Former Albertsons #4341 and #4382 - Stuart, FL

Albertsons #4341/Shopper's World Flea Market/Scotty's Hardware #37

2281 SE Federal Highway (US 1), Stuart, FL - Stuart Centre

***Classic Photo Above Courtesy of William S. All Other Photos taken by AFB***

     The story of Albertsons' two stores in Stuart is a bit of a strange case. While I've been able to figure out much of the backstory on these two stores, there are still many unknowns about Albertsons' time in Stuart (especially with the second store). However, let's begin this post by starting at the beginning:

     In 1980, Albertsons opened their first Stuart store at the southeast corner of US 1 and Monterey Road, one of the busiest intersections in Stuart. The new Albertsons was a part of a new complex called Stuart Centre, which featured Zayre and Luria's as its other anchors. The photo above is a photo of the original Stuart Albertsons (Store #4341) taken sometime in the 80's. Overall it was a typical Skaggs Model store, however due to the size constraints of the lot it was built on, 4341 was on the tiny side, coming in around 50,000 square feet. While 50,000 square feet was pretty large for a grocery store back in the 80's, it was small for Albertsons. Most of Albertsons stores in the early 80's were around 55,000-60,000 square feet. By the late 80's Albertsons began to feel cramped in their tiny store, and they began to show interest in relocating. In 1988, an opportunity came up for Albertsons when Kroger announced they were pulling out of Florida and selling all of their remaining Florida Choice stores. Across the street from 4341 was a Florida Choice store that was now up for sale, which Albertsons snapped right up. Later in 1988, Albertsons moved to the newer and much larger building across the street, leaving tiny old 4341 behind after only 8 years there. I'll pick back up with what happened to Albertsons after the move to the replacement store (Store #4382) in a little bit, but there's still a bit to explain as far as the fate of 4341. The building sat vacant until January 1992, when Albertsons rented the building to a business called Shoppers World, which was a flea market. In August 1992, only after a few months in operation, Shoppers World closed without warning among claims of financial troubles by the owners. After Shoppers World closed, it was revealed that the owners had also stopped paying rent to Albertsons, something that had gone on since April 1992. All of this led to a year long lawsuit between Albertsons and the owners of Shoppers World, which was finally resolved in 1993. After the Shoppers World fiasco was resolved, Albertsons found another tenant for 4341 in 1994: Scotty's Hardware. Scotty's renovated the building by adding a lumber yard to the left side of the building, but otherwise they left it mostly intact from when Albertsons left. Scotty's would remain in this building until the early 2000's, but closed before the rest of the chain in 2005. After Scotty's closed, Albertsons finally sold their old building to the owners of the rest of Stuart Centre, who decided to tear down the old Albertsons building in order to extend the plaza with more small storefronts. So in early 2006, 4341 was demolished.

     Above is a photo of some of the storefronts that currently occupy the site that was once home to the former Albertsons building. As was expected, there isn't a trace of anything left from Albertsons here. Most of the site where the original Albertsons building was located is now the parking lot for these storefronts, with most of the plaza extension being pushed further back on the lot.

     More of the new plaza. The portion of the building where Mattress Firm is located backs up to the original plaza that opened in 1980.

      In this parking lot once stood an Albertsons. Since there wasn't much here to photograph, let's jump into some satellite imagery before jumping across the street to the replacement store:

     This satellite images shows an overview of the entirety of Stuart Centre and the locations of the original anchors. The "J" shaped piece of the plaza in the top left is the new portion of the plaza built over the former Albertsons site in 2006. While we're here, let's take a quick look at the homes of the other former tenants of this plaza:

Luria's #120

2339 SE Federal Highway, Stuart, FL - Stuart Centre

     Luria's opened with the rest of the plaza in 1980, and this location closed sometime in the mid-90's (probably 1996 or 1997-ish) as Luria's began to close most of their locations before going completely out of business in 1997. For those of you who don't know, Luria's was a Miami based catalog showroom chain (of similar format to a Service Merchandise), which (like many of the other catalog stores) focused much of their business on selling jewelry, although they also sold items in a variety of other departments. At their peak in the 1980's, Luria's had over 50 stores throughout Florida. Between the Luria family selling out in the early 90's and the fall in popularity of catalog stores at the same time, it was all downhill for Luria's in the 90's. If you're interested in a more thorough history about Luria's, this website has a pretty good history about them. Anyway, Luria's old space is now a Home Goods, and fairly unrecognizible after the facelift the exterior of the plaza received back in 2006.

