Publix #720 / Former A&P Food Market #008
West Paces Ferry
Atlanta, GA 30327
I used to think the only interesting history Publix had was in Florida, but have since discovered a wealth of information about some of the chain's Georgia stores. For those who don't know, Publix acquired 9 A&P stores (Publix stores #717 - #725) in the Atlanta Metro in 1999 to expand their footprint in the dense city landscape. While some of these stores, including #720, were remodeled beyond recognition or torn down, there are still others, including Publix #725, which still operate out of an A&P-built store.
Courtesy Newspapers.com - The Atlanta Constitution - October 26, 1978 |
I've not been able to confirm the exact history of the current store, but A&P originally opened at this location in September 1959. Due to the time period, I believe it would have been one of their Centennial Stores, some of which can still be found in the wild. I read online where this store closed in 1999 when A&P formally withdrew from the Atlanta market and was one of the last Centennial Stores in the region to remain an A&P. The same person also stated that Publix did a complete rebuild of the interior of this store, which would make sense based on how old the original store was.
Courtesy Newspapers.com - How the I-75 & W Paces Ferry intersection has changed over 40 years - June 1, 1998 |
Historically speaking, A&P built this store adjacent to the northern end of Atlanta's Northwest Expressway (now I-75) which was completed in 1957. Change would come again when construction crews finished the next segment of interstate to Marietta in 1966, essentially bypassing this intersection for most travelers. Conversely, I guess this location still must do really well for Publix to want to keep it, and all of its quirks,
so badly. After all, West Paces Ferry is known for being one of the most
expensive streets to live on in the city, and this store is a mere 2
miles from the Georgia Governor's Mansion.
While searching the newspaper archives, I also found that this A&P was one of the first vendors approved to sell scratch-off tickets for the Georgia Lottery. In a June 24, 1993, article, a list of approved lottery vendors in the area was printed, preparing readers for where tickets could be purchased the next day (the first day of sales).
Based on my rough estimate, this store is close to 22,000 sq. ft., which makes it the smallest Publix I have been to. Just for reference, South Beach's Wing Store is just over 23,000 sq. ft. and the new Publix at Perimeter Marketplace (which was built as a GreenWise Market) is just over 25,000 sq. ft. Meanwhile, most stores Publix builds are approximately 45,000 sq. ft. while the biggest ones I have seen top out at 65,000 sq. ft. With that bit of background, let's take a look at this odd store.
Foursquare - Publix #721 with CM 1.0 |
Thanks to GeorgiaPubDude for sharing this photo with me.
The Store
I originally came to tour this store after seeing every picture on Google Maps depict it with Classy Market 2.5 (Invigorate). While I was saddened to discover this store had been remodeled to Sienna at the tail end of 2019 (The permit was issued on November 18, 2019), just before Evergreen was rolled out as a remodel package, it was still an interesting layout to look at.
Something I find odd is how the Atlanta Division seemed to do some
last-minute Sienna refresh remodels. So far, I have seen 3 stores get a
2019 Sienna refresh using some non-standard stock photos. These stores
otherwise look the same as any other Sienna store, but it does make me
wonder if a longtime employee became sour because some of their favorite
stock photos were rejected in favor of the infamous green beans (swapped for celery), artichoke (swapped for oranges), and apple (swapped for a P logo).
With this store being the exception, the other two refreshes I have
seen had Classy Market 3.0 for years prior to the 2019 refresh, so I
wonder why Publix would bother swapping out some stock photos at the
tail end of a decor package. Regardless, this store had two new stock
photos which I had not previously seen anywhere else: fire & ice. I have since seen those pictures in a handful of late-Sienna stores, but I'd say they are fairly rare.
As you walk inside this store, you immediately find yourself in the produce department (the front door is located below the yellow section of wall). This is very odd for a Publix, since they tend to put the produce in one of the back corners of their older stores, or at least a little bit further from the door. I would have to imagine Publix inherited a large portion of A&P's layout, even if they gutted the store.
This shot really shows how crowded the front end of this store was. Half of the produce department basically blocks the customer service counter.
Another interesting thing I noticed about this store is how it received a unique terrazzo treatment. I've only seen two-toned terrazzo in Publix stores as new as the 1980's, but this floor would have been installed in 1999 or 2000.
Aisle 1 was home to the deli, bakery, seafood, and wine departments, as typical with Publix's first-gen 28M stores from the same era.
Peeking out from the back of aisle 4, we see the burning charcoal stock photo that I mentioned before. Since this store was so small, it was hard to get a good view of the whole thing. It still confuses me how I have only seen this particular graphic in one other store — I guess that means Sienna does have a few rare quirks!
For how small this store was, it is surprising how much of aisle 6 they dedicated to pet foods and supplies. Cleaning products took up the front half of the aisle.
Looking toward the back left corner of the store, we see part of the dairy department and the signs for aisles 7 & 8.
The remainder of dairy and frozen foods take up aisle 8. This is also where we are introduced to two more stock photos.
