Goodbye, Clearwater

DC

Albertsons #4301

2170 Gulf to Bay Boulevard, Clearwater, FL

10/9/1974 - 5/30/2015

     Here it is! The new and improved Clearwater Albertsons post. And a big thanks to all who sent in pictures of this store!

     After over 40 years in business, the original Florida Albertsons in Clearwater served its last shoppers today, May 30, 2015, two days later than originally planned (the original predicted final day was May 28th). For now, the future of this site is unknown. However, contributors David C. and Ross T. kindly sent in to us some photos of the interior and exterior of this store, including the one above, for your viewing pleasure:  

DC

     As you'll see in the following pictures, this store is really beginning to show its age. Now that I really think about it, I feel this store's closing had more to do with the fact it would cost Albertsons too much money to update this store, and that it would be more cost effective to just close it and put the money into updating the other three stores, which Albertsons announced they would do in the days following the announcement of this store's closure. And I'm sure that new Walmart across the street didn't help business much here either.  

DC

    What looks like funny looking texturing along the front of the store are actually painted over windows, which was probably done as a way to increase sales space. Those old windows were painted gray until recently (as can be seen in the aerials below).

DC

     And heading around to the right side of the building. The entrance to the liquor store is under the liquor sign, tucked into the alcove, and that's a side entrance into the store just to the left of that. 

DC

     Looking back toward the liquor store.

DC

     The Albertsons sign on the east side of the building facing Belcher Road. It looks like some of the letters were replaced over time, since the l and the n don't match the others.

     Now let's go inside to take a closer look at the unique interior. While this store had the standard Blue and Gray Market interior for many years, it was transformed into the "Yellow and Green Market" interior in 2006, according to commentor Mark P. over on my original post announcing this store's closure. He informed us that this new paint scheme was supposed to resemble the color scheme Publix was using in their stores at the time. It's pretty close to the color scheme of Publix's 1st Generation Classy Market interior, and I think this color scheme compliments this decor pretty well. Now for the pictures:

DC

      First stop is the back left corner of the store, home to the bakery (which is actually stuffed into the corner) and the deli, which is to the left of the bakery along the side wall. All but one of these interior photos you're about to see were taken on May 27th and May 28th, not long before the store was completely cleaned out. Here the bakery and deli are blocked off by these tables of random knickknacks, looking mostly like decorative floral leftovers. I remember when my old Albertsons was closing, the bakery, and just about all of the service departments actually, were still fully functional until only a week or two before the very end.  

RT

      The former pastry cases all cleaned out. It doesn't seem like this store had a very big bakery, since most of this "Bakery Shop" corner was actually home to the deli!

RT

     And there's the deli in the background, also all cleaned out. This photo was taken from produce, which was also located in the back left corner of the store. That's a pretty sizable amount of produce left for this late into the closure.

DC

     The deli signage under the bakery awning.

DC

      Heading over to dairy and lunch meats, all the cases are now covered over as the merchandise is depleted. The Seafood and Meats service counter is in the background, also closed now. Those windows above the Seafood and Meats signs are for management's offices. After the Skaggs model Albertsons stores are retired in the early 80's in favor of the Superstore model stores, these windows are moved to overlook the front of the store instead of the back.
   

RT

      The closed Seafood and Meats counter, along with an empty aisle.

DC

     Closeup of one of the aisle markers. I've never seen this style aisle marker before. Albertsons current interior uses ones that look like this. My guess is that these were probably put in around 2006 when the rest of the store was repainted, because the original blue ones would have looked really out of place in the new sea of green and yellow. 

DC

      The center aisle that runs down the middle of the store. This photo also gives us a good look at the original Blue and Gray Market flooring pattern.

DC 

     Heading over to the back right corner of the store where Health and Beauty and the pharmacy were located. This store topped out at 16 aisles. 

DC

     Health and Beauty signage along the right side wall.

DC

     This photo of the pharmacy, and a very well stocked store, was taken back at the end of April. According to David C., the pharmacy was shut down just days after this photo was taken at the beginning of the closure and the Pharmacy sign removed promptly after that. 