Zayre #659/Ames #2659

2377 SE Federal Highway, Stuart, FL - Stuart Centre

***Above image courtesy of Google Maps Streetview***

     I forgot to get my own picture of this portion of the plaza, but this works. The Stuart Zayre store opened in 1980, and became an Ames in 1988 when they bought out Zayre. Like the other Ames stores in Florida, they all closed in 1990 when Ames declared bankruptcy due to their purchase of Zayre to begin with. Ironically enough, Zayre's former sister chain, TJ Maxx, now occupies most of this former Zayre, with Office Depot taking up the rest of the building.

     Now with that quick tour of the rest of the plaza out of the way, let's jump back over to the former Albertsons site for a trip back through time with satellite imagery courtesy of Google Earth:

Former Albertsons #4341 - 2016 - This shows the section of new storefronts built over the former Albertsons site.

Former Albertsons #4341 - Late 2006 - The Albertsons building is now gone, and construction has begun on the new strip of stores and a new parking lot.

Former Albertsons #4341 - Early 2006 - There's the old Albertsons! Like I said earlier, this store was tiny compared to other Albertsons stores from this era. The white rectangle on the left side of the building was an addition added on by Scotty's to house part of their lumber yard.

Former Albertsons #4341 - 2003

Former Albertsons #4341 - 1995 - Here Scotty's was still in business. 

     The map you see above shows the locations of the original Stuart Albertsons (#4341, at the top of the image), and its replacement, store #4382, at the bottom of the image. Not very far of a move at all, just to the plaza at the opposite corner. Let's jump over to the site of store #4382 to see what's happening over there:

Florida Choice #606/Albertsons #4382

2508 SE Federal Highway (US 1), Stuart, FL - Regency Square

     Albertsons relocated from store #4341 across the street to this store in late 1988, after purchasing this building from Kroger when they pulled out of Florida earlier that same year. Originally, this building housed a Kroger Florida Choice store. Florida Choice opened here in 1987, barely lasting a year when Kroger pulled out of the state. When this store first opened as Albertsons, I'm sure they were happy to be here. This store was 5,000 square feet larger than the original Stuart Albertsons, and had a much larger parking lot. Other than that, I don't know many specifics about the store itself. I believe Albertsons kept most of the Florida Choice building and layout intact during their time here, but I can't say for sure. Hardly anything exists online about this place. Also, when Recency Square first opened, all of the stores in the plaza had to have their signs in red (a feature that the plaza's landlords no longer enforce, however some of the old red signs still remain). I've always wondered if Florida Choice and Albertsons had to have their typically blue and white logos in red as well to match the rest of the plaza. Anyway, Albertsons lasted in this location until November 6, 1997. According to Albertsons, they closed this store because the local Stuart trade area was "not being as competitive" and that "the trade area has extended to the west and south; the bulk of the population has shifted." Albertsons said that their new store in Jupiter (Store #4446, located 20 miles to the south of here), which was set to open a few days after this store closed in November 1997, would essentially serve as a replacement for this store (although I don't think the original intent of the new Jupiter store was for it to be a direct replacement of this one - I think Albertsons just used the timing of that store's opening to their advantage as an excuse to close this one). After Albertsons left, this building sat empty until 2000, when the space was split between Stein Mart and a Books-A-Million. The landlord's original plan was to get Staples to rent a portion of the former Albertsons space, but that didn't go through. Currently, Stein Mart is still here, however Books-A-Million closed their store in the late 2000's. Not long after Books-A-Million left, West Marine moved into this space, relocating from a smaller store across the street.

     Like with the original Stuart Albertsons, there really isn't anything from Albertsons left over here either. When the building was subdivided in 2000, the interior was completely gutted and the exterior was completely rebuilt. However, at least the original structure remains over here, which is one thing that didn't happen across the street.

     West Marine takes up the right side of the building, where (if I got the layout right), would have been home to  Florida Choice and Albertsons's bakery and dairy aisles. The original entrance to Florida Choice and Albertsons was in the general area of where West Marine's entrance currently is as well (however the original entrance looked nothing like this). The liquor store would have also been tucked off to the side of the original entrance in the main building. 

