Albertsons #4366 / Publix #1340
35439 US Highway 19 North, Palm Harbor, FL - Riviere Plaza
 |
| Today's post is a presentation of Pinellas County retail |
Other than a revisit to a former Albertsons store that got itself intertwined with the recent Winn-Dixie drama, it's been a while since we've toured a new former Albertsons on this blog - since June actually. Being the Albertsons Florida Blog and not the Winn-Dixie Florida Blog, I'm really slipping here! I've spent so much time talking about other stores lately, poor Albertsons got pushed to the backburner amongst other recent news. However, that will all change today as I try to get back on track, as the blog's namesake store returns as today's primary discussion topic. Being another Pinellas County Albertsons store, today's tour features yet another Publixsons. However, it's been so long since we've visited a Publixsons, it's actually a refreshing change of pace this time after seeing so much Winn-Dixie! While we'll be back at Winn-Dixie before long (and by that I mean the next post), let's use today to get back to the blog's roots and learn more about former Albertsons #4366 in Palm Harbor:
Since the 1920s, the northeast corner of Alderman Road and US 19 in the community of Palm Harbor was home to the Riviere family orange grove. It's hard to believe now, but Pinellas County was once full of farms and citrus groves, with agriculture being one of the county's most important industries in the early 20th century. By the time the 1970's came along, development started to take its toll on the county's agricultural past, and the local farmers began to sell out to developers looking to turn Pinellas County into the metropolis it is today.
As development began to sweep Palm Harbor, the Riviere family agreed to sell their farm to the development firm Sembler Company in the late 1980's. As part of the deal, Sembler would be allowed to develop all of the family's property with the exception of the 9 acres immediately surrounding the family's home, where family matriarch Viola Riviere lived and gardened since the early 1950's. As part of the deal, Viola would be allowed to live in the family home until she either chose to move out or died. Viola chose the latter option, remaining on the property until her death at the age of 94 in 2001.
The new Palm Harbor Albertsons store opened for business in 1988, with the Riviere homestead located just to the north of it. Viola's home would end up becoming the last single family home along US 19 in Pinellas County, and even after becoming surrounded by stores and commercial development along (what was then in the 1990's) a 6-lane highway, Viola took it all in stride. That land was her home, and that's where she was staying, even after everyone else around her had sold out and moved along. However, it worked out that part of the property her family sold to developers went to a grocery store, because as she aged, Viola was known to call in grocery orders to her Albertsons neighbor, with a store employee walking next door to deliver her groceries. That was quite nice of Albertsons to do!
The article above goes into more detail about the life of Viola Riviere and how she stuck it out to the end at her little home along US 19. Following her death in 2001, Sembler took control of the property upon which the house stood per the family's original deal, demolishing the house and preparing the lot for a new Walgreens and strip center.
In her honor, the new strip center behind the Walgreens was named "Riviere Plaza". While Albertsons never referred to its store as being part of Riviere Plaza, upon the building's takeover by Publix in 2008, the new Publix became known as "Publix at Riviere Plaza".
Somewhat of an interesting little side story with this former Albertsons store, right? As for the Albertsons itself, it was a pretty average late-1980's "Superstore" design. The store opened with the Blue and Gray Market decor and was remodeled at least once in its tenure, although I'm not entirely sure what decor this store closed with (and Publix has remodeled away any clues by the time of my visit). Publix would take over this store along with 48 others across Florida in 2008, including 13 of the 15 remaining Albertsons stores in Pinellas County too. Publix would reopen this location on November 6, 2008, one of the faster turnaround stores in the 2008 takeover batch.
 |
| Photo courtesy of a really old real estate listing |
Following the initial cheap remodel to Classy Market 2.0 in 2008, this store would remodel again to Classy Market 2.5 in the early 2010's, and again to Evergreen in late 2021. From the looks of it, I visited this store mere months before its Evergreen remodel began, so we'll actually be seeing this store complete with its prior Classy Market 2.5 design. Some of you are probably going to be excited about that, so I timed my trip out here just right to not have to see more Evergreen! (Although in the end, thankfully this store passed the test for an Evergreen remodel, as that means it still has some life in it unlike some of its unlucky siblings).
Like most Publixsons stores, not much has changed about the store's facade outside of some new paint over the years. Overall, what we see here is pretty typical 1980's Albertsons fare.
These Superstore Albertsons buildings can come across as looking like a late 1980's/early 1990's Publix store from the outside if you weren't aware of some of the subtle differences. Both had the split vestibule design like we see here, and some Publix stores even have similar facades to this one too. Once inside, the larger building and higher ceiling gives away that this was not always a Publix though!
On the right side of the building we find the liquor store. Interestingly, Publix never replaced Albertsons' swinging doors here, and better yet, never removed Albertsons' original Entrance and Exit decals either!