DC

      Jumping back up to the front of the store for a quick look at the customer service counter, and it's sign, which looks to be from the Theme Park/Grocery Palace interior.That sign probably came from another closed store in the area. It's hard to see, but in the green part of the wall above the counter is a labelscar that reads "Film and Developing", as noted by David C.  

DC

     The front end. 11 registers total, and it looks like there were 3 open on this day. The side entrance into the store is in the far left background.

DC

     Signage over the side entrance. All it says is "Thank you for shopping". The word Albertsons wasn't clipped out of the picture, or on the wall at all. I guess they assumed you knew what store you were about to leave, although it seems really abrupt to just say "Thank you for shopping".  

DC

      At least they have the word Albertsons for the thank you sign over the front entrance.

RT

     And a quick look at the front vestibule before we leave this store for good.

RT

     Night shot.

DC

     And finally the parking lot sign facing Gulf to Bay Boulevard, which in 24 hours, will probably be painted over in black.

Let's do some aerials to finish out this post:

First up, historic aerials courtesy of Google Earth and HistoricAerials.com:

Albertsons #4301 - 2014 - Not a bad crowd in the parking lot, and this image was taken after the new Walmart Neighborhood Market across the street opened.

Albertsons #4301 - 2004

Albertsons #4301 - 1994

Future Albertsons #4301 - 1971 - In three years Florida's first Albertsons will appear here. 40 years and 7 months after that, Florida's first Albertsons will close here. That little gas station right on the corner in this aerial is still standing to this day (you can see the same building outline in the 2014 aerial) although everything else you see here is gone.

Now for Bird's Eye images from Bing Maps:

Front

Right Side

Back, complete with Albertsons truck unloading.

Left Side

UPDATE 5/31/2015: I found this video on YouTube that features some interior and exterior views of this Albertsons, taken back in 2013. The part with Albertsons goes from a few seconds after the beginning until approx. 3:30:

     Well Clearwater, you had a good run. You lasted over 40 years and made it to the Final Four. Not many stores make it that long, especially in a chain that's been fighting a losing battle for 15 years now in Florida. I wish all the employees at this store the best, and I hope everybody enjoyed this new extended look at the closing of the Clearwater Albertsons. 

Anyway, until the next post,

The Albertsons Florida Blogger 

A Quick Glimpse - Former Albertsons #4454 - Palm Beach Gardens, FL

Albertsons #4454

4407 Northlake Boulevard, Palm Beach Gardens, FL

Northmil Plaza

***Photos of this store courtesy of Dijon Smith on flickr***

      Here's yet another relatively short lived Albertsons store. First opening here in 2001 as a replacement for an older Albertsons (Store #4364) on the other side of I-95 about half a mile away in the Home Depot plaza, this store only lasted in this location 7 years, closing on August 30, 2008 with three other Albertsons stores in the state at the time. I knew someone who used to like shopping at this store on their way home from work, and she always said this was a really nice store, and that it was much larger than usual. Albertsons was originally planning to have this store opened around 1996, however, construction got delayed for some reason that I've never been able to find (probably had to due with local zoning if I had to guess), and this store's opening was delayed until 2001. I believe this store was opened with the Theme Park interior, but I'm not completely sure. After closing in 2008, this store sat abandoned until 2010, when it was split between Joseph's Classic Market, a local upscale Italian Market chain, and a Home Goods.    

    This parking lot definitely has no shortage of foliage! Joseph's Classic Market takes up the left portion of the former Albertsons building where the main entrance used to be.

     Home Goods is in the right portion of the building. I really like how Home Goods exactly matched the old Albertsons architecture when they built their new entrance instead of putting in something that didn't match, like what usually happens when these buildings are subdivided. You'd think Albertsons built this as a second entrance! In the Bird's Eye satellite image below, you can see what this portion of the building looked like before Home Goods moved in. 

     And all the way over to the right, the former liquor store is now a bagel shop. 

Aerial Time:

Bing Maps Bird's Eye view of the building, from after Albertsons closed but before Joseph's and Home Goods moved in. Home Goods' new entrance is located in the portion of the building where the front awning dips in. 

