Former Albertsons #4413 - Fort Myers, FL (San Carlos)

Albertsons #4413 / Publix #1331 / Future Publix #1853

16950 San Carlos Boulevard, Fort Myers, FL - Albertsons Plaza/Publix at San Carlos

A Classy Collaboration: A Companion to This Week's My Florida Retail Blog Post & This Saturday's Sing Oil Blog Post

     Today is a big day here on AFB - not only is this the blog's 9th anniversary, but today also marks a special triple feature* of the same store! Between myself and The Sing Oil Blogger, we'll be sharing with you guys three separate posts from this same store here on AFB, on My Florida Retail, and on The Sing Oil Blog. (And you thought we couldn't top our recent double take of the Naples Classy Market 1.0 Publix from a few months ago!) My post and Sing Oil's post on My Florida Retail will be two fairly standard tours of this store, taken a few months apart from each other, showing all the eccentricities of this Publixsons store in all of their glory. The post on The Sing Oil Blog will be a special tour of this store following its recent closure, a fun experience you aren't going to want to miss! So like a burger, fries, and a milkshake, or peanut butter, jelly, and wine bananas, our latest triple threat of posts are a combo you will very much enjoy together, just as much as Publix, Albertsons, and outdated decor create a trifecta made in retail fan heaven!

*Just to note: one of the three posts relating to the coverage of this former Albertsons location won't actually be posting until Saturday, December 10th, that being the post-closure tour of Publix #1331 on the Sing Oil Blog - however, it's all part of the same event. Since that's a few days away, I have been provided with this teaser image by the Sing Oil Blogger to make sure you visit his blog on Saturday for that stunning conclusion post.

Photo courtesy of the Lee County Property Appraiser

     For many years, the entirety of Southwestern Florida was served by a lone Albertsons store, #4313 near downtown Fort Myers, close to the city's original retail district. By the early 1990's, Fort Myers and many of the surrounding cities began to experience a population boom, leading Albertsons to begin a blitz of new store construction throughout Lee and Collier Counties (homes to Fort Myers and Naples). The first new store to blossom from that 1990's construction boom was the one pictured above - Albertsons #4413. Constructed at the gateway to both Sanibel Island and Fort Myers Beach, this store was built at a prime location to capture beach traffic, and traffic from the residents of the wealthy beachfront areas.

Photo courtesy of the Lee County Property Appraiser

     Albertsons #4413 opened on February 1, 1995, a fairly typical store for Albertsons at the time. The mid-1990's were a period of blocky architecture for Albertsons, with architectural styles like this one common throughout the company's Floridian stores at the time.

Photo courtesy of the Lee County Property Appraiser

     Albertsons #4413 managed to survive as-is until 2008, when it was included as one of the 49 stores sold to Publix that year. Publix picked up four other Lee County stores as part of that deal, including the other surviving Fort Myers location at the time (store #4448 at Summerlin Road and Cypress Lake Drive), both of the Cape Coral stores (#4427 and #4459), and the north Bonita Springs store (#4434 at Bonita Bay Plaza). Publix also bought all the remaining Collier County Albertsons stores at the time, leaving Albertsons with 2 Southwestern Florida stores following that transaction (those being #4478 in Estero and #4483 in Bonita Springs). Sadly, those two remaining stores would close outright in 2009, ending Albertsons' run in Southwestern Florida.

     Following a 7 month conversion effort, Publix would reopen this store as Publix #1331 on February 5, 2009, almost 14 years to the day after Albertsons first opened here. With only a 7 month lag time between the closure of the purchase deal and the reopening of this store, you can imagine a minimal amount of effort went into the conversion. That statement does hold true here, however, what you're about to see looks more like something after a 7 week conversion than a 7 month one, your first clue to what makes this store significant enough to be chosen for my 9th anniversary post...

     While many of Publix's initial conversion efforts of those 49 stores they bought from Albertsons were on the minimal side, most of those stores would go on to get more extensive remodels a few years down the line upon receiving either the Classy Market 2.5 or Classy Market 3.0 decor. However, that wasn't the case here, as Publix #1331 was the very last Publixsons from that batch of 49 to have not been remodeled at least once since its opening as Publix. So yes, that means this store was rocking its original late 2000's Classy Market 2.0 decor all the way into 2022, the very last of Publix's 1,300 stores to feature that decor package. We all know Publix is very picky about remodeling, so how is it this store lasted so long in its original form? Let me explain...

