Flickr Photos 49
This car wash has since dropped the Gentle Touch branding, and is now just "Car Wash." As far as I can tell, Gentle Touch is still in business, so I'm not sure why this would leave the franchise.
This Firestone used to have big letters spelling out the name that took up almost the entire side of the building. When they came out with the new design, it was shrunk considerably. I don't know why they thought this was necessary to do to practically every location, seeing how the part that actually says Firestone hasn't changed in design at all.
WSFS bought out Penn Liberty in late 2016. Since they had just built a new location nearby earlier that year, this was closed instead of being converted. As a result, it is the only one left with a blue roof (WSFS repainted them green) and the Penn Liberty logo on the awning (WSFS replaced them with a W). It still sits vacant and probably will stay that way for a while longer. There isn't much retail on this road- just a high school, a farm, some houses, and an office park behind it.
An update to this picture. The new facade is really starting to look good. I liked the mid-century modern look of the old facade, but I think this is a step up.
As part of the Exton Kmart's redevelopment, they build a new road connecting the mall to Rt. 100. Whole Foods is under construction to the right, and PREIT is in the planning stages of building an apartment building to the left. Once this is complete, they will sprinkle some more freestanding stores in the mall parking lot (this place already has 2 garages, there's really no need for all the flat parking they have).
Where I'm standing would have been right in front of Kmart's windows by checkout.
Rite Aid opened here in 2008, moving from the original Genuardi's space. Ironically, there was an Eckerd in the same shopping center as the new location that closed in 2000.
This branch was built in late 2008, meaning it would have only been Wachovia for a few months at most, if it even opened as one. Streetview from November 2008 shows it with Wachovia signs up, but a "Coming Soon" sign still posted by the road.
This building looks like it could have been a Friendly's originally, especially from this angle. However, this is at the end of a shopping center that all sorta looks like this. It has been operating as an Arabic supermarket for at least ten years now, although the name has changed quite a few times since then. It is currently called Taza Bazaar.
I'm guessing this one replaced the place in the background, although it appears to all still be part of the same station. That also appears to be a house they repurposed as part of the newer end of the station. The original station appears to still be in use as the auto center.
The stations themselves looked a lot more interesting, but I'm guessing everybody that copied them was a lot less inspired.
This location first opened in the 70's or 80's. It was either rebuilt or heavily remodeled in 2016. The site was totally reconfigured, but the restaurant footprint looks more or less the same, not counting the playground addition.
Sunoco opened this location in the 80's or 90's. I guess it must have seemed like an innovative design at the time, but is seen as impractical now. