Publix #515
11585 Jones Bridge Rd
Johns Creek, GA 30022
Just Over My Head & Right Under My Nose
Happy new year! To celebrate the occasion, I've decided to pull another one of my nearly complete MFR posts out of the archives in attempt to chip away at my seemingly endless backlog. You may have thought my recent coverage of former Publix #1331 was exhaustive, but several of the seeds for that adventure were planted by Publix #515. Today we'll get to explore why and see some interesting decisions Publix made regarding deferred maintenance.
Continuing our trend of vintage Publix relics which managed to hang around, today we are going to take a look at a much more subtle example of this with Publix #515. As part of the Publix store list I have been compiling (with help from Battery Mill and The Albertsons Florida Blogger), I've looked through a number of Google Maps listings for various stores in order to categorize them by layout and current décor. This helped me find some interesting stores to explore, but #515 was particularly intriguing due to the fact that it seemed to have begun its remodel from Classy Market 2.5 to Evergreen. Not only did I see this as a chance to document a store's transition to a new interior, but I also thought it could be an opportunity to save an old piece of décor from being relegated to the landfill. Somebody has to save this stuff, after all! I went into some detail about my passion for preservation in this post (and obviously in my series on Publix #1331), but the moral of the story is you can't ever have a museum if all of your artifacts have just been thrown away! Who knows what the future holds, but I would love to be the one who held onto something for a time which can later be donated back as a museum piece (if you're reading this Publix, help me out here).
All of that being said, I only was able to accomplish one of my two goals with this store, but I think my partial failure only made me more determined in the end. Time will only tell if I can ever get my piece of history, but luckily, I have a backup plan in mind. However, I'm going to quit blabbering for now and start our tour before I go into any more details.
Publix #515 opened on February 20, 1995, as a rather typical 56N store in the North Atlanta suburbs. Likewise, this store originally featured the Wavy Pastels interior and probably was remodeled to Classy Market 1.0 before receiving CM 2.5, but more on that later.
Day 1: The Beginning
Especially during the 1990's, Publix tended to use unique façades for most of their new buildings. Although some characteristics, like the placement of doors, would remain the same, many of the architectural details would match the surrounding shopping center or area.
One particularly unique feature I noticed about this store was the brass inlay of the Publix logo above each column – what an interesting detail! It looks as if Publix based this off their old rectangular logo, but most people probably don't notice this anyway, so why bother changing it.
They may ask me to pardon their dust, but that dust was the primary reason I wanted to visit this store! The banner was hung on the wall to the right of the entry vestibule, seemingly next to an old sign which prevented the wall behind it from being painted.
Initially, the vestibule didn't seem to show anything spectacular, just a remnant checkered tile pattern on the wall from this store's original construction.
That is, until I turned around to grab a buggy. Centered on the wall behind me was a tile pattern I had never seen before: a coral and teal mosaic diamond. I would imagine Publix had this section of wall hidden after the store remodeled away from Wavy Pastels so I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of it while I could.
I also later realized that the section of wall which juts out from the left side of this picture was added during this remodel. It appears that this store previously didn't have a family restroom (as those weren't standard in 1990's stores) so one was added here. Most older Publixes which had room for said bathroom had one added over 10-years ago, so I'm not sure how this store survived without one until 2022!
Stepping inside, we see that the remodel had already begun, removing almost every piece of CM 2.5 décor from the walls. I made my first trip to #515 in May and the pictures on Google made it look like the remodel had started back in late-March or April.
The construction crews may have removed all of the signage from the walls, but they had still left behind the old Classy Market 1.0-style aisle signs. Classy Market 2.5 stores are always fascinating to examine because the often leave behind traces of previous décors (aka, they were cheap and sporadic) – this store seems to be no exception. The thing which caught my eye about this sign for aisle 4 was how a dark blue category card was sticking out to one side. The other side of the card was the same color of olive green as the rest of the cards, so why would the back be this color of blue?
