Former Winn-Dixie #420
Timeless Antiques & Flea Mall
Chambers Square
Valley, AL 26854
Marketplace Madness 2025: Simply Timeless
Welcome to the third chapter in this year's Marketplace Madness series! Last time, we traveled all the way to Mississippi to visit Retail Retell and check out a rare Double-Dixie along with a couple of former Sing Stores. I also hope that by now you've had the chance to read my extensive piece outlining the origins of the Marketplace concept and how the mistakes made during the 1970's and 1980's eventually led to Winn-Dixie's 2005 bankruptcy.
Today, however, we'll travel to The Yellow Hammer State to get a better feel for how a Winn-Dixie actually looked during the 1980's. Let's see what Valley has to offer.
Background
Situated way down yonder on the Chattahoochee, just across the state line from Georgia, the circa 1980 City of Valley, Alabama, encompasses the four historic textile mill towns of Shawmut, Langdale, Fairfax, and Riverview. Much of the textile industry left the Chattahoochee Valley region of West Georgia and East Alabama following the passage of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, which led to a constant stream of mill closures during the 1990's and 2000's. "According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 19,300 textile mill jobs remained in Georgia in 2017—a 60.5% decrease since 2001." (New Georgia Encyclopedia) These shuttered mills left behind small villages and large, vacant buildings throughout the region, which serve as subtle reminders of the once thriving industry.
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| The radial layout of Shawmut recalls a bygone utopia centered around factory life. |
Valley also sits directly across Interstate 85 from Lanett, AL, (home of the famous Lanett Food & Drug), which itself is just across the state line from West Point, GA. The three cities have a combined population of just over 20,000 people and have recently experienced an economic uptick since the 2009 opening of a massive KIA plant. At least not all industry is gone from the region.
History
While I can't trace the exact lineage of Winn-Dixie #420, I believe this store's first ancestor opened in Lanett's Cherry Valley Shopping Center during the 1960's alongside a Roses. The only mention I was able to find of this early Winn-Dixie or Kwik Chek location was in a wedding announcement, but that was good enough for me.
Kwik aside: I just learned that the "Kwik Chek" name stems from the fast checkout experience. The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer puts it this way, "The catchy and unusual store name, Kwik Chek, comes from the speedy checking-out process installed at the stores. Six checking-out lanes are located in the front of the new supermarket. Each cashier's station is equipped with a conveyer [sic] belt which transports the groceries handily to the package man. If the cashier gets ahead of the packager he or she can place a divider between the next shopper's items, then continue checking without interruption."
The massive SNAP retailer spreadsheet shared with me a few weeks ago indicates that Winn-Dixie #420 in Shawmut, AL, accepted food stamps from June 5, 1974 - January 20, 1994; however, the limited newspaper articles I found seem to indicate otherwise. Let's see why.
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| The Daily Standard (Newspapers.com) - July 18, 1976 |
The earliest mention of the Chambers Square Shopping Center was this 1976 article from a Missouri paper (of all places). At the time, Kuhn's-Big K was planning to open two new stores: one in Central City, KY, and another in Lanett, AL. It states that, "The Shawmut-Lanett Big K will also be a 40, 250 square foot store and will be situated in Chambers Square Shopping Center on Highway 29." The store had a scheduled completion date of Q2 1977.
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| The Park City Daily News (Newspapers.com) - July 24, 1977 |
Thanks to a paper from Kentucky, I learned that the 80th Big K store eventually opened in Q3 1977, indicating that the initial predictions weren't too far off.
Likewise, the first mention I found of the new Winn-Dixie was in a wedding announcement from May 1978.
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| The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Newspapers.com) - September 13, 1977 |
A common theme I've found from new shopping centers of this era is that local residents often complained about new water runoff problems. The massive paved parking lots certainly absorb less water than the grassy land which preceded them, which means the neighbors likely had valid concerns.
Regardless, the article specifically calls out the "new" Chambers Square Shopping Center, which tells me that Big K wasn't the only business to open up shop that year in the plaza.
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| The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Newspapers.com) - December 7, 1977 |
Joining Big K and Winn-Dixie was Lee Drugs as the shopping center's pharmacy. The Columbus, GA-centered Lee Drugs and the Atlanta, GA-centered Reed Drugs were already a division of Peoples Drug at the time, and the pharmacy in Shawmut seemed to last through at least 1988.