     It was rumored for a number of years now that Publix #1331 was up for replacement. The minimal amount of updating and effort Publix has put into the building certainly fed into that theory, as well as one other quirk about this store - it lacks a pharmacy. What's interesting about that is when Albertsons was here, Albertsons had an operational in-store pharmacy counter. However, in the time between Albertsons' closure and Publix's opening, and independent pharmacy began to set up shop in one of the storefronts next door to the future Publix. It's rumored that the independent pharmacy managed to obtain a license, and then managed to block Publix from getting a license to reopen the pharmacy counter Albertsons left behind. Publix was apparently unhappy this store lacked a pharmacy, and all plans to replace it had to be put on hold until Publix could ultimately get their hands on that coveted pharmacy license. With Publix's intent to eventually replace this store, they had little desire to remodel it, as this store's future seemed to be hanging onto whenever Publix could finally get a pharmacy license. That odd situation led to what you'll be seeing here today - a completely untouched late 2000's Publix (that doesn't sound like much in terms of many other chains, but the late 2000's are ancient in terms of Publix!)

     With all the underlying issues straightened out and preliminary clearance for a pharmacy license in hand, Publix originally targeted store #1331 for closure in September 2022, bringing to an end all those years of rumors. Thankfully I kept all those rumors in the back of my mind, and made sure to visit this store before it made its date with the bulldozers. I visited this store in January 2022, a few months before The Sing Oil Blogger's visit to this store (although nothing really changed here in the time between our two visits).

     While Publix did end up making their target of a September 2022 closure, Publix had a little help from Mother Nature on sealing the deal on this store's fate. On September 28, 2022, Hurricane Ian, a major category 4 storm, made landfall just north of here over Cayo Costa Island, bringing with it catastrophic destruction to nearby Sanibel Island and Fort Myers Beach. For the safety of shoppers and employees, Publix #1331 closed at 6pm on Tuesday, September 26, 2022 in preparation for the storm, and it would never reopen. Taking into consideration the damages sustained to the building from the hurricane, Publix figured this was the time to call it quits with store #1331, and begin the preparations for demolition. Even though the store never reopened following the hurricane, Publix's official closing date for store #1331 is October 1, 2022. Preparation to auction off the remaining fixtures in the building began shortly after, with demolition beginning on November 1, 2022, bringing to an end the supermarket building that stood on this corner for the last 27 years.

     According to the Sing Oil Blogger, Publix had a banner outside this store upon his visit to the fixture auction stating that the plan to close at the end of September was still on - the hurricane just providing a more dramatic end to this store than Publix had originally intended! (And possibly some insurance money to put toward the new store too.)

     Anyway, the photo above looks into the cart storage area to the left of the front doors. The cart storage area was a but underutilized when I was here, with only the kiddie carts and this small batch of carts just brought up by the cart attendant occupying the space. 

     Without even entering the building, here's our first taste of how little Publix has done to this store through the years - Albertsons' original swinging doors are still in place! Publix usually swapped out these swinging doors for their usual sliding ones before reopening, this being a rare exception to that rule. Another interesting Albertsons relic visible here is the address over the entrance doors - that's the original Albertsons font and format too (putting the street name next to the number), another relic that I never see preserved at a Publixsons.

     Stepping inside, our first interior photo doesn't show us much, except a quick look back at the front doors. However, things will get more interesting from here...

     Panning the camera over to the right, not only do we get our first glimpse of Publix's Classy Market 2.0 decor with the floral sign, but look at the walls - that's Albertsons Blue and Gray Market decor simply painted over by Publix! Publix barely tried to hide the fact this building used to house an Albertsons, making the decor in this building interesting to both Publix and Albertsons fans alike! Most low-end Publixsons conversions looked like this at the beginning, but more thorough remodels in the early 2010's usually wiped away most of the obvious Albertsons decor remnants left behind like we see here.

     The front left corner of the building was home to the very original bakery. The bakery was left in such original form, there might as well be purple bags of chocolate chip cookies visible on those tables!

     The flooring and the paint on the walls are the only major changes Publix made to this building before moving in - even the lighting in this building is original to Albertsons (and is a common thing for Publix to swap out). The fact Publix left the original lighting in-place really enhances the Albertsons feel in this building, which we'll get a lot more of throughout our tour.