Turning back toward the front of the store, we can see the patched wall which previously boasted Publix's historic photo collage. According to one of the employees in this store, the photos were secured to the wall with a combination of wood screws and double-sided adhesive making them a mess to remove. That particular employee managed to keep one of the old pictures, but he said many of them broke as they were being taken down. I guess Publix doesn't want a lawsuit (or to look like Kroger) from having a sign fall. (I have since learned in my #1331 post that the signs here were likely held up finishing nails and adhesive rather than screws. They were indeed difficult to remove . . .)
This shot is also what made me realize the family restroom was added during this remodel. If you look closely, you can see how the door to that restroom is surrounded by unpainted wall material and the sheetrock patch above it lines up perfectly with the windows to the right.
The nice thing about these 1990's stores is how open the front-end feels. It also helps that the skylight in this store seems to be in decent shape and hasn't been covered up like I have seen elsewhere.
Looking toward the deli, we see the patched yellow walls gracing the perimeter of the store and the edge of the dining area (which I think was previously home to a SunTrust bank branch).
It looks like the tile crews have already added the Evergreen grey pattern to this corner of the store; it sure does clash with the colorful nature of Publix's previous packages!
Likewise, they have also retiled the bakery with its new white pattern.
Turning toward the back of the store, we see some display tables of bakery items encroaching toward the space of the cheese cooler. This store also managed to keep its original CM 2.5-style category markers over the coolers until 2022. Many stores had theirs replaced with the standard green ones from Sienna.
As with most of the larger 1990's Publix stores, the meat department was in the back right corner (and also featured patched walls).
Part of this store's remodel plan was to replace the old refrigerators and freezers with newer, more efficient units. I doubt the coolers in this picture were original to the store's opening, but I could be wrong. The off-white panels are my primary reason; however, the original grey ones could have been easy to replace or paint.
Next up, we'll take a look down the rear wall of the store and see the seafood department to our right, followed by the remainder of dairy. If you're curious, the Nam Dae Mun I toured back in April would have looked identical to this store had it remained a Publix.
Turning around, we'll take a quick look back toward the back right corner of the store before moving on.
Like I mentioned earlier, all of the freezers and coolers in this store were swapped out as part of the remodel. Resultingly, some of the ceiling tiles were removed to make way for new refrigeration lines.
I was glad to see the older-style category markers still hanging on in the frozen department too. It's a shame I wasn't able to keep one of those!
Popping back out into the rear actionway, we see the crime scene where another Publix historic photo collage was brutally removed from the walls: how scandalous!
The last aisle we'll take a look at is home to cold beer and wine. Oddly enough, aisle 14 is outside the scope of the lower ceiling which is suspended above the remainder of the grocery aisles.
I figured I'd take this "corny" picture of the rear actionway to show the progress we have made thus far.
Produce occupies the back left corner of this store and looks quite boring without any signage.
Taking a few steps back, we can get a better look at the small floral department and the signage for aisle 15.
Conversely, the pharmacy and pharmaceutical products call the front left corner of this store home.
I told you that aisle 14 would be the last aisle we would take a look at, but I didn't say I would only show you one picture of it! Here's what it looks like from the front of the store.
Was this a Flippin' awesome tour or what!? In all honesty, I was a bit bummed out that I missed my change to get any CM 2.5 signs from this store, so other than seeing the old tile pattern up front, old category markers, and "Classy Market 1.0" signs, this store looked like any other 56N Publix I had been to. Don't worry, the story doesn't end here.
I'll close out day 1 of my journey to Publix #515 with this picture of a cart corral in the parking lot. I'm not entirely sure why I took this picture, but I'd imagine it was to show how faded the green plastic was.
Day 2: Double Check
Day 2 happened to be about a month later, as I wanted to check back and
see if I could get any other signage which would otherwise be thrown
out. To my surprise, not much had changed since my visit back in May. The only thing I noticed was how a dark grey stripe had been painted around the perimeter of the store next to the ceiling. Luckily, the original aisle signs were still in place.