Thanks to a tip from Swifty, I learned that Lee and Reed were sold to Bruno's Big B Drugs in 1989. Big B was later sold to Revco in 1996, and Revco was acquired by CVS in 1997. Swifty commented that, "They hadn't even finished (or started?) changing out signage from Big 'B' to Revco when [Revco was] purchased. But [Lee] ultimately became CVS. They just took the scenic route to get there."
Lanett currently has a 2000's standalone CVS just across the street from Kroger, which likely traces its lineage back to the old Lee Drugs.
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| The Opelika-Auburn News (Newspapers) - February 14, 1985 |
In 1981, Wal-Mart purchased Big K and converted most stores to the Arkansas-based brand. In the following years, Wal-Mart decided to remodel and expand the Shawmut Big K to better match the company's larger stores. The article above claims that Wal-Mart added 20,000 square feet to the building, with construction estimated to have been completed by fall 1985.
I compared several satellite images of the shopping center and realized that Wal-Mart wasn't the only store who expand in 1985. It looks like the entire shopping center received an addition toward the street, with one lonely section of garage door bays remaining set back at the original line. I wonder if these were used as a Wal-Mart auto center?
The Winn-Dixie specifically received an extra 10,000 square feet of space, bringing the store up to 30,000 sq ft in total.
Despite not knowing whether or not this Winn-Dixie lasted until 1994, I did find a sales flyer showing that it was still around in July 1991. I presume that the many factory closures paired with the larger FoodMax opening down the street and competition from the nearby Kroger really put a strain on business.
As The Albertsons Florida Blogger once told me, thrift stores and antique malls tend to be some of the best places to spot bygone supermarket interior designs, and today's store whole-heartedly backs that up. I especially need to thank frequent reader Swifty who tipped me off about this store several years ago.
As you can tell, dusk was beginning to fall as I approached the store on that February evening. That didn't stop me, though, considering how the "timeless" antique mall stays open until 7 PM.
But what time zone am I on? What country am I in?
That question actually isn't as straightforward as one would think. Contrary to popular belief, not all of Alabama is located in the Central Time Zone. At some unknown point in time, the four East Alabama cities of Lanett, Valley, Smiths Station, and Phenix City agreed to adopt Eastern Time as their standard despite lying west of the Chattahoochee in Central territory. It even takes 4 miles of driving on I-85 South before you cross into "slow time." (Locals typically refer to the time differences as "fast time" and "slow time" or "Georgia time" and "Bama time".)
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| Courtesy Timeless Antiques & Flea Mall |
To counteract this confusion, most local businesses reassure customers that they are following the incorrectly correct business hours by posting the preferred time zone: Eastern Time.
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| The hours on Kroger's website are seemingly listed in Eastern Time. |
Rumor has it that all of the madness surrounding Valley Time resulted from several of the local textile mills being headquartered in West Point and thus wanting to run on a centralized time, Eastern Time. Additionally, the towns of Phenix City and Smiths Station are deeply intertwined with the vastly larger City of Columbus across the river. I suppose that makes sense!
You know what else makes cents? Today's antique mall, of course.
Stepping inside, we find the circa 1985 Winn-Dixie vestibule still functioning as such, with some added knick-knack cases off to my right.
Those blue buggies remind me of the Albertsons carts AFB spotted during one of his Winn-Thriftie visits – what a coincidence!
Just beyond the vestibule lies the register counter, located roughly where Winn-Dixie's old checkout lines would have been. It looks like instead of selling wedding cakes, the old bakery now showcases wedding dresses.
But wait, there's more! If you haven't picked up on it, the main reason I stopped in was to see pieces of an old Winn-Dixie – we certainly have them here!
Prior to the Marketplace craze of the late-1980's and 1990's, Winn-Dixie used a more rustic wood-trimmed design for its smaller "superstores" that felt straight out of the 1970's. That circa 1985 look obviously remained in place here until this store closed in the early-1990's based on all of the wooden "windows" we see today.
The only downside is that the antique mall took down most of the old signage and painted many of the walls. If you look closely, you can see where the wall above once read "HARVEST FRESH".
