56M-1: The Hybrid Format - Publix #1363 - Brookhaven, GA

Publix #1363

Town Brookhaven

104 Town Blvd Ste A100

Brookhaven, GA 30319

Previously, I was unaware that Sienna (CM 3.0) and Invigorate (CM 2.5) both made their debut in 2010. I also didn't realize that Publix's second-generation 54M prototype first-gen 56M prototype was the first store to introduce the world to the Sienna Environment Package. So far, I have learned of three "Hybrid Format" concepts which were designed to incorporate elements from a standard Publix and a GreenWise store to create a more premium shopping experience. While I was anticipating to capture this store with all of its early Sienna design quirks, I missed the mark by a few months and found this store had been Evergreen'd. Although I was upset to find that some of the more unique aspects of this store had been wiped away, I still got to see some strong influences from the Hybrid concept which live on to this day, in addition to remnants of 2011's prototype version of Sienna.

I've now been to three 2011-2012 era Sienna stores and all of them seem to be located in wealthier areas of the Atlanta Metro. It seems as if Publix initially intended for Sienna to be the décor used in premium stores while Invigorate targeted the majority of the Publix footprint. I've also learned that there were three distinct eras of Sienna, with the third being the most common, the second being fairly wide-spread, and the first, which this store originally featured, being very elusive.  Although this store has been remodeled to Evergreen, we will get to see some of the unique aspects that still remain. If you want to have a better idea of how this store looked when it opened, AFB posted about its sister location (the third Hybrid Format store) back in 2019 and was able to capture a few of the early Sienna oddities.  We can't take a time machine back to see how this store looked a year ago, but we can see how it looks in 2022; let's check it out!

The Store

Publix #1363 opened on April 21, 2011, as the second largest ITP Atlanta store (behind 1996's #536).  It still surprises me to see such a large supermarket built within Atlanta's I-285 perimeter; with that being said, this store was constructed on top of a parking garage to allow it to fit in a more condensed space. Another unique aspect I notice from the picture above is how the store has two exits. Typically, the modern 54M-2 will only have one entry and one exit, both centered on the store.

Walking inside, we see the typical cart storage area between the two sets of doors. This is one time when I was really saddened to not find any green beans!

Much of this section of the store will look familiar to anybody who has been to a second-gen 54M. The primary exception I see is the café and accompanying seating area. Publix seems to only build cafés in more premium markets.

Taking a look back over the front end, nothing looks too out of place here. The main thing I noticed was the island containing various lottery forms. It seems like these are typically placed in a branded fixture against a wall, and not in a Publix-supplied cabinet. This store also managed to keep its original round customer service island. Both earlier CM 2.0 and later Invigorate / Sienna stores also have a section of dropped ceiling within the ring hanging from the ceiling, but this store's was just hollow.

Stepping into the produce department, I see a few things that Publix decided to change in later stores. The first is the green arc. In newer stores, the orientation of this was flipped and shifted toward the coolers. Additionally, "Produce" signage would have been attached to this and not simply hung independently.

Is it just me, or does anybody else feel like the green on the arc clashes with the brown ceilings in this store?

Looking over toward the bakery in the front right corner, we see a sight that looks pretty familiar. We also can catch a glimpse of the edge of the café in this shot. I would like to point out how the bakery received mosaic tiles between the larger blue tiles; this is a pretty consistent sign of a store which was built before the 2016 (3rd-gen) Sienna refresh.

Next, we see the deli, hot food bar, and specialty cheese island. While this may look similar to other stores, there a few subtle differences. The first is that only premium stores receive a hot food bar or a specialty cheese island. Others would just have coolers in these locations with various cheeses or pre-made deli products. The other thing is how the sliced meats counter was swapped with the chicken and sandwich station in this store, compared to later builds of the 54M-2

I really wish I had seen this store before it was remodeled, because it previously featured a unique wood-grained deli department sign.

With a quick look back toward the front, we see the café and seating area which call the "multipurpose nook" to the right of the door home. Similar to the space in the front right corner of 42N & 49N stores, I have seen a number of different departments call this space home in the 54M-2.

This store still placed wine in the back right corner, but it looks as if it received more premium wooden shelving and a sommelier desk. It also retained a painted version of its round Sienna department signage.

Let's take one last look at the grand aisle before we move on.

I wonder how often this store has a wine specialist on-site because this station looks fairly empty.

I did manage to take a picture of this tile pattern though; you won't see this one in any-ole Publix!

Next, we'll move onto the seafood department. This is another department which had unique signage back in its Sienna days because it looks like it featured lights with a wave pattern.

One of the easiest ways to identify an early Sienna remodel is this unique brown tile pattern behind the seafood counter. Publix eventually landed on this blue one, and it seems most of the prototypes, whether new builds or remodels, received that treatment.