The dairy department was also uneventful. No new refrigerators here!
I suppose I couldn't resist taking one more picture of the old CM 2.5 category markers. This, in fact, would be the last time I saw them in this store.
The sign for aisle 12 must've been a bit camera shy because it looks as if it is trying to crouch behind the category markers below. It shows how double-sided adhesive isn't good enough for likely 15-year-old signs!
That will conclude all of the pictures I took on my second trip, so let's jump forward to July and see how things are looking.
Day 3: The Insurance Policy
For starters, the meat department had received its new coolers, but the walls still needed a good bit of paint. I actually like how the new grey color plays off the old red, but that's likely because it looks strikingly similar to the black accents Sienna used!
Now I see some real progress! Although the aisle signs are still faithfully serving customers, the new refrigerators have been installed and the walls have been painted. I'd like to note how Publix has begun to install refrigerators with doors on the front, likely to reduce their power bill.
Or at least most of the refrigerators had been installed and most of the walls had been painted. Over in produce, I noticed how the area around the emergency exit still sported the old Invigorating green and the old coolers still hummed along.
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Back up front, most of the walls look like they have been painted to match the Evergreen color scheme. I do still see this store's pre-2016 checkout cubes in place, though (another relic I wish I had gotten). I also noticed something interesting about the skylight trusses: they were in the middle of being painted! We can see the ones further away from me have already been completed, while the closer ones still show a white primer. I believe this was only the third time these have been painted, since the originally were teal, followed by the olive green we saw in May.
That will conclude my third trip, so let's see what this place looked like for round four (for a store that I don't live close to, I sure was a frequent customer)!
Day 4: The Discovery
I'm sad to report that our fun tile pattern was gone by the time I made my fourth visit. I'm not surprised Publix spent the effort to remove the mosaic and replace it with new tile, but I still had a sliver of hope that it could hold on. Instead, we are left with some boring white tiles which don't even continue the grey checker pattern!
Back inside, the store looks much more polished than it did before. That being said, it was really weird to see these Classy Market 1.0-style aisle signs still here amidst the forest of Evergrey. At least that means I still might have a shot at taking one home!
But wait, all was not lost in my quest for vintage tile! Somehow, someway, this single old Wavy Pastel pattern managed to survive in the meat department! Better yet, this guy was still clearly visible on my fifth-and-final trip in August. I guess I should celebrate these small victories as I can!
I'd also like to note how the ground chicken in this picture is still using Publix's old packaging label where "Publix" is fully spelled out within the black circle. Most perishable products have phased out that look, but I suppose Publix had a big backlog of ground chicken labels (in addition to canned tomato labels, that's the only product I consistently see using the old labels across all varieties).
Now, for the reason I made my fourth trip to this store. The Sing Oil Sidekick happened to be in the area for work, and I asked if he minded stopping by #515 to check on its status and see if the old aisle signs were still hanging around. Not only did he report back that they were, but he also sent me the picture we see above.
You might ask, "what's so special about aisle 7?" Aisle 7 isn't anything particularly special, but I want you to zoom into the picture above and tell me what you see. I'll just say that my jaw dropped when I spotted it.
We'll go back to a picture I took of the aisle 2 sign for the answer: these signs were painted.
If you zoom into the corner of the sign, you'll see some blue smudges where some of the paint had scratched off; I've got to say, it is no coincidence that these smudges were blue.
Do you remember how I mentioned at the beginning of the post where I saw the blue backing on the category marker? Well it turns out the shade of blue we see in both of these cases perfectly matches the blue used on Publix's Wavy Pastels / Metallic Marketplace tri-sided aisle signs. The shape matches too.
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| Store #691 - 1999 - Metallic Marketplace - Novia Chuang (Flickr) |
It turns out that Publix was too resourceful (or too cheap) to buy new signs for this store when it remodeled away from Wavy Pastels, so they decided to paint over the blue portion of the sign with olive green, and the teal portion with off-white.