     Satellite overview of Northmil Plaza from Google Earth, dated 2014. This plaza is located at the very busy corner of Northlake Blvd. and Military Trail, a block west of I-95. A Winn-Dixie and Publix are located in shopping centers directly across the street.

     And that concludes this quick glimpse post. Thanks again Dijon Smith for sending in the photos. Coming next Thursday are a few photos that were sent in of the soon to be closed Clearwater Albertsons, followed by a full length Albertsons store post in early June, so stick around for more to come!

Until next time, 

The Albertsons Florida Blogger

Safeway's Florida Experiment: Save and Pack

     Since Safeway is now a part of Albertsons, I thought this post would be an interesting little piece of obscure Florida supermarket history to do a post about. For the longest time I thought Safeway was the only major supermarket chain who was able to resist the Florida temptation. However, according to some recent comments over on The Safeway and Albertsons in Texas blog, it turns out I was wrong. Safeway did have a small Florida operation back in the late 80's and early 90's called Save and Pack. Save and Pack was supposed to be a branch of the current Northern California Safeway division called Pak n' Save, a price impact, somewhat warehouse style chain similar to a hybrid of Aldi and Sam's Club. The Florida stores were also supposed to used the name Pak n' Save as well, however, due to a copyright dispute from now-defunct Jacksonville based supermarket Pic N' Save, Safeway was forced to flip their name to Save and Pack for their Florida operations. The Florida Save and Pack stores were more similar to that of a Sam's Club, but without the membership fee. While offering a large selection of discounted foods, Safeway wanted to focus more on non-food items at their Save and Pack stores due to how far away this division would be from Safeway's distribution centers in the west and northeast. The first Save and Pack store opened in Jacksonville in 1984, but most information from there gets fuzzy. What I do know is there were 9 Save and Pack stores in total, 8 in Florida and one in Alabama (locations are listed in the table below). However, when all of these stores closed and what happened in between is a bit of a mystery. I found out that two stores were closed in 1987 due to unprofitablilty (Casselberry and Pensacola), however I think the remaining stores made it into the early 90's. Kash N Karry bought the three Tampa Bay area Save and Pack stores in 1992, along with the name, which is when I believe Safeway finally left the state, however I don't know for sure if the other stores made it that far. Kash N Karry did continue to use the Save and Pack name for their own warehouse style stores throughout the state until those were finally discontinued in the late 90's, although those don't count as Safeway locations since they were opened and operated by Kash N Karry. Anyway, here is the location table and a short history of each location, similar to how my Albertsons table is set up:
   

