Big Star Sunday Opening...

[Crepehanger]

My apologies if this isn't the proper forum. Just a story to illustrate how much society has changed. My father-in-law used to deliver milk in Albany, Georgia. He said Big Star in the late 1960s was the first grocery store to open on Sunday--from 1-5! First Sunday they were open, he went in about 4PM to check on his milk. No one had bought any milk the whole afternoon. The manager had brought in two cashiers and sent them home by 2PM because nobody came into shop.

[Edric Floyd]

My apologies if this isn't the proper forum. Just a story to illustrate how much society has changed. My father-in-law used to deliver milk in Albany, Georgia. He said Big Star in the late 1960s was the first grocery store to open on Sunday--from 1-5! First Sunday they were open, he went in about 4PM to check on his milk. No one had bought any milk the whole afternoon. The manager had brought in two cashiers and sent them home by 2PM because nobody came into shop.

Do you happen to know where any of the Colonial/Big Star locations were in Albany? I suspect that a supermarket in Downtown near Phoebe Putney Hospital may have been a Big Star. Recently, it was a Harvey's and harvey's closed the store a few months ago.

[Crepehanger]

Like everything in Albany though, I think he said it was on Slappey Blvd.

[Edric Floyd]

Like everything in Albany though, I think he said it was on Slappey Blvd.

That's not the one I am thinking of. On Slappey, there are at least three Harveys markets and all of them are in older buildings that I suspect were not theirs originally. But the store I am thinking about is in the Downtown area and I cannot recall the name of the street downtown a block away from the hospital. The building is definitely from the 1960's or earlier.

I will get a picture next time I work in the area, which may be this week.

[todd]

I worked at Winn Dixie in early 80's and on Sunday, because of Blue Laws, it was illegal to sell panty hose!

[Dave]

I worked at Winn Dixie in early 80's and on Sunday, because of Blue Laws, it was illegal to sell panty hose!

We had much the same sort of Blue Laws in VIrginia when I was growing up. In fact, I'd always heard that the laws prevented you from buying anything that required you to cook it so that's why grocery stores were closed on Sunday.

The local Standard Drug had a basement where they sold toys, model cars, hardware and such, so they could simply close off the basement on Sunday, but they also draped over other stuff on the main floor they couldn't sell on Sunday.

Virginia still has some Blue Laws on the books, but it's a matter of local option as to whether or not to have Sunday sales bans. To have Sunday sales, voters must approve Sunday Sales in a referendum, which brings up a somewhat interesting chapter in Virginia history.

Back in the early 1970's when the state first allowed for localities to opt out of the Blue Laws, the referendum question was worded so that a "Yes" vote was in favor of keeping the laws in place and a "No" vote was to allow Sunday sales. That made for some interesting results - for example, Chesterfield County voted in favor of Sunday sales in the first referendum, while neighboring Henrico County did not. At the time, Chesterfield was not as developed as Henrico as far as retail was concerned and was much more conservative. The result of the voting was laid to ballot confusion. Henrico overwhelmingly voted in favor of Sunday sales in the next vote after the ballot question was reworded.

[Crepehanger]

The store that my father-in-law mentioned was the Colonial on Williams Street near Dawson Road. The other Colonial was over on Jefferson and Oglethorpe and there was another in East Albany next to the Roses. He said that the oldest Colonial was at the corner of Jackson and Oglethorpe.

[Edric Floyd]

The store that my father-in-law mentioned was the Colonial on Williams Street near Dawson Road. The other Colonial was over on Jefferson and Oglethorpe and there was another in East Albany next to the Roses. He said that the oldest Colonial was at the corner of Jackson and Oglethorpe.

With those locations, they had to have a Colonial within walking distance of each other. I do remember that each of these locations were Harvey's markets.

Williams Street/Dawson & Slappey. This is across from the Krispy Kreme and is a Harveys store. It looks like an 80's remodel

Oglethorpe and Jefferson: was a Harveys and is now an auto parts store.

In East Albany (on Oglethorpe) The Roses store and shopping center looks like a former Winn Dixie. (may have been a WD after Colonial/big star.) There is a (1990's) WD marketplace store a mile east of the Roses.

Harveys is in a former greenhouse Kroger across from the newer Winn Dixie. And there is an IGA market in the area as well.

Thanks for the info on the Albany Colonials.

[Crepehanger]

The oldest Colonial was Jackson and Oglethrope. Then, they closed that one when they opened the one on Jefferson and Oglethrope.