Winn-Dixie #500 - Pinson, AL

Winn-Dixie #500

Pinson Marketplace

4701 Center Point Road

Pinson, AL 35126

In the Nick of Time: A Companion to the Troy, AL, Sing Oil Blog Post

Update (August 7, 2023): Scroll down for a look at this store's "Winning" interior remodel from 9/2022

Feel free to reread the original post discussing #500's original Marketplace interior, but nothing was added to this portion following this post's original August 20, 2022, publication.

Well I'm back, and I've done it to myself again:  after my last fully-featured fireworks show at the beginning of July, I thought I was done with simultaneous combo posts.  I'll tell ya, I must be a sucker for punishment because I did it again!  Today's posts may only include three stores in comparison to last month's four, but I felt it was important to publish my tour of Winn-Dixie #500 on the same day as former Winn-Dixie #423 due to their similarities.  I hope you'll enjoy the results of my spontaneous Alabama road trip (you can read more about that in the other post), but I think you are in for a treat!  With that, let's take a look at this portion of the post.

Some History

As typical with most of my MFR posts, I didn't spend the time to extensively research the history of this store or its predecessor.  That being said, I didn't have to look far to find the building which #500 replaced.

I was driving to the store when I looked off to my left and saw a blatant 1980's Winn-Dixie façade.  I didn't have time to stop inside the old store and don't know much about it, but I can guarantee you the Marketplace we will tour today replaced this location across the street.  Looking back, I somewhat regret not stopping in because that store seemingly has tons of chrome left behind in the old Winn-Dixie #416.  Oh well, that will give me another excuse to travel to Birmingham and provide an update on #500!

Courtesy The Birmingham Post-Herald (Newspapers.com) - August 1, 2001

Regardless, Winn-Dixie #500 replaced its shiny old predecessor on August 2, 2001, which is ironically 21 years to the day from when this store's first remodel was reported to begin.  On the other hand, I happened to visit this store 21 years to the day from when the newspaper above was published, which, if you can follow my logic puzzle, means I stopped at this store the day before its remodel was set to begin.  That, my friends, was intentional.

You heard me mention how I decided to change jobs in today's companion post; likewise, I had a few days of downtime during my transition.  I ended up clicking through various Winn-Dixie stores in the Birmingham area when I saw an odd décor I had never seen before.  This led me to reach out to my friend, The Albertsons Florida Blogger, and ask if he had ever seen the design.  He had not seen it in person, but coincidentally received an email from a contributor notifying him of this store's pending fate (shoutout to you, whoever you are!) and how it was up for a remodel to begin on Tuesday, August 2, 2022.  The contributor mentioned how he had never seen this décor in another Winn-Dixie (although, I stumbled upon a twin the next day), and shared a few pictures with AFB.  A few pictures are good, but they aren't quite the same as seeing a store with your own eyes. I took this as my inspiration for a spontaneous trip through Alabama, which I enjoyed every minute of!

Update (9/1/2022): It turns out there were more of these rare Marketplace stores at one time.  Flickr user Holcombe of Hidalgo shared a few pictures from this store in Covington, LA back in 2011; unfortunately, that store has since been remodeled to Down Down.

This post also marks another first for me:  it is the first time a picture from my DSLR has been featured on a blog post!  I would feel a bit odd carrying my camera inside the store, but nothing stopped me from snapping a quick pic of the road sign out front!  I'm sure it won't be long before the logo on that thing is replaced!

The façade of this store looks pretty typical for the late-1990's Montgomery Division stores (which are now serviced by the Hammond, LA, DC – the Montgomery DC closed a few years ago after the 2018 store closure round) except for one small addition.

Here's a hint, the addition wasn't on the left side of the building.

It was right in the middle (well, slightly on the right side).  According to AFB, this store received a rare vestibule design in conjunction to its rare interior.  The former Wildwood, FL, WD received a newer iteration of this vestibule, but neither of us are aware of any other stores to have received this feature during the 2001-2002 timeframe.  Subsequent stores, including the nearby #415 which lasted from 2003-2005, would have looked more like this and opened with the Purple / Maroon interior.

 

Anyway, back to this store.  Here's what the vestibule looked like on the inside . . .

. . . followed by the sales floor.  The keen-eyed amongst you may already spot some of the oddities of this store, but I'll point them out to the others in a minute.

First, let's take a quick look at the check lanes.  The lower ceiling over the registers is one iconic Winn-Dixie feature that this store didn't miss out on!