This store also seems to have received seafood display cases which look more premium than the ones in a standard Publix.

Here is another angle of the meat counter, and its striated muscle tile pattern.

Aisles 1 & 2 are recessed a bit from the main actionway and have a specials island in the extra space.

We'll take one more look at meat & seafood before we move on.

Aisle 4 is home to canned vegetables and pasta.

One big thing I noticed while wandering the grocery aisles of this store was the presence of these specialty endcaps every few aisles. Most of them seemed to feature gourmet or organic items, which would make sense with this store being a "Hybrid".

Returning to the back aisle, this view looks largely the same as any 54M-2. The one indicator of this store's status is the premium endcap on the edge of the frame.

Aisle 5 houses this store's selection of crackers, cookies, and office supplies . . .

in addition to candy!

Aisle 7 has beer and snacks, while aisle 8 contains the first half of frozen. I've also noticed how some stores' Evergreen aisle signs look like this and feature green frames, while others have grey frames.  I believe Publix recycled the green Sienna frames wherever they could but opted to purchase grey frames for most new-builds or non-Sienna remodeled stores.

I was hoping to channel more of my puns / sarcasm for this post, but nothing in these pictures seems to be calling my name.  Anyway, between the brown-tinted terrazzo, brown coolers, and brown ceiling, I think this store's interior is more EverBrown than EverGreen.

Aisle 9 has the remainder of frozen food and some nice khaki colored refrigerators – not the color I would've picked!

The remaining grocery aisles seem to be laid out the same as most other modern Publix stores. I would like to point out how this store has two emergency exits in this corner of the store, compared to most typically only having one; maybe this relates to the store's slightly larger size as a 56M? We also can see another GreenWise display on the endcap.

Aisle 14 features soap and cosmetics.

I'm not sure if you'll find this in a regular Publix (because I haven't really looked), but I noticed that this store had a random section of organic or specialty dental hygiene products next to the standard fare. I think the idea behind the "Hybrid Format" was to sprinkle sections like this throughout the store to provide a more upscale selection of products.

Meanwhile, aisle 15 is where you'll find yogurt, cheeses, and butter. I find it odd that water is also on this aisle, because the non-refrigerated space is typically reserved for bread, peanut butter, and jelly in other prototypes. Although the aisle signs list bread and jelly as being on this aisle, I don't see it in my pictures!

I do like the glass tiles Publix used for their pharmacy counters with Sienna.

Now we'll take a look at the "front speedway" as Publix calls it. If you didn't notice, this store also got more premium shelving for these pharmaceutical aisles in the front of the store.

This store may not have as many cards as #1228 which we toured a few weeks ago, but it still looks like a lot when it takes up the entire side of an aisle.  Greeting cards must have some high margins!

I've previously seen this collage in another Evergreen store, but I love how the designers in this package decided to leave a subtle gesture toward this store's Sienna past. The green beans may no longer be by the entrance and the artichoke may not be in the produce department, but they are still here!

The honeycomb pattern also does look nice above the pharmacy.

In the edge of this picture, you can see this store's second set of exit doors, which feels really odd if you are used to seeing the very similar 54M-2.  This seems to be a defining feature of 56M stores, or a 50,000 sq. ft. prototype I recently discovered in North Carolina.  We can also see more of the wood shelving where customers can find various supplements and health products.

While these aisles of pharmaceuticals look rather standard, I did notice that the two "vitamins" category markers did not match. I'm not sure whether this was intentional, or if one was new and one was left over from Sienna (I've never paid much attention to how these vary between décors).

Adding to the premium feel, this store also received a goat soap display.  As I've mentioned before, these seem to be reserved for higher-end locations.

Something I had never previously seen in a Publix were these fancy drink/snack coolers by the registers

It looks like Publix even went through the effort to add the Evergreen-style grey wood grain to these as an update.

Since I always seem to catch Publix with some sort of holiday decorations, this particular trip found the store making preparations for Passover.  However, I didn't notice much besides this sign acknowledging the religious celebration.

Another sign of this store's premium nature is the presence of an Apron's Catering counter.

Another fun tile pattern which you don't see every day!

We'll take one last look at the Café and entry door before we prepare the cabin for departure.

 A final thing I wanted to point out is how this store still sold bulk coffee. I don't remember the last time I saw bulk coffee with the accompanying grinder in a Publix, but I used to love smelling the different beans and asking to buy some just so I could use the grinder!

Interestingly, Publix didn't bother to change out the customer service island with the newer style of desk. I also noticed how Publix simply painted over the wood veneer on the "service" circle hanging from the ceiling because the Sienna wood pattern could still be seen between the outer ring and the inner light ring.  Regardless, that is probably something only a devout retail blogger would pick up on!