     Looking down the front walkway, from the front of West Marine toward Stein Mart. While we're here, we might as well go inside West Marine and Stein Mart to see what the interior of this place looks like now.

     First up is West Marine. For those of you who aren't familiar with West Marine, they are a chain of stores that specializes in selling boat parts and accessories, although they also sell watersports and fishing items, and outdoorsy clothing and shoes.

     This side of the store has gone through two thorough renovations in its life: From Florida Choice/Albertsons to Books-A-Million, and from Books-A-Million to West Marine. With that being the case, and as I suspected, there was not a trace of anything original in here, not even anything from Books-A-Million.

     While the front part of the store was dedicated to the clothing and watersports stuff, the back part of the store with the numbered aisles was dedicated to boat parts and accessories, West Marine's core area.

     More boat parts...

     One last look toward the front of the store before moving next door to Stein Mart...

     Stein Mart takes up the left side of the building, where Florida Choice and Albertsons' produce, pharmacy, and deli departments would have been.

     Heading inside Stein Mart...

     If you're not familiar with Stein Mart, they're a department store chain that sells merchandise of the same type and pricepoint like you would find at a place like JCPenney. Their stores are not as large as a traditional department store, but they still offer the same type of merchandise. This is looking down one of Stein Mart's main aisles after walking into the store. Again, nothing from the grocery store days in here.

     Looking from the back of Stein Mart toward the front of the store.

     The back of the store.

     One last interior photo. I think this was looking into the back right of Stein Mart's space. Somewhere back here was Florida Choice and Albertsons' meat department.

     So that's really all there is as far as the current state of former Albertsons #4382 is concerned. Here's one last photo of the exterior of the former Albertsons.

   At the other end of Regency Square is the plaza's other anchor, the independently run Regency 8 Cinema. This movie theater has been here since the plaza was built in 1987, although originally it was affiliated with Cobb Cinemas.

     The plaza's road sign, with this one being the one that faces Monterey Road.

     Here's an overview of the entirety of Regency Square. The former Florida Choice/Albertsons is the large building at the bottom of the image, and the movie theater is toward the top left. Now for a look at some Google Earth historic aerial images of the Albertsons building:

Former Albertsons #4382 - 2006

Former Albertsons #4382 - 1999 - Here we see the building in its original form. At this time, Albertsons had already closed and Stein Mart and Books-A-Million had yet to move in.

Albertsons #4382 - 1995 - I think this is the clearest image I have of the original look of this building. I don't know the what the exact design of this Florida Choice building was, but I think it looked something close to this design by going off of the building's outline.

     So that's all I've got on the two former Albertsons stores in Stuart. I realize neither of these two former Albertsons stores were all that interesting to look at, but Stuart does have some much more interesting retail hiding around town. For the next feature post, we will stay in Stuart for a look at a Bonus Buy store, a store that may very well be one of the last of its kind. That will be coming up in two weeks, so be sure to come back for that!

So until the next time,

The Albertsons Florida Blogger

A Loss for Winn-Dixie in Gainesville

Winn-Dixie #160

2500 N. Main St., Gainesville, FL - Northside Shopping Center

***Photos for this post are courtesy of contributor Ian W.***

     Winn-Dixie has had image issues for years. People always complain about many of Winn-Dixie's stores being old, dirty, smelly, stuck in 1990, etc. Ever since emerging from their bankruptcy, Winn-Dixie has come up with a few classy prototypes that have turned what were once old, dated stores into something very presentable, something that could turn all of those previous thoughts and perceptions about Winn-Dixie completely around. Some of Winn-Dixie's most ambitious remodeling campaigns included the 2011-2013 "Transformational Stores", and their most recent remodeling campaign introduced earlier this year for the rollout of the "Down Down" promotion. Amongst all of these high hopes, fancy prototypes, and promises for more widespread store remodeling, Winn-Dixie's post-bankruptcy financial burdens still haunt them, and so does that long ingrained image of the condition of their stores from the early 2000's. Most of Winn-Dixie's current image issues stem from the fact that they don't have the money to do elaborate remodels to all of their stores, leaving the vast majority of their store base untouched since the early 2000's (or in many other instances, decades prior to that). This store was one of the worst offenders to prolonging Winn-Dixie's image issues. This store really hasn't been touched on the inside since the early 1990's. As we will soon see, this store was one of the last Winn-Dixies in existence to still be sporting the Neon Markeplace interior in some form. According to Ian, this store was Gainesville's dirtiest and most unpleasant Winn-Dixie, and other locals seem to agree on that front as well. According to one review of this store, written by a Winn-Dixie employee sent here from another store to help out, had this to say about ole 160: "This store is known in Winn-Dixieland as "Store #160," and even the mention of the store's number leaves many W/D employees shuddering as it's known to be one of the worst Winn-Dixies in the entire state of Florida. It's called "the store that care forgot."" (You can read that entire review by clicking here and scrolling down to the review written on 3/31/2009).