Heading back toward the bakery in the front left corner, we see some conventional-looking Marketplace signage (the sans neon variety).  It looks like this same signage was even used in other cream Marketplace variants. 

Otherwise, it was really odd seeing a Marketplace store have its bakery and deli in the front right corner of the store.  This space was typically used for the produce department in a Marketplace, and this location was probably one of the first to demo the new Purple / Maroon layout which was used until the 2004 bankruptcy.

Next up, is produce (and where the fun really begins).  The flooring in this department matches what we saw back in Hope Hull, AL, which illustrates more of the lines this package blurred between its predecessor (a mainline flavor of Marketplace) and its successor (Purple / Maroon).

We also see an enlarged and simplified version of the typical Marketplace signage.  The font may look a little dated, but I really like the simplified look of this store compared to the earlier editions of Marketplace.  The soft colors are also a welcome change.  Mind you, I haven't had the chance to photograph any of the more-subdued cream-and-teal Marketplace stores, which are much less jarring than the rose-and-pink version I keep mentioning.

Turning toward the back of the store, the seafood counter and former Melon Bar come into view. I presume the Melon Bar was just a service-cut produce counter, reminiscent of what many former (and current) Publix stores offer.  I'd love to throw a link in, but I didn't manage to take any good pictures of the service produce counter at #1798 when it visited!

Glancing back toward the front of the store, we'll take one last look at the deli / bakery corner.  The biggest annoyance I see is how "Baked Goods" isn't centered over anything – I really wish they hadn't let that awning abruptly end leaving 1/4 of the sign dangling over nothing.

I've seen the Melon Bar advertised as a flagship feature of the 1990's Marketplace stores, but it seems as if all of the lush vines have withered away, all of the rinds have rotted, and all of the knives fell dull, leaving us with a lattice barrier to our juicy memories.  Luckily our eyes can roll on over to the seafood counter and dive into that fun bubble tile pattern!  It may not be as colorful as Publix's interpretation of bubbles, but Winn-Dixie's seems to be a bit more realistic.

Glancing down the back of the store, we can really begin to get an idea of how bright and white this store is.  Just look at how shiny these floors are!

Aisle 1 gives us a look at the thing that started my whole trip: the aisle markers.  The department signage in this store may be unique, but I have never seen anything remotely compare to these signs!  They almost remind me of a film strip!

If I had one major takeaway from this store, it is that it felt immaculate.  Normally you would find me complaining about the split-aisle setup of this store right about now, but I was more-so appalled by the cleanliness of this place.  Maybe it was all of the white surfaces, but this store felt like one of the cleanest I have been to, which is especially shocking considering it hadn't been remodeled in over two-decades.

Now for the fun stuff! Considering how this is likely the last remaining store with these signs, I took a bunch of close ups.  My one comment from the peanut gallery is, why did they put "catsup-mustard" on one line, and why did Winn-Dixie put "catsup" instead of "ketchup"?  I know Kroger did this for a short time as well.

Another rare décor photographed: Chek.

This store happened to use low shelving between aisles 2 & 3 and between 4 & 5; not only did this provide clear sightlines for several of my shots, but it also helped this part of the store feel large and open.

Another shot of the drink aisle: Chek.

Fresh Meats from "The Beef People": Chek.

We'll take one more look at the seafood counter before we continue our "Winning" adventure.

I can't imagine this store previously received a department reset, so I don't understand why there are so many empty spaces on these aisle signs

Frozen Meats or frozen in time: you decide!

If it wasn't for the 1990's-style font, this store wouldn't look that dated.  The grey, white, yellow (and to some extent, the teal) aren't as offensively '90s as rose-and-teal Marketplace.

Although the "culinary essentials" signage on aisle 8 seems to date back to the Transformational era, the aisle sign in the distance certainly doesn't!

I've seen a few Winn-Dixie freezers feature cart bumpers across the doors like the ones we see here (including the Troy Pig-Dixie), but I wonder why other stores don't use them.   Has glass gotten that much stronger?  Were customers much more responsible with their carts than some grocers thought?

Contrary to the Pig-Dixie in my other post for today, it looks like the split aisle traverses the freezers in this store.

But wait, there's 'moo're!

In retrospect, it seems a bit odd how this store's milk coolers were isolated from the other dairy products such as cheese and butter.  

It appears that having a beer cave was more important.  Beer caves aren't a common thing for me to come across in a supermarket, so I'd be curious to see if this feature will survive the remodel.

