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 signs! I will say that I've done some work lately on listing grocery stores in Worcester, Massachusetts from city directories, and my instincts have been almost never wrong about what was and what wasn't a grocery store up there. But then again, I know Worcester like the back of my hand so I know what to look for. I don't know this area so well, but I still thought it was an interesting storefront worth photographing. Anyhow, we have another store just outside of town today, and that's our last day of the Norfolk area! Head over to
The Market Report tomorrow to see some more area pictures.
One (possibility), if anyone knows. Did this area ever have a chain of small shops (my example would be the Isaly stores from PA/OH)?
ReplyDeleteSeems something like that could have fit in a spot like this, back when such stores were more common in a downtown setting.
Excellent point. And a very interesting chain of stores! I'll have to look into that more.
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