Google Streetview image of the front of the store.

     This Winn-Dixie originally opened in 1977, and was expanded to the left into a former Revco drug store in 1992. That 1992 expansion brought to us the interior design and decor we'll be seeing below. As the 2000's progressed and Winn-Dixie emerged from bankruptcy, Winn-Dixie considered relocating this store to a new building, although those plans fell through when the shopping center's landlord agreed to fix up the exterior of the plaza and resolve some parking issues that needed to be addressed. Even after the relocation plans fell through, Winn-Dixie put this store on its list to be given an elaborate remodel into one of their "Transformational" stores. However, that remodel never happened due to BI-LO's buyout of Winn-Dixie in 2012, killing all hopes of a remodel here. In its final years, this store just withered away as a grocery box still clinging onto the design trends of the late 1980's/early 1990's. This store began the closing process on September 7, 2016, and closed for good in early October 2016. Also to note, a Winn-Dixie store in Winter Park, FL (7580 University Boulevard) also began its closing at the same time, making that store and this one in Gainesville the company's most recent casualties as of the time this post was originally published. Anyway, with that long backstory out of the way, let's get to the good stuff and take a look at what was going on inside...

      Ian took these pictures fairly late in the closing process, sometime in late September 2016. As we'll see in most of these pictures, there wasn't much left in the store at this point. These first two photos are of some of the barren grocery aisles...

     Heading over to frozen foods now. I don't know if the coffin coolers in this store are original to the store's opening in 1977 or not, but they sure look pretty old! The coffin cases are throwing off an especially 70's vibe. In the background you can see the Neon Marketplace "Pharmacy" sign.

     Looking into the left side of the store. This picture was taken looking into the space that was added on during the 1992 expansion. We also get a very clear look at the stripe pattern on the walls, which matches the color scheme of the Marketplace decor that would debut a few short years later.

     A look toward the back wall from the frozen foods department. And what's that I see in the background?...

    It's the 80's in all of it's shiny, neon-y glory. Winn-Dixie's Neon Marketplace interior included the use of lots of neon signs, and lots of shiny, chrome-like wall paneling. You can see an example of the full version of Winn-Dixie's Neon Marketplace interior here. The Neon Marketplace interior at this store was stripped down a bit being a later install of this decor, but it never left, and stayed in tact until 2016. Call it dated or whatever else, but this sign itself is an unbelievable find, and a great way to finish off our short look at the now former Northside Shopping Center Winn-Dixie.

     Before finishing, I have these Bird's Eye aerial images courtesy of Bing Maps to share for a little more perspective on this store:

    This is an overview of the Winn-Dixie building. The part of the store with the darker roof was the space Winn-Dixie expanded into in 1992.

     And finally, I figured I'd throw in this aerial image of this other former anchor to Northside Shopping Center, Kmart. This Kmart opened in 1977, and relocated in 1994 to the site of the former Gainesville Mall (where the Lowe's currently is on 13th St. - also, if you want to know more about the old Gainesville Mall, you can read an interesting article that mentions the old Gainesville Mall and other classic Gainesville area retail here). After Kmart left the Northside Shopping Center, their space was divided between an Ashely Furniture Homestore and Big Lots. Since this image was taken, Big Lots relocated to a new home over on 13th St., and the Ashley furniture store closed. Currently, the only occupied portion of the former Kmart is right third of the building, where a Harbor Freight Tools and a pawn shop recently moved in. Throw in the now closed Winn-Dixie, and this plaza will be pretty empty. However, 13th St. seems to be the go-to place for retail in northern Gainesville now, as that area has seen some growth recently, and empty spaces getting filled fast.