I also can't think of any other store where beer is located on the back wall like this. I suppose if there is anywhere for an obscure department layout, it might as well be a Winn-Dixie with an obscure interior!

It appears that aisle 10 was the lucky one for my sign closeup – I can't tell for sure, but I'm going to guess that it featured baby products.

Does that Coors Light neon sign look a bit out of place to anybody else?

If you weren't satisfied with my picture from aisle 10, here's one from aisle 12 (this one's for you, Retail Retell).

Rounding out the left side of this store is none other than: paper products.  It isn't unusual for the leftmost aisle of a Winn-Dixie to have a double-wide configuration like this, but I've never seen a store dedicate a perimeter wall to paper products, much less put up an entire sign for them!

That sign deserved some artsy photography, don't you think?

Similar to my tour at the grand opening of Publix #1798, I had no hesitation in extensively photographing this store en pleine vue – after all, it was scheduled to be wiped away the next day!

The dump bins in this shot look jarring in contrast to the muted décor, but I don't think I would mind a shad more color to have been used in this store.

Thankfully for the residents of Pinson, this store's pharmacy did not fall victim to the mass closure round of several years ago.

This is just a hunch, but it looks like the store's photo counter used to be to the left of "Customer Services".  Take a look at the trim work on the wall which previously framed a sign, and the pegboard mounted to the wall behind the magazine rack.

Get ready for some long receipts, because all of those yellow tags make the H&BA aisle look like we took a trip to CVS!

These floors must've been replaced at some point because I have never seen 21-year-old linoleum look this good – even if it was buffed recently!

Unfortunately, this store's original checkout numbers were swapped out for the standard Purple / Maroon cubes at some point.  At least they didn't get their paws on the cool aisle signs!  This store had also installed the new advertisement screens at every checkout; unfortunately, I didn't manage to snap a picture of those.

Dated stores: Chek.  Multiple bankruptcies: Chek.  Tarnished image: Chek.

We'll take one last look at said signs before they fade away, along with a host of other things Winn-Dixie would like to forget from the first two decades of the New Millennium. 

Other than the Transformational store I visited (and have yet to post about), this Winn-Dixie was hands-down the nicest store I have been to with a package that predated Winn-Win.  If only the chain had continued down the path they were on when this store was built, maybe they could've held onto the title of America's Supermarket.  Regardless, I have much more faith of the company surviving thriving well into the next decade based on what I have seen over the last year than I did two years ago.  Time will only tell, but I think "The Beef People" have a bright future ahead.

This store doesn't seem to need a bright future because its past was already bright; however, it won't be long before it is seeing red.  So long, bright, crisp colors and "Hello Pinson". 

So long, shiny floors.  It's been nice knowing ya!

I'm typically not one to pay attention to a store's buggies, but this particular one caught my eye as I was walking back to my car.  I wouldn't be surprised if this unit dates back to this store's opening, especially based on the vintage Winn-Dixie logo on the side of the basket.  Publix used to have similar child carts with a blue seat attached, but it has been a while since I have seen one of those in use.

Update (9/1/2022): Thanks to a comment below from Retail Regents, it looks like this shopping cart is original to the store.  Here's what he said: "That Unarco shopping cart with the extra seats on the back [is] definitely from the store's opening - the warning label on the child seat flap was used from around 1998-2004 and the sticker on the bottom plate (which has the date code) puts it as being no older than 2000."

It won't be long before this lettering will be taken down, and I wouldn't be surprised if the façade receives some red paint too.  Anyway, that will conclude our tour of the Pinson Winn-Dixie, but I have a few more things to share before you go.

Ever since Walgreens bought the remaining Rite Aid stores in the Southeast a few years ago, it has become increasingly rare to see these turn-of-the-Millennium Rite Aid stores (and for that matter, 1990's Eckerd stores) still operating as a pharmacy.  I couldn't resist taking a picture of this store across the street!  What a funky, yet iconic, style of architecture!

To close out this post, I wanted to highlight something I have only seen along Alabama interstates: louvered exit signs.  The first time I saw one of these was on I-10 near Mobile and they primarily seemed to be concentrated around that area along I-10 and I-65.  In person, these signs look almost black in color and have small slats running parallel to the ground throughout the sign.  It looked like all of the newer signs were made from traditional reflective metal, but I had wondered if the louvered signs were originally installed in hurricane-prone areas to allow high winds to pass right through.  