Store Name	Store Number	Address	Shopping Center	City	State	ZIP	County	Info
Save and Pack	3201	2525 N. Dale Mabry Highway		Tampa	FL	33607	Hillsborough	A former Gold Triangle store. Save and Pack moved in here in 1985, and this location was sold to Kash N Karry in 1992, where it continued to operate under the Save and Pack name for a few years after the sale. Building was later torn down for a Sweetbay Supermarket (Now Winn-Dixie) in the early 2000's.
Save and Pack	3202	204 E State Road 436	Oxford Square	Casselberry	FL	32707	Seminole	Opened March 1986 as the 7th Save n' Pack store in Florida and the only one in the Orlando area. Closed March 22, 1987 due to unprofitability before the closure of the rest of the division. After Save and Pack closed this location became Builder's Square #1526, which closed with the rest of the chain in 1999. Currently an Old Time Pottery store.
Save and Pack	3205	5301 Norwood Ave	Norwood Plaza	Jacksonville	FL	32208	Duval	Opened 1985/1986ish in a former Woolco store. Exact closing unknown. Currently the Norwood Flea Market.
Save and Pack	3206	4335 W Fairfield Dr	Fairfield Crossings	Pensacola	FL	32505	Escambia	Opened 1985. Closed March 1987 before the rest of the division. Entire shopping center later torn down for a Lowe's and other smaller stores in the early 2000's.
Save and Pack	3207	30535 US Highway 19 N	Seabreeze Plaza Shopping Center	Palm Harbor	FL	34684	Pinellas	Opened 1985. Sold to Kash N Karry in 1992, where it continued to operate under the Save and Pack name for a few years after the sale. The building later became home to a Waccamaw Home Furnishings store, which closed with the rest of the company in June 2001. Building torn down for a new Publix, which opened in September 2003.
Save and Pack	3208	11612 N Nebraska Ave	Save & Pack Shopping Center	Tampa	FL	33612	Hillsborough	Opened 1986. Sold to Kash N Karry in 1992, where it continued to operate under the Save and Pack name for a few years after the sale. Currently a Flea Market.
Save and Pack	32XX	9400 Atlantic Boulevard	Regency Park Shopping Center	Jacksonville	FL	32225	Duval	What I believe was the first Save N Pack store to open in Florida and Safeway's first store of any kind in Florida, which opened in 1984. Later became a Kroger Welcome Warehouse style store after. Currently divided between Hobby Lobby (previously Rhodes Furniture) and Books a Million.
Save and Pack	32XX	8102 Blanding Boulevaed	Crossroads Square	Jacksonville	FL	32244	Duval	Opened 1985. Later became a Kroger Welcome Warehouse style store, then Food World, then Publix. Currently a Floor and Décor store.
Save and Pack	32XX	3725 Airport Boulevard	Mobile Festival Center	Mobile	AL	36608	Mobile	Opened 1986. Became a Kroger Welcome Warehouse style store after, which closed in the 90's. Now Academy Sports.

     Information on these stores was pretty scarce, so if you have any corrections or additions to add in about any of the stores in the table above, please let me know! I'm pretty sure there were only 9 stores, but you never know, there could have been another one floating around out there somewhere that escaped my radar.

     And in other news, I have three more Albertsons posts in the works to go up (if all goes as planned) by early June - Two short ones, or "Quick Glimpse" posts as I call them, and one regular store post, which we haven't had in a while. So stay tuned, more to come soon!

Until next time,

The Albertsons Florida Blogger 

And The News Keeps on Coming! (But This Time It's Good News!)

     Well, hasn't this week been a busy week for Albertsons Florida! First, we hear the sad news about the closing of the Clearwater store, which broke on Monday. Now, thanks to a comment left on the blog by fellow supermarket blogger Pseudo3D of The Safeway and Albertsons in Texas Blog, we're finally hearing a bit of good news about Albertsons Florida! According to an article published in the Tampa Bay Business Journal this morning, Albertsons has announced plans to give the three remaining stores in Florida complete remodels! Honestly, this is the first news of Albertsons investing any kind of money into any of their Florida stores in almost 10 years. The last major remodels I can recall being done to any Albertsons store in Florida date back to 2004, unless you count the short lived Super Saver conversions in 2005 as remodels. Now matter how you look at it, it's been a very long time since these stores have seen any love from their parent company. Not only that, but these remodels will more than likely bring the current Albertsons interior to Florida for the first time, and a wider selection of fresh and prepared foods. Here's some photos of a recently opened Albertsons in Alamogordo, NM of what the new interiors will potentially look like, which you can see by clicking here. I guess time will tell just how extensive these remodels at the final three stores will be. All of it is supposed to be done by this coming fall, according to the article. I just hope all this talk about remodels isn't just a bunch of hype for nothing more than moving a few shelves around. Give these Florida stores the attention they deserve, Albertsons! Anyway, if you want to read the entire article referenced in this post, just click here. Ever since Monday I was beginning to wonder if Albertsons Florida would even make it into 2016. With the release of this most recent news, it seems like that may be achieved, but could these remodels possibly be the seeds of the great Albertsons Florida revival?...  Well, that might be a bit of a stretch to think at this point, but they're not packing their bags just yet! 

And as the news keeps coming in, I'll be sure to keep everybody informed.