     Beyond the bakery is produce, with the deli located behind me, completing the store's "grand aisle". The store we're touring today is pretty much identical in layout to the newer store we toured on the blog last time, #4380 in Tampa. Compared to #4380, this store feels much more dated, even though the layouts of the stores (and many of Publix's modifications) are basically the same between the two. It's amazing what a partial open ceiling can do to the ambience.

     The produce signage is visible along the left side wall in this image, placed rather symmetrically on top of the Albertsons decor remnants behind. It's oddly pleasing how Publix's decor installers used the amount of care they did when placing the new Publix decor over the Albertsons remnants.

     Here's a look at the produce decor from this photo taken closer to the wall. The Sing Oil Blogger's post goes into much more detail about Publix's decor and all of its nuisances, so I won't bother going into all of that here too.

     In the back left corner of the store we find the Albertsons Publix Deli, home to Dietz and Watson Boars Head meats and the famous Monday Chicken Dinner Deals Pub Subs.

     I still find it fascinating how much care Publix's decor installers took with mounting the new Publix signs symmetrically with Albertsons' decor remnants, as yet again that happened here in the deli. The lower wall under the main deli sign also contains remnants of Blue and Gray Market decor too, although the rusty red paint Publix used makes those remnants blend in more than on the wall above.

     Outside of Publix adding in a few new deli cases to accommodate a Pub Sub station and their hot foods, the deli is pretty much original to how Albertsons left it too. It's almost like you want to walk up to the counter and order the Monday Night Chicken Dinner deal on sale with my Preferred Card this week!

     Continuing along the store's back wall from the deli, the next department we find is dairy, followed by meats a bit further down. The very distinctive color transitions help with showing the transitions between all the different departments in this part of the store (something Albertsons would have lacked - it would have all been Blue and Gray on the walls).

     If you didn't know any better, the Blue and Gray Market remnants blend in really well with Publix's Classy Market 2.0 decor. Some stores make it super obvious when they leave remnants of past tenants behind, but Publix actually went out of their way to make all the remnants blend in. The fact the decorative clip art panels fit perfectly inside Albertsons' old rectangles helps enhance the effect too.

     The photo above provides a better overview of the back of the store, looking from meats back toward the deli. The back wall looks quite normal from this perspective, but the layout gets a bit funky behind me, and we'll see why that is in a moment.

     Continuing our progression across the salesfloor, here's a look up one of the grocery aisles, neatly faced as only Publix could.

     As we move further to the right, here's a quick look toward the front check lanes. We'll see more of the front end toward the end of the post, but for now, back to the grocery aisles:

     I like how the dairy sign lined up so perfectly with this aisle, from a vantage point that also gives us a good look at a CM 2.0 aisle marker.

     The meat coolers begin to appear following dairy on the back wall. We'll return to the back wall and the meat department shortly, but first...

     …frozen foods! I wouldn't call it elaborate, but CM 2.0 had one of the fanciest examples of frozen food decor that Publix has done lately, with all the hanging banners above the coolers (creating an interesting distance perspective, looking down the aisle). Frozen foods typically get a lone sign on the wall (or a hanging sign in stores where frozen in located in the center of the store, although that's not something that always happens). CM 2.0 was very good with filler props like these banners to add something visually interesting to what would otherwise be blank space (like the clip art photos on the walls, and classic photo collages elsewhere throughout the store). Classy Market 3.0 cut back on the props and filler for a cleaner look, which sometimes left behind much blander results in remodels.

     The frozen foods in this store took up the entirety of aisle 7, as well as half of aisle 8 (seen here). The other half of the aisle was home to the PB&J sandwich supplies, and AFB being AFB, actually picked up a few jars of jelly while I was here that were on clearance. (I promise, that was the only form of grapes that came home with me on this trip!)

     Turning the corner from frozen foods, we return to the back wall once again. Here we see one of the store's big oddities left over from the Albertsons days - the awkwardly placed lunchmeats cooler to the right. That cooler runs from approx. aisle 9 all the way to the right side of the store, chopping off the store's last few grocery aisles. I feel this set-up makes for an awkward progression when trying to navigate around the store, but this was the original set-up of these mid-1990's built Albertsons stores (at least these older ones - the ones with the open ceiling around the perimeter never had this set-up, as far as I'm aware). Most Publixsons conversions removed the awkward deli meat cooler in order to run the aisles all the way to the back of the store, and I've only been to one other mid-1990's Publixsons besides this one which preserved the original cooler arrangement.

