Kmarts, ACME's, and Whole Foods, Oh My!

Howdy folks and welcome back for another exciting post! Today for the most part we'll be looking at a few stores around Devon, as well as some stuff I would drive by on my way home from my internship.

 Thrift Drug/Eckerd/Rite Aid, Frazer, PA
Revisiting this hole-in-the-wall store once after it closed. It's easier to miss than ever now. It didn't sit vacant for long, by the end of the summer it had become medical offices. I was a little disappointed by that; I was hoping Giant would take the opportunity to expand into this space since it is the same height and goes just as far back as they do. The office didn't last long, they claim to have moved but their tenure here was short enough I have my doubts. Once again it is vacant and I'm rooting for Giant to move in.

 There isn't much to see looking inside. Walls were repainted for the Customer World decor, but otherwise it's all Eckerd in here. They must have done a gut remodel when they took over.

 Speaking of Giant, here's a shot I got from their cafe for some reason. While the store still hasn't been remodeled from its inherited Clemens decor, this area was sacrificed so they could add a Giant Direct delivery service here.

 True Value/Ace Hardware, Frazer, PA
True Value was once of the center's original tenants, which closed in 2011. The space then became an Ace, which despite being such a similar store completely gutted the place. That didn't work out either, and within 2 years it had closed as well. It sat vacant for a long time before a gym eventually moved in late last year.

 JM Fields/Kmart/Target, Devon, PA
It's been months since I've given you an update from this closing, but these pictures were taken only about three weeks from my previous visit.

 It's still stocked up pretty well given how far into the closing they were, but the place really cleared out in the next couple weeks.

 Kmart operated out of here for 40 years after Fields closed, but retained their flooring all the way up to the end even though the layout hadn't matched the flooring pattern for years.

 They were up to 60% off, which I believe is the third stage of closing. (If I remember correctly it goes 10-20, 20-40, 20-60, 50-90).

 Old health monitor, which in most stores of this era is famous for having the old logo still on it. That wasn't the case here sadly, but it's still a neat old machine.

 Given the store's age, I was hoping for a lot of neat stuff to turn up in the fixture sale. That was not the case. I'm still wondering what happened to whatever they had in their back rooms; I highly doubt Target wanted any of it.

 All the non-closing signage had been taken out of the store at this point. They're jumping the gun a little.

 Fitting rooms, with no signage to indicate it.

 Some more Fields flooring. I guarantee it's been here longer than Kmart has. While Fields could have possibly redone it in their time here, I'm just going to assume it's original to the building.

 Hey that's more than 60% off! Those signs lied!

 Former KCafe, which rode out its final years as an extension of the clothing department.

 Taking a peek back into the kitchen area. The lights weren't on this time so you can't really see much.

 Looking across the front end of the store. The break rooms here were up above the checkout which was very strange for a Kmart. Target moved them into the back; they opened up most of the front wall to windows.

 Somehow Kmart wound up with some A&P America's Choice straws. Obviously I bought some. :)

Food Fair/Pantry Pride/ACME, Devon, PA
This shopping center was originally just the Fields and sister chain Food Fair. I would assume Food Fair owned the building outright. When they went bankrupt in 1978, they sold the Fields to Kmart and the Food Fair to ACME. I'm not sure if either of them got ownership of the building, or if it was sold to a property manager right off the bat. The center was expanded a little bit in the 90's, adding a few more stores. ACME had a major expansion/remodel in 2003, which swallowed up most of those stores. The center expanded again in 2009 to its current size.

 This store was the first in the chain to be remodeled to a version of the Quality Built decor in 2013. This is actually the Albertsons version of the decor, ACME came out with their own version for the remodels done after this.

 I'm convinced this store is cursed. I've tried to photograph it twice now, and neither time has been a success. The first time, my memory card corrupted all the pictures of it (and ONLY the pictures of this store). The second time, all but these 2 photos came out incredibly blurry. I'm going to make it a mission to keep reshooting this store until it comes out right. :P

 Fresh Fields/Whole Foods, Devon, PA
On the topic of stores I need to revisit because I did a terrible job photographing, let's check out the Whole Foods across the street. It opened as a Fresh Fields in 1993, got bought by Whole Foods in 1996 and renamed in 2002. However, the building's history goes back beyond that It was actually built in the early 1900's as an industrial building and was saved when the property was redeveloped.

 Because they recycled an existing building, Fresh Fields had to make do with what they had. This store goes about half as deep and twice as wide as a normal Fresh Fields. I think Whole Foods remodeled after they took over, but they didn't change around much.

 I'm pretty sure the flooring here dates back to the Fresh Fields days.

 Prepared Foods were on the left side of the store in a part that was clearly added on. Whether it was done by Fresh Fields or the factory here beforehand I can't say. I'd guess Fresh Fields though.

Rite Aid, Kimberton, PA
This Rite Aid opened with the center in 1992, and relocated to a freestanding store in Phoenixville in 2010. This spot has sat vacant ever since, even though the shopping center as a whole does very well for itself. This is the only vacancy it's had since Genuardi's got filled 2014.