While I have seen the eggs countless times before, I have only been to one other store where I have seen this ice picture used. I also find it funny that due to this store's size, half of the ice picture isn't even over the freezers, but instead over the eggs!
Our last perspective is the floral department at the front end of aisle 8. I'm not sure why they decided to add the curved wall here, but I feel like this store was too small to really appreciate any affects from it other than claustrophobia. I also feel like flowers are something they could have omitted from this location. At least Publix didn't try to cram a pharmacy in here too!
Aerial Views
Below, you can get an idea of how constrained Publix was to fit a store into this shopping center. For reference, the large road on the left edge of the first two pictures is I-75, and the road just to the right of that is US 41 / Northside Parkway. Just off of the frame to the north marks where the Northwest Express Way ended at US 41 between 1957 and 1966.
Google Earth - A&P #8 - January 1993 |
Google Earth - Publix #720 - April 2002 |
Google Earth - Publix #720 - October 2021 |
And that will conclude my coverage of an oddly small Publix. Contrary to my Saturday posts on The Sing Oil Blog, I'll try to schedule my future MFR posts for Wednesdays. Check back in a couple of weeks to see which store I decide to cover next! Also, be sure to catch Part II of When Publix Waves Goodbye this Saturday on The Sing Oil Blog.
- The Sing Oil Blogger
A&P and the Atlanta Flames! Those are certainly two organizations who didn't exactly have a flaming hot future, lol. I wonder if there are any retailers with Atlanta Thrashers connections!
ReplyDeleteThe store looks pretty good for how small it is. The selection is certainly limited, but I've seen smaller grocers with far less in terms of service departments and so forth. The two-tone terrazzo looks good as well. Even with the small size, this store looks more loved than the Greenhouse Kroger not too far away with terrible tile scarred concrete floors. That Greenhouse Kroger is a bit strange with it having the service departments by the produce instead of the opposite side of the store. I don't think I've seen that before in a Greenhouse Kroger!
The small size, but not small features of this Publix reminds me a bit of the similarly sized Randall's (Safeway) in Austin, TX. That store packs a lot into a small space and still manages to look pretty nice. That Randall's has even less parking than the A&Publix though. Link: https://goo.gl/maps/7e4W9TvxU7xxvRe57
Nope, neither did very well in the long run! Maybe Winn-Dixie claimed the title for the Thrashers since both flew out of the city.
DeleteThe store certainly was in good shape, I just bet is gets very crowded around 5 PM as people are leaving work. I've been to that Greenhouse Kroger that you mentioned, and it isn't as bad as it looks in pictures. I believe the service departments were moved during a remodel because the ceiling is still lower over the freezer section where I think these departments used to be. The concrete floors aren't great and some of the wall signs are missing a few letters but that store is way better than the former Greenhouse store just south on Howell Mill Road.
The Randall's looks like it has a bit more room for the produce department, etc. but the aisles look vary narrow. The pictures online make the store look nice!
While I have record for the largest Publix stores out there, I don't know for sure what the smallest is, but this one is certainly a contender for that title. I really thought store #94 in Coral Gables would have been a contender for the title too, but I measured it and that store is actually around 27,000 square feet, even though it's never been expanded outside of its original structure from the early 1960's! Store #94 is being replaced at the moment, but when I visited that store, I was beginning to feel really claustrophobic myself, as the layout was bizarre and everything was so cramped! I seriously thought #94 would have been smaller than #720 with how cramped it felt, but it isn't. What's crazy is store #1754 in the old Lucky's was only 25,000 square feet, and felt so much more spacious than store #94 did! On the opposite end of the spectrum, I have been to Publix's largest store (the 80,000 square foot #1326, a former Jewel-Osco monster), and that was just as weird an experience as visiting what may be Publix's smallest store at 22,000 square feet.
ReplyDeleteThis store is quite interesting with the placement of the produce, but other than that is similar to an early-gen 28M, just with one less aisle (as #720 has 8 aisles, a standard early-gen 28M has 9 full aisles). I have a Publix near me that did one of those odd Sienna to Sienna remodels in late 2019, but I haven't looked too closely at the stock photos on the wall to see if the charcoal or the ice ones showed up.
The fact that this store is smaller than #91 (the Wing Store in Miami) and #94, makes me think this location is pretty high in the rankings for Publix's smallest store. I can't imagine how small the A&P was if Publix added a few extra storefronts when they took over: possibly close to 20,000 sq. ft.! I'm sure if I had gone to #790 during rush hour, I would've had a much less pleasurable experience. #1754 sounds like it is very similar to the GreenWise-turned-Publix I went to because it was in the 25,000 sq. ft. range. While that store's layout was a bit more typical for Publix, it almost felt more claustrophobic than #790 (maybe it was because I went around 5-6 PM).
DeleteI can't imagine how they manage to fill #1326 at 80,000 sq. ft.! While I've only seen a Publix-built 65,000 square-footer as my largest store, they still manage to handle the space pretty well. As an added bonus, I bet it would not feel claustrophobic during rush hour.
This store did feel a lot like one of the first-gen 28M stores on the inside. Who knows, maybe your local Publix likes the fire-and-ice too!