Former Kroger Stores in Jackson MS

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KMJonOBR
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Former Kroger Stores in Jackson MS

Post by KMJonOBR »

Kroger Superstores and Kroger greenhouse styles are my favorite style Krogers, I must say. I'm in the Jackson, MS area and there are a few former Kroger stores that still scream Kroger although they are operated by another chain or went into other uses entirely.

Kroger Superstore 384 = Now AAA Wholesale, located at 311 W Northside Drive in Jackson, is a former Kroger Superstore 384. Although the entrance was relocated from the side to the front it still screams Kroger Superstore. This store, after Kroger, went on to be a Jitney Jungle and later New Deal Supermarket, both local Jackson, Mississippi based chains. It is now AAA Wholesale, a wholesale type grocery store similar to that of Sam's Club just without the membership and it is pretty much untouched, still very "Kroger"ish outside and in, although Jitney relocated the entrance and replaced the corner entrance with a bank.

Kroger Superstore, 2885 Terry Rd Jackson, MS. = This store is now a Fred's Discount Dollar Store and the outside and in still screams Kroger Superstore. The entrance was relocated from the side to the front are the only major changes. This store was closed and replaced by a newer Kroger with the " millenium" decor, just down the road.

Kroger Greenhouse, 2101 Raymond Rd Jackson, MS = This store caused some controversy in the end. Due to "changing neighborhoods," Kroger closed this store in 2007, but not without protest by city councilmen, the store was not underperforming. This store, inside and out, are still untouched and has sit vacant since. It is becomming "Vowell's Marketplace" soon, a local Mississippi based grocery chain.

I'm guessing a 1950s style Kroger in Westland Plaza at 2526 Robinson Street? According to the realtor that does the leasing at Westland, he said that this McDade's Market started its life out in the 50s as a Kroger before later becomming Jitney Jungle, Winn-Dixie now locally owned as McDades. It doesn't scream superstore, so I'm guessing its pre-superstore. I'm guessing this store was replaced by a Kroger greenhouse at 3171 Robinson St which is also closed and now a church.

Help me out Dooney if I am wrong.
dooneyt63
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Re: Former Kroger Stores in Jackson MS

Post by dooneyt63 »

Westland Plaza did have a Kroger, but it was not where McDade's is now. That store was a Jitney Jungle from the time the center was built until it became Winn Dixie upon the buyout. The Kroger was on the other side of the "L" several doors down from the former McRae's department store anchor. The center, like many late 1950's-early 1960's builds, featured two grocery stores. The old Kroger was similar in size to the current McDade's, maybe slightly smaller. It was replaced by the now-closed Robinson Rd. superstore.

There was once a free-standing Kroger at Terry and McDowell Roads built of yellow brick. Built in the 1950's, it was definitely pre-superstore but was larger than the strip center stores of the day. It housed a Sherwin-Williams paint store after Kroger vacated, not sure if it's still the tenant or not. It was replaced by the superstore now housing Fred's. Another early Jackson Kroger was on West Capital Street at Mid-City Mart. This became Jitney then Winn Dixie. It may be an independent or simply closed. It shared a center with Southwest Drugs, then Super D.

Finally, the 311 W. Northside Drive superstore replaced a strip center store at Triangle Mart at the corner of North State St. and Northside Dr. now housing a Fred's. Many of the staff members of the first Jackson superstore on I-55 North (now of course substantially remodeled)
came from the Triangle Mart store including manager Mr. Long and longtime cashier Mrs. Moody. Prior to the opening of the Triangle Mart store, there was briefly a store at nearby Meadowbrook Mart, later operated as a Liberty then a Jitney Jungle then a Food Center then back to Jitney Jungle before finally closing.
KMJonOBR
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Re: Former Kroger Stores in Jackson MS

Post by KMJonOBR »

You said Kroger - Westland Plaza was replaced by a the now closed Superstore on Robinson Rd? Where was this superstore at? I do know of a now closed Kroger greenhouse on Robinson Rd.
KMJonOBR
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Re: Former Kroger Stores in Jackson MS

Post by KMJonOBR »

Sherwin Williams is now a cotenant in the same building currently housing Brookshires and Albertson's prior to that, also at the corner of Terry Rd and McDowell Rd beside the superstore now a Fred's.
dooneyt63
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Re: Former Kroger Stores in Jackson MS

Post by dooneyt63 »

Actually, the Robinson Road replacement store was a greenhouse, one of the earliest. The small store at Westland Plaza actually outlasted the Triangle Mart store that was its virtual twin. By the time WP was replaced the greenhouse had superseded the superstore.