Anyway, until the next post,

The Albertsons Florida Blogger

And Then There Were Three - The Original Clearwater Albertsons to Close May 28th

Photo courtesy of Bing Maps

     As stated in yesterday's brief Breaking News post, Florida is losing one of its four remaining Albertsons stores. The Clearwater Albertsons, Store #4301, located at 2170 Gulf To Bay Boulevard, will close its doors forever on May 28, 2015, almost three years since the last Florida Albertsons closings happened on June 9, 2012. While it's sad to see another Albertsons Florida store close, honestly, I'm surprised any of those four stores lasted this long, and that a closing didn't come sooner. What really surprised me more than anything was that Albertsons has chosen to close only one Florida store (for now anyway). I always felt that when the time came for Albertsons to close more Florida stores, those last four would all go at once. Now, as of the end of May anyway, Albertsons will operated three Florida stores isolated a few hundred miles from the rest of the chain, which makes even less sense than operating four isolated stores. For now, the remaining Albertsons stores in Altamonte Springs, Oakland Park, and Largo (located only 7 miles south of the closing Clearwater store) are safe, and will leave Albertsons with one store left in each of the major population areas of Orlando, South Florida, and Tampa Bay. 

     The closing of the Clearwater store is pretty significant in a way. The Clearwater Albertsons was the first Albertsons to open in Florida, under the name Skaggs-Albertsons at the time, on October 9, 1974. To read about the joyous occasion, check out this article from the now defunct St. Petersburg Evening Independent newspaper previewing the store in an article published the day before it opened. What was a big deal in 1974 will be nothing more than a memory in a month. The opening of the Clearwater Albertsons was the beginning of a 40 year journey with many high points and low points over the years (mostly low points looking back in the most recent years). This store has seen it all. The Skaggs era, 70's Stripes, Blue and Gray Marketplace, Cerberus, Albertsons Market, New Albertsons Inc - it's seen its share of change. 

Photo courtesy of Google Maps

     And one change that probably wan't so welcomed was the opening of that Walmart Neighborhood Market directly across the street in early 2014, built on the site of a former trailer park. For this Albertsons' entire life it had to compete with that Publlix diagonally across Gulf to Bay. That Publix originally started out as an old Wing Store dating back to the late 50's or early 60's, which was later demolished in 2007 for the newer and larger modern store. I think that new Walmart, though, was a large contributing factor to this store's impending closure. That tiny little Walmart Neighborhood Market has a full parking lot there in the aerial above. Publix has a decent crowd as well. Albertsons's crowd is better than some I've seen, but it looks a little thin compared to the others on the same corner. This store has probably been suffering since that Walmart opened. The other three remaining Albertsons Florida stores haven't had any new supermarket competitors open near them recently. Also, I'm surprised about that old Kmart/Sears Essentials, which closed in 2008, hasn't been redeveloped yet. A large lot like that in built-out Pinellas County seems like it would get a lot of interest from developers. When Albertsons closes, this corner is going to be even more valuable. Large lots like this don't come up for sale too often in Pinellas County anymore. 

     As far as new details about the closing go, not much new information has come out since yesterday. However, Supermarket News published an article today recognizing the closing of the original store, which you can read here. I highly recommend that link in the article to the "'independently published history' of the chain's local stores". With the Clearwater store's closing, 86 people will be out of a job, and Albertsons minuscule presence in Florida will get even smaller. Is the end of Albertsons Florida getting nearer? I'll be keeping an eye on this and I'll update this post if any new information comes out. And any photos of this store before it closes would also be greatly appreciated if anybody is in the area!

Anyway, until the next post,

The Albertsons Florida Blogger      

BREAKING NEWS!!!!! >>>> The Clearwater Albertsons is Closing in May!

This just in to the Albertsons Florida Blog Newsdesk>>>>>

     An anonymous commentor over on the Largo Albertsons post just tipped me off to this news. It's official, as of May 28, 2015, there will be only three Albertsons left in Florida: Largo, Oakland Park, and Altamonte Springs. News just broke about this today, and I don't have the time tonight to do a full post with complete information and commentary, but I should have a much more detailed post going up tomorrow evening about the news. In the mean time, here's a link to an article from the Tampa Bay Times about the closing, although details are vague at the moment. 

