Lots to take in here. West Virginia itself is a goldmine for old retail artifacts due to the area's long-term economic decline (macabre as it sounds to celebrate that), and it's great to have both of the state's largest cities documented.
2957 5th Ave. in Huntington is a 1950s Kroger with a street-flush alignment. You can see the outlines of the original windows on the original front of the store (which is now the side), while a new front facade has been carved out of the original side.
1444 Madison Ave. is an early '50s A&P retrofitted with a '60s rooftop peak.
2627 5th Ave. threw me for a loop when I put together a
table of WV Kroger stores years ago because it didn't look like any other Kroger I had seen. The location table reveals the secret of the store's provenance: It was built as a
Cub Foods store, of all things! The Ohio River Valley is so far away from Cub Foods' present-day Minnesota home base that I'm astounded to learn that the chain made it there during its '80s heyday, but it did.
Over in Ashland KY, 1131 Blackburn Ave is a nice (albeit small) A&P centennial on a very small lot. And it's right next to a Tim Hortons! I'd feel right at home there.
Ironton is home to not one, but
two interesting Kroger artifacts. 520 S. 3rd St. is an early '50s blonde-brick structure with barrel roof, still standing in intact condition. It had an unusually long operational life, and bears clear signs of being expanded early in its history...on the back of the store, the brickwork has a clear seam as well as a stairstep around the original roofline.
2125 S. 3rd St. is its down-the-road superstore-era replacement (though oddly enough, the 1975 column lists both stores simultaneously)...and it looks
very odd with narrow frontage, a drive-through canopy with uneven gaps between columns, and a two-story structure with upper-level windows at the back of the store. It would be interesting to decipher the mystery of this building...it almost surely wasn't designed and built as a Kroger store, and it may not have even been built as a supermarket.