And that will conclude our tour of Publix's second store to feature the modern 54M layout (in a 56M) and the Sienna interior package. While I'm sad that I didn't manage to visit this store while it still had Classy Market 3.0, it was still a cool experience. Until next time!

- The Sing Oil Blogger

Kmart #7294 - Vero Beach, FL - The Klosing Koncludes

Kmart #7294

1501 US Highway 1, Vero Beach, FL - Indian River Plaza

     While I still have one more post-closure tour from this place to write about eventually, today's post will be my last of the five sets of photos I took documenting the closure process of the Vero Beach Kmart (coming to you at long last!). While the Vero Beach Kmart closed for good on December 1, 2019, my final visit to this store while in operation happened on November 21, 2019, about a week and a half prior to the official closure date. While probably good for business (but bad for me to work in a drive down here), the closure of the Vero Beach Kmart happened on Black Friday weekend. While I would have loved to make the trip here to document the final day, I got stuck working that entire weekend - the joys of working retail (which is much less fun than driving around documenting retail, trust me!). That being said, these photos from a week and a half out will serve as our final farewell to the Vero Beach Kmart, so let's jump into this:

     A week and a half prior to the closure, it was really beginning to feel like a stereotypical store closing sale. While my coverage of the liquidation up to this point showed the store in a semi-normal state, today's tour will certainly feel much different once we step through those doors. My prior visit to this store happened on Halloween 2019, although in the three weeks between my two trips, the store began to empty out to a much higher degree, sections of the store were being dismantled, and fixture sales were in full swing (as we can tell by that guy loading his new shelf into that trailer parked out front). It's all you could ever hope to see in a closing sale, so let's head inside and see it for ourselves:

     Stepping through the entrance and looking toward the back of the building, we see this aisle with some deep-discount clothing lining the center of it, with the jewelry counter also visible to my right (where you can find a deeply-discounted necklace to go with the bargain-priced new outfit of yours - just don't let your friends at the party know you're rocking some of Kmart's liquidation designs!).

     Fashion tips aside, we'll get back on track with our tour by turning right into the hardlines side of the store, following my usual loop through the building. The selection of merchandise was certainly thinning out, with empty space from removed shelves becoming home to random pallet drops of large items being pushed out from the back.

     Following the closure of this store's pharmacy in the late 2010's, new shelving was installed in front of the windows to block the space from view. With the closing entering the final stretch, the shelving in front of the old pharmacy was removed, exposing the counter to us once again.

     In much livelier times the pharmacy looked like this. Now the rest of the store was on its way to looking like the old pharmacy space - dead and abandoned.

     All the shelving along the front wall was removed, with any remaining merchandise consolidated into the aisles out front. After who knows how many years of sitting in the same spot, a lot of nasty gunk was left to build up under those shelves.

     Another one of the usual sights at a store closing: a totally empty aisle. I believe this was an aisle in the former health and beauty department along the front wall.

     Some pools were used to fill a void where a row of shelving was removed, placing those in the middle of the office supply department now.

     We're looking toward the seasonal department in this photo, with grocery on the other side of the aisle.

     Christmas decorations were placed in some empty space in one of the grocery aisles, so you could stock up on garland and crackers for the Christmas party (to which you'll be showing off that new Kmart outfit from before!).

     Another grocery aisle had become home to toys. As we'll see in a moment, the original toy department had been mostly dismantled by this time, leaving all the remaining toys to relocate over here.

     In addition to Christmas merchandise from before, there was still plenty of summer and Halloween stuff for sale too, so Kmart had all your seasonal occasions covered.

     The main portion of the seasonal department had become home to pallets of Christmas trees, a much less classy presentation for the trees than we would have seen in Christmases past.

     Beyond the seasonal department, as we move further into the back right corner of the store, we find it totally empty. Prior to the closure, we'd have been looking at toys immediately to my right, with sporting goods and hardware following that. Now all we see is a lone employee in a large empty space hauling a pallet of scrap - a sad scene for sure.

     Turning the camera a little more to the left, we can better focus on the pure emptiness back here.

     Continuing along the back main aisle, some pallet drops of furniture appear on the inner part of the aisle, with the fixture sale piling up along the back wall (where furniture and small appliances used to be).

     Sadly, the fixture sale here was quite boring. It was all shelves, racks, tables, and such - with no fun Kmart relics appearing that I saw. 50 feet of commercial grade metal shelving isn't really something I needed lying around the house, so I left here without buying any fixtures.

     In front of the fixture sale was some more furniture, most of which were the old display models now up for sale.

     Fixture sales continued along the back of the store into the area of the old Electro-pli-mattress department, ending at the transition into men's clothes.