     Also, is there anybody out there who will be in the Clearwater area in the next month to get some photos of this store before it closes on May 28th? I doubt I'll be able to make it there in person, and this was the first Florida Albertsons that started it all. 

Anyway, more to come on this soon,

The Albertsons Florida Blogger

A Quick Glimpse - Albertsons #4402 - Largo, FL

Jewel-Osco #5101/Albertsons #4402

10500 Ulmerton Road, Largo, FL

Largo Mall

***Current and Historical Photos of this store courtesy of Adam R.*** 

     I know what all of you readers were thinking as this post loaded and you saw that first photo: "Finally, it's a Florida Albertsons that's not abandoned or unrecognizable!" Yes, you'd be right if you were thinking that. This is one of the Final Four Albertsons stores still operating in Florida that I mention all the time. The photos you're about to see of the Largo Mall Albertsons were taken by Albertsons Florida Blog contributor Adam back around Christmas 2014, which account for the wreaths on the front of the store. Adam's photos will give us a quick look at this massive store for now until it gets the royal blog post treatment one day. Adam also included some interesting historical pieces that we'll take a look at below, including something really rare that I can't believe I've waited this long to share with everyone.       

     This building originally started out its life as one of American Store's experimental Jewel-Osco Florida stores in the newly constructed Largo Mall (which was never an enclosed mall as the name might suggest - it was always designed to be a normal outdoor shopping center, and this site was just open land before the shopping center was built). In 1988, The American Stores Company announced they would be entering Florida by building monstrous 75,000 square foot supermarkets under the name Jewel-Osco, focusing primarily on the Tampa Bay area market at first. The name Jewel-Osco was chosen for American Store's Florida division due to the large amount of people in the area who relocated from Chicago, where the original Jewel-Osco was based. These new Jewel-Osco stores would actually bring the Skaggs company (who now operated under the name American Stores) back into Florida after they parted ways with Albertsons back in 1978. On April 2, 1989, the first of these new Jewel-Osco stores opened, with that first store being the Largo Mall location. Jewel-Osco Florida stores featured over 60,000 items, and services such as a full time florist, a juice bar, soda fountain, and a newsstand featuring papers from around the country as some of the bells and whistles according to one news article I read about their grand opening. Jewel-Osco, like most other supermarket chains that tried to enter Florida, had grand plans for the state, including 10 stores on Florida's West Coast stretching from Tampa Bay to Fort Myers by 1991, and by 1992, if all went well out West, Jewel-Osco wanted to begin a push into Florida's East Coast in an area stretching from Cape Canaveral to Fort Lauderdale. However, also like most other supermarket experiments in Florida, it just wasn't meant to be. Jewel-Osco's fancy megastores never caught on. Sales turned out to not be that great, and by the end of 1991, Jewel-Osco only had 7 stores in Florida in Largo, Clearwater, Palm Harbor, Hudson, Tampa, Temple Terrace, and Bradenton, all in the Western part of the state, although through further research I discovered plans for two unbuilt Jewel-Osco stores in Town 'n' Country and Brandon that would have opened in late 1992/early 1993 (for more info on the other Florida Jewel-Osco locations and the 2 planned stores, check out the Albertsons Florida Store List, stores #4401-#4409). After only operating in Florida for 2 years, Jewel-Osco in Florida was over. In a slightly ironic twist, the 7 Florida Jewel-Osco stores were sold to Albertsons in 1992 along with the rest of the Jewel-Osco stores American Stores was experimenting with in the Mid-South and Central parts of the country in areas like Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The 7 Florida Jewel-Osco stores were rebranded as Albertsons in early 1992, and this lucky one at Largo Mall is still an Albertsons to this day. Also later in 1999, the rest of the Jewel-Osco stores would also be swallowed up by Albertsons when they later purchased the entirety of the American Stores Company, a purchase that also included the Acme, Shaw's and Lucky chains.        

