The Market Report

Up next -- we head to Charleston! And a few other towns around it in South Carolina. We begin to the northwest of the city in Summerville, then we wander through West Ashley and other northern parts of Charleston (note: not North Charleston, a separate city), before heading straight into downtown. We'll make one stop east of Charleston in Mount Pleasant, then travel out to Folly Beach on the coast outside of Charleston. Folly Beach is on Folly Island, one of the many islands off the coast of South Carolina, and we'll be exploring several of them. After Folly Island, we'll stop by Johns Island, Kiawah Island, and finally Wadmalaw Island. That's going to take us about a month, so sit back and enjoy! This is an interesting area, and it's also one I visited recently (January 2022, as a matter of fact) so it's pretty fresh in my memory. Hopefully, that makes for more exciting blog posts. As always, thanks for reading and following me all around the area and I'll ...

You know what time it is! It's time for Streetside Sights & Scenes, where we take some time to look around the areas where we've seen supermarkets and check out some of the non-supermarket attractions of the region. Don't worry, there won't be nearly as many as New Jersey , just five photos! Let's jump in... This beautiful shot was taken on route 13 a little bit outside of Snow Hill . I know it really looks like I'm in the driver's seat in this picture, but it was actually taken out of the back window! A really stunning shot, in my opinion, of the sun setting over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, looking southwest. And another waterfront sunset... This one was taken from near where I was staying just off Ocean View Avenue, roughly 2.5 miles west of the Harris Teeter. This small strip of land, called Willoughby Spit, separates the Willoughby Bay (seen here) from the Chesapeake Bay. And as I mentioned, there's a lot of military history and current pr...

Original Tenant: unknown Address: 712 High St, Portsmouth, VA Opened:  unknown Closed:  unknown Later Tenants:  unknown Photographed:  January 2020 We're here in downtown Portsmouth, the next town south of Norfolk which has an interesting downtown. It seems that it's a more historically preserved city than Norfolk, which has a lot of new and middle-aged development, and also a lower-income city although it looks like there's some redevelopment going on downtown with some new businesses and interesting attractions downtown. This little storefront has the feel of an old grocery store, and it definitely sold food at one point but it may have been more of a newsstand/convenience store -- or even an ice cream parlor, possibly -- based on what's left on the storefront here. I thought it was worth photographing anyway. (Like our Monticello Ave store, this one does not appear on Groceteria's list , but that doesn't mean it wasn't a grocery store.) Love these sign...

Save-A-Lot Owner: Mike Fugere Opened:  2010 under current ownership; unknown previously; closed Dec 2020 Previous Tenants:  Colonial Stores (1955-late 70s) > Big Star (late 70s-early 80s) > Giant Open Air Market (mid-80s) Location:  3816 George Washington Hwy, Portsmouth, VA Photographed:  January 2020 Quick look to wrap up Norfolk at a Save-A-Lot outside of downtown Portsmouth to the south of the city. This store was in about 12,000 square feet (or roughly half) of a former Colonial Stores, later Big Star and then Giant Open Air Market according to Groceteria. The store didn't survive SAL's transition from retailer to wholesaler, was not acquired by an owner/operator, and consequently closed in December of 2020. Check out this interesting building downtown , too (which may or may not have been a food store). Well folks, that's all for the Norfolk area, but come back tomorrow to see a few more pictures around the region!

ALDI Opened: 2020 Previous Tenants:  Farm Fresh Location:  730 W 21st St, Ghent, Norfolk, VA Photographed:  December 2019-January 2020 A roughly 38,000 square foot Farm Fresh was split in half when it closed in the historic Ghent neighborhood, with ALDI opening up in the right half, taking just under 20,000 square feet. I actually captured the store just before its opening when it was almost complete but just missing the final touches. I took the above picture in early January 2020, and the below one just a few days earlier but in December 2019. And in the second picture here, you can actually see the Farm Fresh facade remaining to the left side. We also see that ALDI did only a little bit of renovation to the outside, leaving a lot of Farm Fresh's facade intact, but adding their own signature appearance. It's looking pretty good! Here's another supermarket in the Ghent neighborhood. Tomorrow, we're headed outside of Norfolk for our final Hampton Roads day. Portsmout...

Harris Teeter Opened: 2011 Previous Tenants:  none, Harris Teeter previously on site 2000-2011 Location:  1320 Colonial Ave, Ghent, Norfolk, VA Photographed:  December 2019 I will admit that my finest photography skills are not on display here in the Norfolk set of stores. But I thought I should get as many as I could, regardless. This roughly 50,000 square foot store opened in 2011 as a new-build replacing the older store on the same property. Interestingly, the old store was hardly 10 years old when it was demolished and replaced. The old store looked perfectly fine , but was likely much smaller -- and was oriented with its back to Colonial Avenue, which is the more major road through the area. We're up to the northwest of downtown in the Ghent section, a great smaller business district with a lot of shopping and restaurants. It's a section of Norfolk with a nice amount of character, in a city that's otherwise a lot of tall buildings and strip malls on generic highwa...