Unlike the liquor store, Publix did modify the entryways into the main store to be more to their liking. One of the first changes was replacing the swinging doors on the main vestibules with sliding ones, as we see here:
Through the right side doors we go...
Publix added the new tile backsplash behind the cartwell during the Classy Market 2.5 remodel, and interestingly enough, never bothered to replace those tiles (or paint over them) in the Evergreen remodel either. The inner set of doors we see to the right was also added by Publix, as Albertsons would have had the vestibule open directly into the salesfloor (minus the inner windows in the cartwell - those are original).
Stepping inside, the first department we find upon entering is the deli counter in the front right corner of the store, typical of a late 1980's Albertsons store.
The deli is the first piece we encounter of the store's grand aisle, which occupies the entire right side of the building. Following the deli, as we continue down the right side wall, we find the bakery:
Publix put a decent amount of effort into this store's early 2010's remodel, at which point the bakery was rebuilt into the standard Publix design of the time with the curved awning. When Albertsons was here the bakery would have been flush with the wall, although still in the same location.
You can tell this was a nicer remodel on Publix's end due to the installation of the faux terrazzo floors too. Publix typically reserves the faux terrazzo for their most thorough remodels.
For some reason I took a lot of photos of the bakery, even though it's not anything different compared to what you'd find in the bakery of a newbuild Publix store of the 2010's. It still looks nice though, but it's time to move on to the last component of the grand aisle: produce.
Beyond the bakery is the produce department, occupying the back third of the grand aisle as seen in the above overview photo.
Produce received two wall signs in this store with all the wall space available back here, in addition to some decorative plastic leaves and an extreme close-up photo of an artichoke. Also notice the right wall was painted green while the back wall switched to yellow. Ah, the days when Publix used color accents in their various departments!
From the back of the produce department, here's a look down the store's back wall. Meat and seafood lie just ahead as we peer toward the grocery aisles, but we'll see more of this area in a moment - for now, let's loop back around into the grand aisle:
Looking back toward the bakery and deli, this overview photo shows the final department on this side of the store we've yet to see: floral.
Floral occupies a small island in the middle of the grand aisle, situated between that and the end of aisle 1. The hanging sign for floral matches that of the other wall signs with its bamboo slatted background (hence how Classy Market 2.5 got its official name of "Bamboo"), albeit a bit obstructed by those support poles courtesy of Albertsons.
Looking at the floral island from the front end, the department sign becomes even more obstructed by all of those balloons!
Turning 90 degrees to the left from where that last photo was taken, here's a look across the store's front aisle. Like most Publixsons in these old "Superstore" Albertsons buildings, Publix created the signature dual front actionways, with short aisles of non-foods separating the check lanes from the main grocery aisles.
With the faux terrazzo and Publix-style lighting, it's hard to tell from some perspectives this store was ever an Albertsons, especially from angles like this one where you can't really tell the non-standard Publix layout. And since I brought up the lighting, I have to mention that this store was one of the handful of Publixsons stores I've been to that came across as being really dark. I've encountered that a few times now at some of these drop-ceiling Albertsons stores where Publix switched out the old fluorescent tube lights in a remodel. While some former Albertsons stores still seem bright even with Publix's new lighting, others (like this one) seemed darker than normal for some reason. The South Pasadena Publixsons (#4419) is another great example of that dark felling I'm trying to describe.
Popping out of that aisle, here's a closer-up photo of the meat and seafood counters, as well as the crowd of shoppers I stumbled into as well!
This store had a rather large meat and seafood service counter, with each of those categories having their own service cases under each respective sign. In many Publix stores the service case is only for seafood, but meats appears to have gotten a case of its own here instead of just a little window where you can ask the butcher questions.
Now that we've picked out our choice T-bone steak at the meat counter, it's off to aisle 3 to buy a box of instant potatoes to go with it!
Returning to the inner part of the dual front actionway, we find greeting cards immediately to my left. Those are followed by magazines and some other odds and ends before transitioning into the health and beauty department.
Back in the grocery aisles, we find international foods to my right, with pasta and tomato sauces to my left.
Skipping along to aisle 6, here are the breakfast supplies as well as some more of Albertsons' support poles.
Arguably the best part of the interior of these Superstore Albertsons buildings is the front end, with its raised ceiling and the wide wall of windows looking out from the mezzanine office area. Those windows, though, are such a classic Albertsons feature.
Roughly halfway through the salesfloor, health and beauty begins to come into view to my left, with the pharmacy's awning peeking out at the left edge of the photo.
Pet supplies and hardware found their homes in aisle 8.
Moving into one of the short aisles at the front of the store, here's a look from health and beauty toward aisle 10, a non-foods catch-all aisle in this little stretch of non-food products.