     With the closing of the Northside Shopping Center Winn-Dixie, that leaves Gainesville with only two Winn-Dixies remaining, both on the south side of town (one of which is a former Sweetbay, and the other is an older store remodeled around 2011 to the post-bankruptcy interior). Winn-Dixie's two remaining Gainesville stores are nothing compared to Publix's 13 Gainesville locations (with a 14th location currently under construction). I know Florida as a whole is very biased toward Publix, but what's going on in Gainesville is a bit crazy...

     Anyway, that's all I have for now. Thanks again Ian for sending in these pictures! Be sure to come back next Sunday for the regularly scheduled feature post!

So until the next time,

The Albertsons Florida Blogger

Former Albertsons #4471 - Sanford, FL - Part 2

Albertsons #4471

300 W. Lake Mary Boulevard, Sanford, FL - Boulevard Plaza

     It's now time to conclude our tour of former Albertsons #4471 in Sanford with the second part of this two part post series. As you can see for Part 2 of this tour, we will get to go inside part of this former Albertsons thanks to the appearance of this pop up Halloween store! The photos for Part 2 of this post were actually taken before the photos for Part 1. I came by here the first time not expecting this Halloween store to be here, so this was an interesting surprise for me! After Halloween I was by here again, which is when I took the photos you saw in the Part 1 post to provide the other, more abandoned perspective of this store. Every October since this Albertsons closed, Spirit Hallowen has operated here. That includes this year as well, so if you're in the area and want a peek inside this store, you still have another week to do so. However, if you can't make it to Sanford this week, this post will provide an interesting perspective of this store. Also, if you want a recap of the Part 1 post from this store earlier this month, please click here.

     UPDATE 10/28/2016 - Commentor cflguy visited this store again in the last few days, and took some very interesting photos which you can view here. Instead of opening on the left side of the building as my pictures show, Spirit opened in the right half this year, giving an entirely new perspective to this store. Also, cflguy reports that Publix has bought the lease to this building, and has plans to open a store here sometime in 2017, bringing an end to the long abandoned Sanford Albertsons.

     Before we go inside let's take another quick look around the exterior...

     The right side of the building.

    Looking toward the left side of the building and the liquor store. Nothing different was going on over at the liquor store that we didn't see already in the first post, so this post won't feature any photos from over there. If you want a look at the liquor store, scroll toward the bottom of the Part 1 post.

     Are you ready to head inside...if you dare...

     Welcome to Albertsons Spirit Halloween! This interesting mashup of logos greets you when you first walk through the front door, although I think Albertsons' giant leaf logo on the floor overpowers Spirit's banner hanging on the wall. Spirit Halloween's sales floor only takes up the left half of the old Albertsons (home of the deli, bakery, produce, Snack Central, Beverage Boulevard, and the Pharmacy), with the remainder of the old Albertsons blocked off by temporary plywood partition walls. Most of the reason as to why I came back here the second time was to get pictures of the remainder of the store that Spirit blocked off, which kind of worked out. However, for a perspective of this area when the Halloween store isn't in operation, click here.

     If this store had a Starbucks (which more than likely it did when it first opened), it would have been immediately to my left here. To the right is the left side wall of the pharmacy island, which also doubles as a great place to hang some skeletons from.

     Looking back at the hallway Spirit has set up to funnel shoppers into their salesfloor, which begins at the side of the pharmacy island and runs almost all the way to the back wall. Throughout this post we'll get to see many of the custom tile patterns that were used in the Theme Park/Grocery Palace decor to individualize the different departments (one of the main goals of that interior). In the foreground you can see the road pattern used for Beverage Boulevard (home to all of the non-alcoholic drinks). Whether coincidentally or intentionally, Spirit uses the alignment of Beverage Boulevard as the main aisle through their salesfloor. 

     This was taken looking into the front left corner of the store. If you look closely above Spirit's princess castle prop, you can see the awning that surrounds the front of Albertsons' old deli.

     Looking back down Beverage Boulevard from the center of Spirit's salesfloor.

     Looking into the back of the store. Above the temporary plywood wall in the back you can see where Albertsons' bakery department juts out.

     Another look down "Halloween" Boulevard.

     From this angle you can better see the old bakery, and also a few of the produce lamps to the left of the bakery. Spirit's temporary plywood walls do a good job at blocking most of Albertsons' old wall decor from view...