How could this remnant from Wavy Pastels have been just under my nose (or right over my head) for this long, and I had never realized it! Better yet, this was news to The Albertsons Florida Blogger as well. How many other stores received this treatment? How could you tell if a store got new signs with a Classy Market 1.0 remodel or if they were simply painted over? How do we know if this store wasn't simply remodeled directly from Wavy Pastels to Classy Market 2.5 so they had to reuse the old signs? (CM 2.5 installs during the 2010-2012 era seemingly always kept the original aisle signs in place; therefore, I usually call them "Classy Conglomerations").
Well, I answered a few of those questions once I reevaluated some of the other stores I visited with this style of aisle sign.
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| Store #1054 - 2006 - "Classy Conglomeration" Classy Market 2.5 |
For starters, I took a look back over my photos from Publix #1054, a store which I knew had opened with Classy Market 1.0. As we see above, those signs look pretty similar to the ones in #515.
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| Publix #599 - 1997 - "Classy Conglomeration" Classy Market 2.5 |
Next, I took a look back at the signs I saw in Publix #599. I knew this store opened with something other than Classy Market 1.0, so I wondered how these signs compared to those in #515. Nothing quite sticks out yet, other than how brittle the category cards look from the UV fading.
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| Publix #172 - 1986 - Classy Market 1.0 |
Finally, I took a look at the signs in Publix #172, a store which had remodeled to Classy Market 1.0 from something else (but certainly still had it) and noticed something: the light green background. If you scroll back up to my photo from #1054, those signs also have this green background, but the signs in #515 and #599 don't. After I saw that, I planned a trip back to Publix #599 in order to see if I spotted any artifacts of those signs having been painted.
Guess what: I did.
Upon closer inspection, I was able to see blue paint showing through on various parts of the aisle signs at #599, and I was also able to see the teal background if I stood under the sign and looked behind the 3D category card structure. When I learned that these signs were a leftover from Wavy Pastels, that made we want to save one from the landfill even more!
It turns out that any Classy Market 1.0-style sign without the light green background is actually a painted sign from roughly 2000! I was able to find where Publix #579 in Fayetteville, GA also had these painted signs until it was remodeled to Sienna in 2016 so it seems like this practice was more widely implemented than one would've thought (especially for a company like Publix). As far as I know, Publix #599 is one of the only stores to still have these signs in 2023, so I have my sights set on any potential remodels for that store.
With that, let's continue onto the brand-new frozen foods aisles. It appears the old freezers took the old category markers along with them.
The produce department was likely the most composed of the bunch as nothing seems to be out of place in this shot!
Our journey will not be complete without one last look at the vintage signage for "Publix Bread" proudly standing guard over aisle 13.
Day 5: The Finale
After a long and arduous process, I found my way to Publix #515 one last time to see what had become of it. Much to my joy and dismay, the original aisle signs had succumbed to the standard-issue grey and green ones of Evergreen. This would be the time when I would finally learn whether or not I could find one lying around next to a dumpster.
Evergreen may be bland, but at least the walls in this store look to be in much better condition than how I first found them!
The store also appears to have received some new endcap units, like the one in front of the lady eying Triscuits.
Over on the right wall of the store, the departments look much different with their green, white, and grey color-scheme compared to the previously bolder look. I feel like this shot evokes more memories of wintertime in the cold and snow as opposed to sunny Florida beaches or Lakeland skies.
The rear actionway is a similar sight, with our primary color variety coming from the small Pepsi display to my left.
Produce will be the final department we'll take a look at, with its flat accents giving way to the baby blue over the pharmacy area.
After all of my efforts in this store, I was saddened that I came up fruitless regarding one of those vintage aisle signs. It was only after this journey when I was able to secure the collection of items from former Publix #1331, but I would still like for somebody to be able to save one of the aisle signs from Publix #599 when the time comes for it to remodel. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this journey and I'll see you (hopefully) in a few days over on The Sing Oil Blog!
Until then,
- The Sing Oil Blogger