Cutting through the grocery aisles, we return to the back wall for a look at the start of the dairy department in the back left corner. The above photo captures what we've seen so far, looking back toward meat and seafood as well as produce.
Turning the camera around, here's a better overview of the portion of the dairy department that lines the store's back wall. The dairy (as well as the restrooms) signage is now in view, signage that would be ripped out not too long after these photos were taken too!
Dairy occupies part of the back wall before turning the corner, where a small bit of dairy wraps around into the last aisle, aisle 15.
The faux terrazzo floors do a much better job of classing up these former Albertsons stores, much better than that checkered tile pattern we see so often in these conversions.
From further down, here's another look at the windows over the store's front end. Unfortunately, those balloons (as well as the security cameras and the HBA category markers) obstruct our look at the Classy Market 2.0/2.5-era classic photo collage, one of the most fun parts of this decor.
Now in aisle 13, we transition back from non-foods into food items, with the classic combination of beer and chips seen here.
The last two grocery aisles, numbers 14 and 15, are home to frozen foods, as is typical in an Albertsons of this style.
Outside of a tiny bit of dairy that didn't fit along the back wall, aisle 15 is majority frozen foods as well. Being against the wall, the frozen department's wall sign is also visible here, tucked between some ribbing that hides pipes leading to the freezers.
Poking out of aisle 15, we find an interesting assortment of product before us: some beachwear, Publix's clearance rack, a little more frozen food, and the pharmacy counter. I also spy a display of fireworks back there too - someone once told me that if you ever see a store selling fireworks that's a good sign, as it means business must be booming!
Once you're recovered from the ashes of that tragic pun, we'll move up a little bit for a close-up of the store's pharmacy counter.
Like many Publix stores in the Tampa Bay area, this store featured a BayCare Walk-In clinic. These clinics are a partnership with one of the local hospital groups, and instead of Publix having to keep a doctor on staff, these clinics feature a computer upon which patients are given a virtual examination with a BayCare doctor stationed off-site. All of the other clinics Publix runs elsewhere are set up the same way, and are only available in areas where Publix has a deal with the local hospital provider.
While I didn't get a photo down it, I spy aisle 12's sign just to my left as we take one last look across the inner front actionway, looking back toward the bakery.
We'll conclude our interior tour with a few photos looking across the classic Albertsons front end. With all the changes Publix made in here, from the lighting to the floors, this is one of the few places in here that still feels like something straight out of Albertsons!
If you're new to the blog and are curious about what's behind those upper-level mezzanine catwalk windows, be sure to check out this post for a "behind the scenes" tour of what it looks like up there!
As we head toward the left side exit, here's one final interior photo looking back toward the pharmacy counter and the BayCare clinic booth.
Overall, this was a pretty average Publixsons, and these days it's both average and gray. At least Publix seems content with this former Albertsons building that it received some decent updating in the early 2010's followed by an Evergreen remodel in the early 2020's. When I see a Publixsons in 2025 that still sports Classy Market 2.5 (and there are a few), it gives me a bit of concern about that building's future. As far as Publix's replacement plans go, one of the newest Publixsons stores in existence, the Largo Mall store, is shaping up to be our next rebuild victim, but that's the only one (I'm aware of, at least) with concrete replacement plans coming up at the moment (outside of any stores actively being rebuilt as we speak - those being #4312 and #4431, both of which are also in Pinellas County).
Here's one final exterior photo of former Albertsons #4366 before we get airborne for some satellite imagery, beginning with a few Bird's Eye aerial images courtesy of Bing Maps:
Front
Right Side
Back
Left Side - Note that a drive-thru pharmacy was added to this building by Publix, seen here.
And now for some historic satellite imagery, courtesy of Google Earth and historicaerials.com:
Former Albertsons #4366 - 2023 - The former Albertsons building is located at the bottom of the image, with the shopping center to the north of it built on the site of Viola Riviere's homestead.
Former Albertsons #4366 - 2013
Albertsons #4366 - 2008 - A quiet crowd as this store neared its end.
Albertsons #4366 - 2002 - Here you can see the Riviere homestead just to the north of the Albertsons building.
Albertsons #4366 - 1995
Future Albertsons #4366 - 1984 - Back when this entire corner was home to the Riviere farm and homestead. Pinellas County must have been a much simpler place back then!
That's all I have for this Publixsons store. That being the case, I suppose we'll switch back to a little more Winn-Dixie for next time before we return once again to the woes of Albertsons in Florida. While Albertsons in Florida is a lost cause at this point, at least Winn-Dixie will live to fight another day (well, not the Winn-Dixie we'll be touring next time, that one is being chopped up into an Aldi right now), hopefully we'll be seeing some positive news from Winn-Dixie coming to the blog before long, because some things are brewing over there!
Anyway, until the next post,
The Albertsons Florida Blogger