It had the original red and blue stripes decor up until the end. I really loved this look; they started using it in that late 80's and I think it embodies that time period well.

It's a good space, I have no idea why they're having such a hard time filling it!

Wawa, Woodlyn, PA
Rear entrance to the Wawa we saw last post. This is the only still-open older model location I know of that has a rear entrance, I figure the store must have had a major remodel back in the mid-90's that added this.

 Air conditioner deck on the back still has the store's old color, as well as the only non-LED light left after the remodel.

Deshong Art Museum, Chester, PA

 This museum was opened by the estate of Alfred Deshong, an incredibly wealthy local art collector, after he died in 1916. There isn't much more information on this place out there other than that there was a huge robbery here in 1977, and that the remains of the collection are now held by nearby Widener University. The museum, while it does sit in an open public park, has been abandoned for several years.

Rite Aid, Chester, PA
Rite Aid opened this store in the mid-90's and closed it in early 2019 in a wave that hit a lot of stores in bad neighborhoods... Chester is no exception, last year they had the second highest murder rate per capita in the country (I'm going to talk a lot of trash on Chester in the next couple posts but that doesn't mean I don't love it). It's the only city I'm aware of that Wawa has pulled out of entirely (not counting when they dropped all their franchised stores in the 90's, pulling out of NYC and Connecticut [so every Wawa now is corporate-owned {oh my that's a lot of parenthesis but we're really getting off topic}])- and it's even in their home county. Despite that, Rite Aid maintains a newer store closer to the downtown area.

Arco/Crown Fried Chicken, Chester, PA
Unlike Rite Aid, Crown operates almost exclusively in bad neighborhoods. They're an odd chain... if you can even call it that. It's confusing enough I'm not even going to try to explain it, I'll refer you to Wikipedia instead. Basically, they're a bunch of totally independent restaurants that share a name and logo. I've only been to one before (the 40th and Market location in Philly), but I really liked it. I might go as far as to put it in my top 3 chicken restaurants after Chick-Fil-A and Popeye's. I'm assuming the experience depends on the location though.

Dunkin' Donuts, Brookhaven, PA
This looks like an early 90's Dunkin. It was repainted to its current look in 2011. The lack of attention it's been getting makes me wonder if a rebuild or replacement is in the works. Dunkin's usually pretty anal about getting all their stores up to current standards.

Amoco/BP, Brookhaven, PA
I got this picture because of the "Amoco Fuels" on the bottom of the sign. While it was put up by BP when they first took over, the Amoco name was quickly phased out not long after and it was covered up. BP closed in 2012 and took their newer sign with them, uncovering this.

Food Fair/Channel/Rickel/Save-A-Lot, Brookhaven, PA
This store opened as a Food Fair in the 50's, and became Channel after FF (then known as Pantry Pride) went bankrupt in 1978. Channel later sold to Rickel, which closed with the chain prior to Save-A-Lot opening in the early 2000's.

Kentaco Fried Bell, Brookhaven, PA
I don't know what's going on with the signs here but I don't like it. My only explanation is maybe they were only allowed one wall sign so they had to share it? The restaurant was remodeled in 2018, finally giving both restaurants their own signage.

Wendy's, Brookhaven, PA
This location originally was built in the 90's and was renovated to its current look in 2015. It appears to have been one of their more extreme non-rebuild remodels; the dining area's walls were totally removed and rebuilt.

McDonald's, Brookhaven, PA
This was one of the first eyebrow-style McDonalds'. It was built in 2007 on the site of a much smaller 60's location.

Mobil/Gas N Go, Brookhaven, PA
Mobil was the original tenant here, although for a few years in the 2000's they had lost the franchise and operated independently. They regained the Mobil name in 2011, and lost it again in 2018. Now, it operates as a Gas N Go location. It's not independent, but Gas N Go is a smaller local co-op.

Future PetSmart, Brookhaven, PA
This shopping center had both its anchors replaced in recent years (Kmart became Lowe's and Pathmark became Shoprite), but still suffered from having no remaining inline stores. It was finally fixed by combining them all into one and turning it into PetSmart, which opened in 2018.

Sunoco, Glen Mills, PA
This is the only Sunoco left in the area without a canopy. In lieu of that, they've got larger caps on top of the pumps to provide a little bit of shelter. What's neat about them, aside from how old they look, is that they've still got Sunoco's old logo on them!

Today's post was sorta long so I'll leave you with two songs today. This one is one of my favorites that I always associate with springtime for some reason. Now that we've finally reached that point in the year I feel it is an appropriate time to listen.

This next song I'll admit is a little weird but I like it. The music video is pretty cool too.

Just out of curiosity for those of you who listen to the music, do you play it after reading the post, or do you put it on at the beginning so you can listen while you read? The reason I ask is because I'm considering moving the songs to the beginning of the post to make it easier for those of you who do the latter.