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| Courtesy Joo Yoon (Google Maps) - July 23, 2018 |
Speaking of produce, the antique store shockingly kept Winn-Dixie's old trellis in place through the late-2010's. I wonder what made them decide to finally take it down.
That same perspective in modern times shows how not much else has changed. I'm just sad that I missed out on the teddy bear tea party that was happening over to the left. I should have brought my fluffy companion I picked up at the old Albany #7 Sing!
I'll admit that I got very confused while I was trying to piece these photos back together. The only things that helped me to get my bearings were the fluorescent light strips along the ceiling. It helps that they generally run parallel to the front of the store.
Let's shift our glance down the next aisle of dusty things to look at a flag, a tiger costume, some pillows . . .
. . . oh, and the lettering across the front of the store. That must be original!
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| 1967 Winn-Dixie Annual Report (archive.org) |
My justification came when I was scrolling through the Pleasant Family Shopping blog and spotted this photo pulled from Winn-Dixie's 1967 annual report. That seems to be a match, doesn't it?
Now I just wonder if The Beef People continued to use this font long after 1967, or if the text above the registers was reinstalled following the 1985 addition. I'm leaning toward the former, because that seems like a lot of effort to salvage decor pieces during a remodel. Isn't that neat!
I'm unsure whether this wall advertised "LUNCHEON MEATS" or "PRESTIGE MEATS". Now it just advertises a Taylor Swift album (no reference needed).
Here is something you don't get to see every day: the stockroom of an old Winn-Dixie.
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| Make Antique stores Great Again. |
I'm always amazed by how tall the ceilings can be in these old supermarkets, so much so that this store originally had several mezzanine-level offices. Of course, now the old storage space is simply an extension of the booths we saw up front.
We'll re-emerge below the lower portion of the ceiling which used to frame the meat cases. I wonder why all of those light sockets were installed on the soffit.
I spy: some dishes, a doll, a dresser, a desk, and a pair of doves. What can you find?
I'll also highlight the sets of backlit numbers next to the sign for "Key's Korner." I often see similar ones to these in "modern" Marketplaces, which makes me wonder if Winn-Dixie used them as some sort of paging device.
Let's keep stitching our way through the store as we continue down the old dairy and frozen foods aisle. Wouldn't it be cool if we could see what this place looked like in 1977!
I'd love to know how Timeless Antiques landed on red, yellow, and green for its paint colors. Were the designers inspired by the stoplight out front?
Okay, I admit that I had to throw in a plug for the bizarre pizza sign I saw at the nearby Subway. Has anybody else ever seen such craziness?!
Isn't that nice: they left a small patch of the deli / bakery tile visible!
No wonder the service sucked at the deli – nobody is even back here to take my order!
Right now, I previously would have been standing in front of the old deli cases. Since I can no longer get my tuna salad fix, I guess I'll have to settle for the word salad on that "Motorcycle & ATV" sign.
Does this tile remind anybody of an old Sing Store? It seems that the glossy orange subway tile trend was in full swing by 1985.
Since it's already close to closing time, I think we are about to wheel on out of here and head on down the road. I'm just shocked that I only spent around 10 minutes inside the store based on my photo timestamps!
I'll also go out on a limb to say that the mirrored columns we see above likely line up with the original storefront.
Why, it has been a pleasure indeed!
If you ever doubted my suspicions about the text on the front wall, well my final clue was only slightly obscured by a set of antique ice block tongs (?). That, of course, is the scarring from lettering which once read, "at Winn-Dixie." Since they never painted this wall, it was quite easy to read!
What do you say, let's do the time warp again!
It's just a jump to the left, and then a return to one of my previous shots. Based on everything we see, I have to wonder if this old clock used to hang over one (or all) of the old register lines. Just some food for thought.
Once I stepped back outside, my phone decided to step back in time an hour (which really threw me off when I saw my nighttime shots were taken before the daytime ones).
I guess that's part of the fun of being in the no man's land of time zones: it's always 5 o'clock in Margaritaville!
Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed that tour of a nifty Winn-Thriftie. With March soon drawing to a close, we only have one final round of Marketplace Madness 2025 left in play. The championship of the 1980's is scheduled for Sunday, April 6th, and I have a feeling that you won't want to miss seeing Alabama (the band): it is sure to be a Dixieland delight.
Stay thrifty,
- The Sing Oil Blogger