     Panning the camera a little more to the right, I took this photo primarily to showcase the original Classy Market 2.0 category marker hanging from the cooler. The CM 2.0 category markers had little designs on the side, such as the geometric one on the left side of the "Cold Cuts" sign in the image above.

     A meat category marker becomes visible in our next image, essentially a red version of the "Cold Cuts" one across the aisle. Also, if you look closely, the wall behind the coolers is made of wood paneling - another classic Albertsons building material - just painted over in Publix colors.

     Meats and seafood occupy the back right corner of the building, still in the original alcove design from Albertsons too. Publix typically brings the counter outward in conversions (like this), making it a little more flush with the back aisle and ceiling above. With how little work this store got over the years from Publix, the original arrangement remained until this store closed in September 2022.

     In the alcove itself, the service counter sits in the very corner, with self-service seafood in the cooler to the right, and some filler shelves to the left. Interestingly, Publix also placed some filler from the classic photo collage above the meat and seafood counter - an odd choice (as there are plenty of other signs surrounding the counter), but Publix must have had a few extra classic photos lying around and needed somewhere to put them! If you zoom in, the photo on the far right is an interior photo of the original Publix #1 from the 1930's, which is pretty neat.

     Turning the corner from the meat and seafood counter, here's a look across the building's right side wall. A lot of oddities in this aisle, mostly stemming from Albertsons's old pharmacy counter, which lies straight ahead (behind that magazine rack).

     When Albertsons was here, the alcove to my right would have been home to pharmaceuticals instead of greeting cards. Since Publix never reopened the pharmacy in this store, they shifted pharmaceuticals over to the main grocery aisles, and decided to use this dead space for slower-moving general merchandise goods. In some larger Albertsons stores from this era, the right side wall was pushed further out, allowing for a series of pharmaceutical aisles that ran parallel to the front wall to be placed over here, eliminating the alcove seen in these smaller stores.

     The former pharmacy counter was located behind the magazine rack to my right, behind which would have been windows for the counter. With Publix not opening the pharmacy, they walled off the windows and turned the space into an office of some kind (per the Sing Oil Blogger's observations and some photos linked to in his post from the store's fixture auction).

     Next to the former pharmacy counter, in the front right corner of the building, was the beer department. Most of Publix's beer selection was located in the shelves and coolers along the wall, with some pallet drops of beer in the center of the floor to make the space seem more full. This corner was one of the only areas in the building where Publix seemed to have trouble filling the floor space, but this is certainly not the worst example of extra space we've seen in a Publixsons. 

     Just something about the avocado green and white color scheme and the texturing on the walls seems so 1970's to me, and that's a pretty bad thing to say about a store built in 1995 and last remodeled in 2008. I guess the dated aura of this store wasn't helping its fate any, as we all know "dated" and "Publix" are two things that don't go together.

     Looping back to the front of the store, we'll take a look at the last few grocery aisles that were blocked off from the back by the cold cut cooler. The aisles closest to the right side wall were home to health and beauty products and pharmaceuticals, such as the one pictured above. 

     Wine was located behind the cold cut cooler, and served as the back wall for the store's last 8 aisles. I was only in a store of this design once as an Albertsons many years ago, and I can't remember if wine was always located behind this cooler or if Albertsons kept it with the beer in the front right corner. Moving wine over here seems like a way for Publix to fill shelf space, as a lack of product on the shelves behind the cooler would look worse than a wide open area in front of beer in the corner. However, I can't say for sure, but I feel this was a Publix modification more than an Albertsons layout quirk.

     The classic combination of chips and soda here in aisle 13.

     From the other end of the wine wall, here's a look toward the right side of the store and the old pharmacy counter.

     After looping through all those aisles, here we are once again at the front end, looking at another piece of the classic photo collage on the store's front wall. The alcove on the left side of the image appears to be Albertsons's former video rental space, a common feature in 1990's and early 2000's Albertsons stores (and many other supermarkets at the time). As far as I'm aware, Publix never dabbled with video rental services, although Winn-Dixie did in select stores back in the 1990's.