     However I was able to sneak this one picture from behind the plywood wall. Spirit had a plywood door built into the wall near the bakery department to access their stockroom space. The two pieces of plywood that made up the door didn't quite line up right, leaving a crack between them. The crack was just large enough for the lens of my phone's camera to capture this look at the old Bakery space, showing all of the bakery decor still in tact (minus all of the cases and such, and the food collage on the jut out).

     Back out to the main salesfloor for a look at where Snack Central used to be. Snack Central used this star tile pattern throughout the department, and took up a good 3 or so aisles. 4466's Snack Central had aisles that ran parallel to the front wall before its 2009 remodel, a set up that seems to be more unusual compared to most other Theme Park/Grocery Palace Albertsons stores. This store had the more common Snack Central with all perpendicular to the front wall aisles. However, a discussion about Snack Central just wouldn't be complete without a photo of one of the coolest grocery store decor pieces ever thought up: Snack Central's giant bowl of party mix! (although I will admit, Beverage Boulevard's giant bucket of soda bottles was equally as neat).

     Another look across Snack Central. The only snacks over here now are unknowing customers if one of those zombie props gets hungry.

     Moving further to the right from Snack Central into this area, where Health and Beauty was located.

     This is looking into the rightmost portion of the space Spirit occupies. Beyond the plywood wall you can see the ceiling reaching into the other half of the store, home to the remaining grocery aisles, meats and seafood, dairy, frozen foods, the pet alcove, and the old checkout area. There weren't any cracks in the plywood to get a good look into that part of the store, and I wasn't climbing up that wall for a peek either!

     Spirit's salesfloor cuts off where the beer and wine department once was. This is the tile pattern that was used for that department. Above this department would have been a hanging wooden grid that was supposed to make this department more reminiscent of a vineyard, and in some stores the wooden grid was decorated with fake grape vines. You can see a shrunken down version of this setup in the background of this photo, but the stores with an open ceiling had larger version.

     Continuing down the plywood side wall from beer and wine we see some of the floor decals left over from Albertsons' old greeting cards and party supply aisle.

     And finally, a look at the old pharmacy counter.

     The pharmacy at this store was given the "Sav-on" branding, as can be seen in the signage that was left behind. As I've mentioned on here before, it was always hit or miss as to what Albertsons Florida stores got the Sav-on branding for their pharmacy, and which ones got generic "Albertsons Pharmacy" branding. Even within the same areas you could find both brandings on stores from any era, so I don't know how Albertsons decided when to name a pharmacy Sav-on and when not to.

     Closeup of the old pharmacy sign. Behind the picture of the group of pharmacists you can see a labelscar, which to me looks like a labelscar from the generic Albertsons Pharmacy signage (I can't find a photo of it to link to at the moment). It was just the word "Pharmacy" spelled out with a slight arch to it, leading me to believe the Sav-on branding was added to this store later in its short life as Albertsons. Spirit was using the area immediately in front of the old pharmacy window as space for their registers, and the inside of the pharmacy island was being used for storage and more backroom space.

     So that ends our tour of the interior of this former Albertsons, as we enter the plywood lined hallway back to the exit. It was a nice surprise finding this Halloween store operating in here for this interesting perspective of the interior of an abandoned Albertsons.

     Back outside, looking toward Albertsons' old exit doors. Since Spirit wasn't using this half of the building, they papered over the windows, preventing me from getting any interior pictures of this side of the building during this visit. However, in the Part 1 post from this store I have some photos taken through these windows from after Spirit left, so check out that post if you want a quick glimpse into this side of the building.

     Seems a bit confusing to put a "Now Open!" sign on the door Spirit wasn't using.

     Looking back across the front of the store, from just beyond Albertsons old exit doors looking back toward the main entrance.

     A parting shot of the exterior as our tour of former Albertsons #4471 comes to an end...

     To conclude this post, I have this picture of Boulevard Plaza's road sign, the one which faces Lake Mary Boulevard. Spirit even stuck a small sign on here for themselves (the bright orange one) in one of the small rectangles. Albertsons' logo was actually on the large blank rectangle at the bottom of the sign.

     I hope everyone liked this two part tour of the former Sanford Albertsons! I enjoyed walking around inside of that Halloween store taking in all of the Albertsons remnants. It was a strange feeling, but seeing the old Theme Park/Grocery Palace decor brings back a lot of memories for me. Anyway, I have another short bonus post coming up this Sunday, and then back to the regular schedule to cover another former Albertsons store in two weeks.

So until the next post,

The Albertsons Florida Blogger