I thought Sherwin-Williams had relocated. I was there in December but didn't pay that much attention. The corner store was originally a fascinating Kroger. It was never remodeled and closed when the superstore now housing Fred's was built and opened. I did go in Fred's, and it does have the strong superstore feel. Even the ventilator fan over the entry doors is still there.
KMJonOBR
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Re: Former Kroger Stores in Jackson MS

Post by KMJonOBR »

Maybe the corner of Terry & McDowell Kroger was demolished and replaced later with Albertsons which is now Brookshires. I dont see any indication that the Brookshires store is using any of the original Kroger structure.

Kinda off subject, but the two original Kmarts in Jackson at Hwy 80 and I-55 North, did they have a grocery store next to them? The Kmart on 80 is now Furniture Zone and the grocery space next door is a KJ Superstore but it still has a very strong grocery store feel. And the old Kmart on I-55 now a Big Lots looks to have an old grocery next door, do you know what they were?

Also the vacant big box at the corner of 80 and Robinson St behind the old Steak Shoppe, was it ever a grocery store? It looks to have most recently been an electronics store like CompUSA or something...
dooneyt63
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Re: Former Kroger Stores in Jackson MS

Post by dooneyt63 »

Both K-Marts were accompanied by A&P stores. The U.S. 80 store replaced the longtime A&P at Mart 51 which later became Big Star then Mart 51 Supermarket. Last time I was by there (Mart 51) it was a CitiTrends clothing retailer. It was a virtual A&P museum with original refrigeration from the early 1950's even in the late 1980's. The 80 store by Kmart became Fads & Frames after A&P. I think it might have been a Sunflower briefly. They took over the A&P's that were left when they pulled out of Jackson. I remember the West Capital and Pearl stores. I am hazy about Highway 80; A&P may have already closed it by then. I know the one on I-55 North was very briefly a Sunflower before the electronics/appliance store moved in...first owned by MP&L/Entergy then by Cowboy Maloney's. This store was basically the replacement for the Centennial at Highland Village(now Maison Weiss) and the store at Old Canton Road Plaza now occupied by Rainbow Whole Foods Co-op. Please e-mail at dooneyt63@yahoo.com if you want to chat about off-topic retail, etc. in Jackson.
KMJonOBR
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Re: Former Kroger Stores in Jackson MS

Post by KMJonOBR »

This next question is about the old Jackson Square Shopping Center on Terry Road in South Jackson. Looks to have once been a major retail mecca but now its almost completely 100% abandoned. I believe it once housed a movie rental store, Sherwin Williams, movie theatre, Zayre's and other stores. Was there ever a Kroger or any other supermarket here? Someone once said there was a Kroger here at one point, but I havent been able to confirm that.
KMJonOBR
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Re: Former Kroger Stores in Jackson MS

Post by KMJonOBR »

that's ineteresting about the Kroger that once existed on West Capitol Street at Mid-City Mart.. I looked at an early Jackson phone book and it too confirmed Kroger at 1204 West Capitol Street in Jackson... and if that's the case, the shopping center went on to become West Park Center and the store as you said became Jitney then Winn-Dixie is now a independent grocery wholesaler called Jackson Cash & Carry... if you go into this store, the decor in the former deli area definately doesn't go with the decor in the rest of the store. I know the stores decor is very Jitney and the decor in the deli matched right down the brick work of Kroger's pre-superstore.....This gets very interesting and I'm glad theres many of us on here that does our history homework...I'll go in there and ask if I can take pictures... maybe they'll let me.... if so, I'll post.....

PS I have yet to figure out where the Kroger was at Westland Plaza, I'll keep doing my homework...
dooneyt63
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Re: Former Kroger Stores in Jackson MS

Post by dooneyt63 »

There was never a Kroger at Jackson Square. The supermarket started as Giant Foods of America supplied by Malone & Hyde. It later became a large Jitney Jungle store with some specialty departments (many years before the Premier introduction) then closed fairly soon. Jackson Square's decline dates back many years.

The Kroger at Westland Plaza was on the side of the center where McRae's was the anchor store in the corner of the "L". This McRae's later became Wiener's. Facing the building, the store would have been several spaces to the left of McRae's. There were several smaller stores between (Thom McAn, Brady's/Person's/Ann's Children's Shop come to mind). It was before you came to the long space that housed Furniture Distributors for many years. The size of the frontage was approximately the same as the Triangle Mart store front housing Fred's on North State Street and Northside Drive. I am pretty sure it was long ago subdivided into smaller spaces. It would have been behind the front building that housed Shoney's Big Boy then Town Fish House that I think has been demolished along with a small service building that housed a Kentucky Fried Chicken and Castigliola's Seafood Market and later a beauty shop. These buildings once obscured some of the view of the McRae's wing. Westland was quite a place in its day with both supermarkets, W.T. Grant and F.W. Woolworth, Kent's Dollar Store, and Shainberg's, a Patterson Rexall, and many others.
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