     Let's be kind, and rewind back to our primary subject here! Here's a look across the store's front end, with the store's 8 check lanes appearing to my left.

     The above photo was taken at a strange angle, but it shows us some more of the store's front end (as well as the ice endcap - an odd feature, as usually Publix keeps the bagged ice in a special cooler near the service desk).

     I didn't visit this store at a particularly busy time - it was a weekday afternoon on a cold (for Florida) January day, but this store still seemed pretty quiet for a Publix even during that time. I have a feeling this is a fairly low volume Publix, considering how few updates it's gotten through the years. Publix owns the building and property it sits on, so costs to keep this store going are probably fairly low, with this store making enough money to get by even if it's not a bustling place. This store's replacement, future Publix #1853, is going to be a 45M store - the store model Publix uses these days for small-town locations and stores expected to run at a lower volume. That decision seems to confirm my suspicions this is a low-volume store, but low-volume and bad business are two things that don't have to go hand in hand (as many people assume). A lot of factors go into determining how healthy a store is, and some companies have even closed high volume stores because of cost factors being way out of control even in those situations.

     Our last interior photo from inside Publix #1331 gives us an overview of the store's customer service desk. The service desk is still located in Albertsons original spot along the front wall, with a small nook to the left of the service desk dedicated to storage of online orders (a more recent addition).

     So that was former Albertsons #4413 and Publix #1331 in a nutshell - a vestige of Publix past on top of an oddly preserved glimpse into what a mid-1990's Albertsons store originally looked like.

     Off to the right side of the building is the liquor store, built with a facade to match that of the main store.

     Interestingly, while Publix #1331 lacked a pharmacy but had a liquor store, the new Publix #1853 will have a pharmacy but lack a new liquor store (from what I can tell on the new store's profile page on publix.com). However, have no fear if you're ever in Southern Fort Myers and have a sudden urge to purchase liquor - Publix #578 at Gladiolus Gateway, only 2 miles up the road from here, has a liquor store.

     Off to the left side of the Publix building is this small strip of stores, which wraps around the side of the old Albertsons. In the very corner of this strip is this small independent pharmacy, which is the pharmacy rumored to have played a part in Publix's lack of a pharmacy in store #1331.

     Our ground coverage completed, we now begin our aerial coverage of this store, beginning with some Bird's Eye images courtesy of Bing Maps:

Front

Right Side

Back

Left Side

     And now for our historic aerial images, courtesy of Google Earth:

Former Albertsons #4413 - October 2022 - The store post-Hurricane Ian, and after Publix closed

Former Albertsons #4413 - 2021

Albertsons #4413 - 2007

Albertsons #4413 - 2004

Albertsons #4413 - 1999

Future Albertsons #4413 - 1994 - Looks like the Albertsons store replaced some other buildings on this site, but I have no idea what they were. The property boundaries for this site were redrawn when Albertsons came around, making it difficult to pinpoint what these buildings were (the one at the bottom looks like a garage, though the one at the top looks more interesting).

     Former Albertsons #4413 and former Publix #1331 became one of the most popular and talked about Publixsons stores due to its quirks and its datedness. Sadly, everything you've just seen in this post is nothing more than a pile of rubble sitting in a Fort Myers dump now, this store's uniqueness and peculiarities nothing more than a memory as a modern Publix rises from the hurricane swept debris pile. However, you'll have three different blog posts to remember this store by - the one you're reading now, the one by The Sing Oil Blogger on MFR, and the Sing Oil Blogger's post-mortem tour on his namesake blog in a few days - three different ways of serving up the same store and remembering its legacy. Preserving the legacy of these overlooked and forgotten retail stores is exactly what I intended to do with this blog when I started it 9 years ago, this now demolished relic a great example of why I do what I do. I'm glad to have inspired others like The Sing Oil Blogger to help me in continuing this mission of documenting and preserving our retail stores, and if there are any others out there intrigued by this little blog of mine, feel free to join in the adventure as well - it's an interesting ride!

     Thank you all for the last 9 years of your support, and let's keep the momentum going next year as well! This time next year we'll be celebrating 10 years of AFB - I don't know exactly how I'll be celebrating that milestone just yet, but the ideas are brewing, so we'll just have to wait and see...

So until the next post,

The Albertsons Florida Blogger