Original Tenant: unknown Address: 795 Monticello Ave, Norfolk, VA Opened:  unknown Closed:  unknown Later Tenants:  CHKD Thrift Store Photographed:  December 2019 This is one of those buildings that just feels  like it used to be a supermarket. However, it looks like I'm wrong here. I can't find any evidence that this building ever was a grocery store, using Newspapers.com and Groceteria's Norfolk list (and that includes searching alternate addresses on the streets that surround the property, just in case the "front" of the property has changed over time). The only hole is that Groceteria's list is chain stores, and it's always possible this 17,000 square foot, pitched-roof building was an independent grocer. I mean, one could be forgiven for thinking this was a supermarket, right? Either way, we're headed north of downtown tomorrow for two stores in the Ghent neighborhood, both over on The Market Report !

ALDI Opened: 2019 Previous Tenants:  none Location:  1050 N Military Hwy, Norfolk, VA Photographed:  December 2019 Our final stop in Janaf is this roughly 19,000 square foot ALDI, which is part of the enormous Janaf Shopping Center. It's in an outparcel near Military Highway. And I didn't get to go inside, but it looks a lot like other ALDIs. If you do want to see inside, though, you can do so here . Check out the Food Lion and former Farm Fresh just north, and tomorrow, we'll be heading into downtown for a stop over on Grocery Archaeology !

Original Tenant: Farm Fresh Address: 1200 N Military Hwy, Norfolk, VA Opened:  unknown Closed:  2018 Later Tenants:  subdivided Photographed:  December 2019 I captured the Janaf Farm Fresh (not the Wards Corner Farm Fresh, as I originally thought ) after its closure but before anything else had moved in. The space was later remodeled and subdivided for an Advance Auto Parts, keeping most of the facade intact. The store looked quite nice when it was still in business, and I'd guess that it was one of the newer-built Farm Fresh locations. By the way, as you may know or have guessed, there's a large military presence in Norfolk (incidentally, my uncle was stationed here for a while), giving us names like Military Highway and also the neighborhood where this store is, Janaf (or Joint Army-Navy Air Force). We have two more stores right in this area, the Food Lion across the street and the ALDI just south. Tomorrow, we head into downtown for a store here on Grocery A...

Food Lion Opened: 2012 Previous Tenants:  Food Lion (1997-2007) > Bottom Dollar Food (2007-2012) Location:  1235 N Military Hwy, Norfolk, VA Photographed:  December 2019 Yep, we couldn't go too many days here in Norfolk without seeing a Food Lion. This 39,000 square foot store was built in 1997 as a Food Lion but interestingly enough spent five years of its life as a Bottom Dollar Food. It seems that Ahold Delhaize has been pushing Food Lion more aggressively lower-end than it has been in the past. Their past stores were much more upscale, even just in appearance, like Shepherdstown . But I think the failure of Bottom Dollar left a lower-end hole in their operations, creating an opportunity to further distance Food Lion from the Ahold chains that also operate in their areas. For those who live in this area, is that a fair assessment? Anyway, don't forget to check out the former Farm Fresh across the street and the ALDI just south here . Tomorrow, we head over to Groc...

Food Lion Opened: 1998 Previous Tenants:  none Location:  3530 Tidewater Dr, Norfolk, VA Photographed:  December 2019 It's our last Norfolk store tour! We still have about a week of other assorted stores but this is the final store tour. Another smaller Food Lion at just over 30,000 square feet. This one was built in 1998, and has also gotten the latest remodel. The layout more closely resembles Little Creek than Tidewater North , since they're of the same generation, although this one is noticeably smaller. Bakery/deli is to the right when you enter, with produce on the right side wall of the store. Meat/seafood line the back wall, with dairy/frozen on the left. Beer/wine are in the front left corner. The fixtures here are quite nice, and were likely updated after the store opened. Notice the slanted back wall. This store has a triangle taken out of the back right corner because of the street that runs behind it. This is another attractive but unremarkable Food Lion, d...

Food Lion Opened: 1983 Previous Tenants:  Colonial Stores (1965-1970s) > Big Star (1970s-1982) Location:  6206 N Military Hwy, Norfolk, VA Photographed:  January 2020 Another Food Lion, this one at Military and Norview near the Norfolk Airport and just south of a LIDL . This one is an older building, and slightly smaller too at just over 30,000 square feet. Not sure if it's gotten the same renovation the others we've seen have, but I don't see any photos on Google Maps with the newer decor. Looks like they have or had a very attractive version of the older decor , which I like although it's quite different from their newer decor. Speaking of newer decor, let's see that decor in our next Food Lion tomorrow about two miles west!