On the contrary, I don't typically consider Birmingham a hurricane-prone area and took note of this sign for Exit 132A on I-20 Eastbound.  Did they install a louvered sign due to the potential for high winds blowing through the valley and up under the bridge?  What are your thoughts?

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed today's posts, and be sure to check back here next Saturday for a fun Floridian surprise . . .

- The Sing Oil Blogger

 September 2022 Remodel Update

Appended on August 7, 2023

Welcome back to Pinson!  Last week, a notification popped up on my phone indicating I first visited Winn-Dixie #500 one year ago, which inspired me to finally post my mid-remodel photos from the following month. 

 

It appears it wasn't long after my second visit when this store received its new signage, and I have to say, it looks pretty good.  I'm especially glad that The Beef People opted against painting any of this nice brickwork!

As the sign indicates, the man who tipped off AFB was correct that this store was about to undergo its first major remodel in August of last year.  At least I felt validated about my last-minute trip up here to see the old décor!

SEG has an interesting practice that I'm not sure I'm fond of: hand-drawn advertisements.  This one at least seems to have required a bit of effort, but they generally look like a pitiful attempt to encourage customers to download the store's app.  I guess printing a banner is just too expensive.

Another thing that would be too expensive is replacing all of the specialty shopping carts at this store.  Retail Regents was correct in regard to the date of the old buggy I saw out front; when I went back, I found the sticker showing the cart was manufactured in June 2001 (two months before #500 opened its doors).  It wouldn't surprise me if this guy survived the remodel, too.

"Who ya gonna call?"

"The Sing Oil Blogger!"

Back inside, we find ourselves in the midst of a hauntingly different scene—the front end of the store appears to be even more whitewashed than we first found it, which makes me wonder if WD ever came back to add more color to this area.

Courtesy Winn-Dixie (Facebook) - Winn-Dixie #500 Grand Reopening - October 29, 2022

Well, I can't say much changed following the remodel's completion:  the customer service counter moved, and the shelf heights got lower, but the store still looks to be a whole lot of white and red.  I also know that it is a bizarre experience to walk through one of the Winn-Dixie stores which uses the new low-height shelves (I'll have to share my photos of a Winn-mart that come to mind at a later date).

Likewise, the deli and bakery had already been outfitted with new wall adornments and fixtures; all that's missing is the new signage.

Well, there's still one big thing left from the past:  the filmstrip aisle signs!  I'll circle back to those in just a minute.

In general, I think the newly-outfitted deli and bakery counters look nice.  I certainly prefer the pop of color from the red walls instead of from the red tiles, and the bakery sign looks like it was centered against something this time around!  I will say that the white vinyl flooring Winn-Dixie had to replace toward the bottom of this shot doesn't quite match the high-gloss version that exists in the rest of the store.

I cooked up a version of these graphics for my post on Winn-Dixie #535 a few months ago, but they just so happened to be based on the former department signage in the Pinson WD.  While that signage may be gone, my graphics will live on!

Oh well, at least the faux wood looks much better than the mint green we had before.  It looks like we lost the melon bar, too, in favor of a new upright refrigerated case.  Another department that moved after I took this photo was luncheon meat.

Courtesy Winn-Dixie (Facebook) - Winn-Dixie #500 Grand Reopening - October 29, 2022

I can't think of any other WD where I've seen the "Hello <insert town name>" suspended on the aisle between the produce department and the grocery department (it's located opposite the large Beer & Wine sign), but then again, this store does have a rather unique layout.  I also can't think of another Winn-Dixie where I've seen signs over the center cut-through aisle.

Aisle 1 still featured the odd wine and condiment combination we saw before, but it looks like wine was shifted to be exclusively on the right side of the aisle not long after my visit.

On today's edition of Winn-Dixie Using Obscure Language on Aisle Signs we come across "Isotonics".  According to Dictionary.com:

isotonic

[ ahy-suh-ton-ik ]

---

adjective

1. Also isosmotic. Physical Chemistry. noting or pertaining to solutions characterized by equal osmotic pressure.: Compare hypertonic (def. 2), hypotonic (def. 2).

2. Physiology.

   • noting or pertaining to a solution containing the same salt concentration as mammalian blood.

   • noting or pertaining to a muscular contraction in which constant tension continues while the length of the muscle decreases, as during mechanical work.

