Bi Lo Equipment Auctions (Tennessee)

Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

Moderator: Groceteria

Post Reply
User avatar
storewanderer
Veteran
Posts: 569
Joined: 07 Nov 2005 03:24
Location: Western United States
Contact:

Bi Lo Equipment Auctions (Tennessee)

Post by storewanderer »

Some nice photos on the auction site.

These stores look a lot nicer than past Bi Los that I have seen come up on the auction site. One looks to be a former A&P; are the others former Winn Dixies?

http://www.grafeauction.com/auctions.cfm
Photobucket now allows for comments on each photo! http://s196.photobucket.com/albums/aa113/StoreWest/
jbarn02
Contributor
Posts: 27
Joined: 15 Mar 2006 18:58
Location: SOUTH CAROLINA, CHARLESTON

Red Foods Interior/Old Bi-Lo

Post by jbarn02 »

Hey guys on this auction this is a Bi-Lo interior I have never seen before. Is it from Red Foods? Link is provided from http://www.grafeauction.com

http://www.grafeauction.com/auctions/I'm ... 1&State=TN
User avatar
Groceteria
Great Pumpkin
Posts: 1927
Joined: 04 Nov 2005 12:13
Location: In the breakroom
Contact:

Re: Bi Lo Equipment Auctions

Post by Groceteria »

Actually, most of them look like they may well have born as Bi-Lo, although I'm not sure what that colonial/early american store might have been.
jimbobga
Contributor
Posts: 68
Joined: 10 Feb 2007 01:31
Location: Senoia, Ga

Re: Bi Lo Equipment Auctions (Tennessee)

Post by jimbobga »

The colonial-type of store was definitely a former Red Foods. There was one of this style visible just to the south on I-24 between I-75 and the "ridge cut" prior to descending into downtown Chattanooga. I was in one of these stores in the early nineties, and while the interior of the store was much more modern than the exterior, the squatty look of the store pretty much continued on the inside. My main memory is that the ceiling was extremely low for a large grocery store. I have no idea how many of this type of store was built.

The statement that most of these stores started out as Bi-Lo is pretty much accurate. Stores built in north Georgia [Ellijay, Gainesville, Elberton, and Clayton, for example] all had the same look, although the size of the stores varied.
krogerclerk
Veteran
Posts: 274
Joined: 05 Nov 2005 01:47
Location: Northwest Georgia

Re: Bi Lo Equipment Auctions (Tennessee)

Post by krogerclerk »

All five of these stores are original Red Foods, only the Browns Ferry location has its original Red Food exterior and interior. The southern colonial style was an evolution of the style of former owner H.G. Hills of Nashville. This store has been closed for 2-3 years and had not been remodeled by BiLo.

The Cookeville and Athens locations represent recent store closings while the Hixson Pike location in Chattanooga was recently replaced by a Super BiLo. BiLo expanded the stores and did a very good job obscuring the origins a Red Food, the new built stores in Ellijay, GA (now closed after a short stint as a Southern Family Market) and Chatsworth, GA are very similar to these stores. The Athens store is the only non-colonial style Red Food, having opened a few years prior to the Ahold acquisition of Red Food.

Red Food was owned by the French chain Promodes which also owned Houchens of Bowling Green, KY and was a partner with SuperValu in the Chicago area Cub Foods. After selling Red Food to Ahold, Houchens was returned to local ownership and their interest in Chicagoland Cubs sold to SuperValu. Previous Red Food owner, Hills, once was one of the mid-south's largest supermarket operators, operating Red Stores in Chattanooga, H.G. Hills in the Nashville region and Hills in Birmingham. The Alabama Hills were sold to Winn-Dixie in the early 60's and a few of them lasted into the 90's with their southern colonial exterior and "flowerpot" signage. Today only H.G. Hills survives, but as a wholesaler to independently operated stores in the Nashville region rather than an actual chain.
Post Reply