered in planned areas in separate "villages," and H-T shoppers were the same folks who had shopped there previously. When Kroger took over, the regulars supported the store, but Kroger didn't. It was half the size of the other two Kroger stores in PTC, and it didn't last but about three years. It also looked more like a Fresh Market than a Kroger, and definitely didn't fit the Kroger image. A Goodwill store was rumored to take over the space, but Peachtree City folks squawked so loudly that it never got past the planning stage. Today the store sits empty.

So yes...that store did transition from Big Star through Harris-Teeter only interrupted by some major demolition.
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Re: Former Big Star/Colonial Locations Still Selling Groceri

Post by rt22306 »

The Bo's Supermarket on Pine Street, Lumberton, NC used to be a Colonial store as I remember back in the 1960's. Haven't been in the store in over 20 years though. The old A&P in the North Elm Shopping Center has been a Drugs America shop (or a similar name) since about 1985.

On my next trip down home, I plan to take some pictures of these properties. Bo's at one point was an IGA for some time. Between the Colonial days and IGA, it may have been a Red and White.

Correction: I heard from the owner of the Bo's Supermarket enterprise today; his store in Lumberton on Roberts Avenue was formerly a Big Star (a K-Mart was adjacent to it when the center was built). The Pine Street location used to be a Winn Dixie. (edited on May 8)
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Re: Former Big Star/Colonial Locations Still Selling Groceri

Post by ajsanjua »

Elizabeth City, NC - former Colonial/Big Star - amazingly still open as Food Lion
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