I remember the word "isotonic" from biology class when we would discuss osmosis and the describe the movement of water across a barrier between different solute concentrations.  This would particularly pertain to whether a given solution was hypertonic and would cause a submersed cell to lose water and shrink (water flows to the higher solute concentration outside the cell), hypotonic and would cause a submerged cell to gain water and lyse (water flows to the higher solute concentration inside the cell), or was isotonic, where no net flow of water occurred across the membrane.

As to how this word pertains to beverages, I'd assume it is describing sports drinks, like Gatorade and Powerade, which contain electrolytes (solutes) to make them isotonic to your blood.  This composition makes them easier for your body to absorb and in order to replenish your hydration during a strenuous workout.  I have a feeling that most people would just think of tonic water, though, from the sign!

Speaking of water, let's take a look at all of the critters who wish they still had some:  seafood.  The construction crews seem to have missed a spot when they were redoing the tile back here.

Oh, wow!  I didn't realize all of Winn-Dixie's new "tile" installs just involve tacking sheets of plastic on top of whatever was there before!  If you zoom into this picture, you can see some of the old blue tile that's still visible on the corner of the two walls, and how the sheets of new "tile" are taped together at the top.  I suppose that makes for a cheap and easy band-aid!  (Come on, you thought Winn-Dixie would spend the money to retile all of these ancient stores?)

Looking down the back aisle, we see a juxtaposition of old aisle signs and normal-height shelves against the new red, white, and black walls.  Those film strips didn't quite fit in before, but they surely look out of place now!

Likewise, it's obvious that the remodel still had some progress that needed to be made before the October 29th grand reopening—just look at that fire alarm hanging out of the wall below the empty meat department backdrop.

Ahh, it's almost if I could have taken this picture a month earlier and everything would have looked the same!  I'd also like to point out the rather unusual phrasing these signs use: can fruit do what?  Can fruit ride a bike?  Can fruit cook?  Oh, it must mean "can fruit pudding-gelatin stuffing-breading".  This must be like one of those "before & after" puzzles on Wheel of Fortune.  Maybe one of the Winn-Win twins should be Pat Sajak's replacement!

Opposite the mid-aisle split, we find ourselves looking at the backside of the same sign in addition to oil and nuts.

 

You may remember me wondering whether or not the beer cave would survive the remodel:  it did not.  Interestingly, this store underwent its department reset toward the tail end of its remodel, meaning I took one of the last ever pictures of the cold cavern.  WD instead opted to allocate this space for the dairy department, which makes sense considering I notated how small and disjointed it seemed on my last visit.

Inside the beer cave, I felt like I was standing in a slightly disorganized stockroom rather than a customer-facing portion of the salesfloor.  I can't say I'm surprised The Beef People decided to send this amenity out to pasture.

One thing that presumably stayed was the wall of paper products since it would be very expensive for WD to have installed any sort of refrigerated cases over here.  On the other hand, I doubt this aisle has its own department sign with the new package.

I feel like I'm having déjà vu because the framing of this shot looks nearly identical to one I took back in August 2022.

Winn-Dixie #500 - August 2022

I promise that was not intentional at all!  I guess that goes to show how predictable some of my camera angles can be.  Either way, these two pictures do a good job of showcasing the subtle changes which took place in the front of this store. 

That being said, I'd like for y'all to play a game of "spot the difference" down in the comments.  Even if you've commented on this post before, I'd still like for you to humor me with the most obscure difference you see between these two photographs.

 

Spinning around, we'll take one last look at these extremely rare aisle signs mere days before they sentenced to burial beneath piles of Jefferson County's trash.  This is also the perfect time for me to point out that I hardly took any pictures of the remainder of this store's dairy department on aisle 9.  You'll notice that sour cream, whipped cream, and crescent rolls are situated in the cooler in the center of the store, which is something that I don't think I've ever seen in another Florida-based grocery store.  Now that I think of it, I can only picture a similar setup in one store I've been to, and that was Marietta, GA's brand new Kroger #730.  I wish I had taken more pictures of aisle 9, especially considering how aisles 8 and 10 just had canned fruit and soap, respectively.

Our parting shot showcases the magazine racks obscuring the old photo center along with the large Ghostbusters soft drink display we saw at the beginning of this tour.  Like I've said many times before:  it's sad to see a rare Marketplace variant go extinct, but I'm ultimately glad that The Beef People are spending the money to improve their image and, most importantly, that I received notice to photograph this store before it was too late!

I hope you enjoyed that update, and make sure to stay tuned to The Sing Oil Blog and My Florida Retail Blog to see where I wind up next!

Until then,

- The Sing Oil Blogger