     Plenty of clothing racks for sale, but no bluelight. As much as I probably don't need a spinning blue light on top of a pole, one of those would have made for an interesting conversation piece for the living room, or a really funky nightlight.

     From the back of the store, here's a look down one of the center cut through aisles, where housewares and some other random merchandise were thrown together.

    Taking a quick diversion into the housewares department, here's a look at some more empty shelving as the selection of merchandise thinned out.

     Moving further along, here's another cut through aisle, this one being the aisle that separates the clothing from the hardlines side of the store.

     Crossing that transition, here's a look into what remained in the softlines half of the store. While the hardlines merchandise was thinning out, there were still lots and lots of clothes for sale here. All of the clothing departments were stocked quite full, even with most merchandise over here marked at 80% off.

     While there were plenty of baby clothes for sale, all the other baby related merchandise was in slim pickings during this visit. We have some boxes of diapers and car seats along the wall, but most of the aisles of baby merchandise were removed, making this one of the largest empty holes on the softlines side of the store.

     Since the shelves in the baby department appeared to be freshly removed, I poked around the area a bit to see if any relics had been uncovered upon the shelves' removal. Wandering around, it didn't take me long to spot the nametag in the photo above! Since the nametag had the "Big Kmart" logo on it, it had to be hiding under that shelf for at least 20 years (and who knows how long it's even been since Tina last worked here too). Me being me, I decided try salvaging the nametag (as I figured I could clean it up), however, it was stuck to the floor (as that's some high quality gunk we're looking at there). Me still being me, when the nametag wouldn't budge from the floor, I walked over to the wall and grabbed an empty peghook to use as a prybar to lift the nametag up. My idea half-worked, literally. I was able to lift up a portion of the nametag, and when I tried to yank it off the rest of the way, I snapped it in half. The part of the nametag that said "Tina" on it went flying into the air, and the rest stayed stuck to the floor. Since I broke it I gave up after that, but we still have this photo to remind us of Tina's contributions to this store, as well as AFB's dumb ideas.

     Leaving the baby department, we have plenty more clothes to see. With all the clothes in here, I'd have to imagine there was still a lot of it left to sell on the last day (unless the Black Friday weekend shoppers really picked this place clean).

     Along the left side of the building, here's a look toward the long-closed KCafe.

     After the cafe was closed, it was converted into space for the clothing department (the junior's department specifically). Even nearing the end the old cafe was still serving that purpose, just a little more empty looking than it would have looked in the past.

     Nearing the end of our loop, here's one last look at the check lanes as we get in line to make our final purchases...

     Even though this store never displayed its "Store Closing" banner on the outside of the building, it did find itself a home here in front of the check lanes. Quite appropriately, the placement of the banner allowed the store's thank you sign to read as "Thank you for Shopping Kmart Store Closing" - I don't know if that was intentional or purely coincidental, but regardless, it was fitting.

     So at long last, that concludes my coverage of the Vero Beach Kmart closing sale! (However, if you'd like to see more, Cape Kennedy Retail took a set of photos at this store in its 3rd to last day in operation, which you can view here). While I would have loved to come back one more time near the end, I did come into this trip thinking it would be my final visit to my local-ish Kmart of 4 years, so I left without any regrets. Even though I'd only shopped at this store occasionally through its final few years, it was a fun change of pace to still have a Kmart within reasonable driving distance. I grew up with Kmart, so it was sad seeing my last little fragment of the chain close up in my area. As of today I now live three hours away from my next closest Kmart, located in Miami, one of three Kmart stores left in the mainland United States as of the writing of this post. I've been to that Kmart in Miami once (and you can view my tour of that store here), and that Kmart was a sad shell of its former self when I visited in Summer 2021. At least when Kmart closed in Vero Beach, the store still looked and felt "normal" with fully stocked departments and a typical assortment of merchandise you'd expect from a large discount retailer. The Kmart of the 2020's is basically an oversized clearance outlet, and it was a really sad experience walking around that Miami store. I give the employees of that store so much credit for keeping the place up as best as they can with what merchandise they have to work with, but the experience at that store was so much different from the Kmart we all remember. The Kmart we all remember is essentially gone, even if three stores still exist out there in name. It's a tragedy what happened to Kmart (and Sears too), but at least Kmart's downfall didn't go unnoticed. Unlike many chains of the past, Kmart will live on for many years more due to the hundreds (if not thousands) of photos all of us in this community took to keep the memory of this chain alive.

     Anyway, while my coverage of the Vero Beach Kmart's closure is done, I still have the post-closure coverage to bring to you before long. That post will explore what's become of this building since Kmart's departure, so keep a lookout for that! In addition, there will still be plenty more interesting stores to explore here on MFR in the future, so be sure to keep an eye out for more new content from myself and the other contributors!

So until the next post,

AFB