     When Albertsons took over these stores from Jewel-Osco, they did very little to the exteriors. The exterior of this store is still original to the day it opened as Jewel-Osco, just given Albertsons signage. I don't know what they did with the interiors after the takeover though, if they left the one from Jewel-Osco or put in the Blue and Gray Market interior of the time before opening. The one thing I do know is that this store currently has the basic version of the Industrial Circus interior from the early 2000's. UPDATE 4/25/15: Apparently, the photos I thought were of the interior of this store were wrong. This store actually has the Blue and Green Awnings interior from the Late 90's. 

     Definitely a decent crowd here the day these photos were taken. In the satellite image below, the parking lot is also quite packed. For Albertsons to have kept this store as one of the Final Four, it must do some really good business. These Jewel-Osco stores were the largest stores Albertsons operated in the state, and this has been the largest Albertsons store remaining in Florida at over 70,000 square feet since the other remaining Jewel-Osco/Albertsons stores were sold off to Publix in 2008, giving Publix some of their largest stores as well.    

     This photo across the front gives a decent perspective of just how large and towering this store really is. A small portion of the right side of the store still managed to get clipped off. 

     Now for a few quick aerials from Bing Maps and Google Earth before we get to the good stuff:

Front Bird's Eye View, also taken during Christmastime since you can see those wreaths in the aerial as well.

     Above is the most recent aerial photo of Largo Mall that Google Earth had, from 2013. The Albertsons is the building in the very top right of the aerial. Just look at that crowd Albertsons is drawing, even with a newish Publix right across the street! I've never seen an Albertsons parking lot with that many cars in it! No wonder this store made it to the Final Four. The Largo Mall is easily one of the busiest shopping centers in Pinellas County. Along with Albertsons, Largo Mall also features Target and Michaels in the center portion, and Petsmart, Bed Bath and Beyond, Marshalls, Regal Cinemas Largo Mall 8, and Bealls Department Store as additional anchors. To see a complete and nicely labeled map of the plaza's current tenant's (better than anything I could create), click here. However, if you're curious to see a complete layout and tenant list of the Largo Mall from 1989, just keep scrolling down...

     Now the good stuff begins! Adam was able to provide us with this complete map and tenant list of the Largo Mall from March 1989, a month before the Jewel-Osco first opened. Original tenants Bealls and Marshalls still remain in their current locations, Jewel-Osco became Albertsons as we just discussed in legnth, General Cinema is now Regal Cinema, and the Service Merchandise is now divided between Petsmart and Bed Bath and Beyond. BB&B occupies the original entry portion into Service Merchandise and kept their arched glass entryway, although the additional red arches have been removed. The Target and Michaels in the middle wouldn't appear until the early 90's. To see this photo in a larger form for easier reading, just click on it.

     But wait, there's more!!!

     Adam also had this photo of the store as a Jewel-Osco in his archives! This photo was taken during the store's Grand Opening, meaning it probably dates back to April of 1989 or so. This was the first and only photo I've seen so far of a Jewel-Osco Florida store as a Jewel-Osco. I have no idea where he found this photo, but I'm very glad he sent it in! This is a very rare treat! I guess the large crowds as seen in this photo didn't last very long here considering this only lasted as Jewel-Osco for two years before they sold out to Albertsons. 

     A zoomed in view of the Jewel-Osco building. Like I said before, aside from Albertsons signage, the building still looks the same today. Also there in the photo is an old Hit or Miss store, a now defunct off-price women's clothing chain once owned by Zayre and later TJX Companies (what became of Zayre's other banners, such as TJMaxx, after the namesake Zayre stores were sold off to Ames in 1988). Hit or Miss would end up closing all of their locations in 2001. 

     Well, for now the Albertsons name lives on over Largo. And behind that faded Albertsons logo the labelscar of its predecessor, Jewel-Osco, also lives on all these years later. If you look closely, you can see the small white holes where it once spelled out 'JEWEL OSCO'. Albertsons, you're going on your third year with only 4 stores in the state. I don't know how or why you're still here, but you are, and apparently doing well if those stores haven't closed yet. Anyway, thanks Adam for sending in these photos and those amazing historical images! As always, photo contributions are always welcome!

Until the next post,

The Albertsons Florida Blogger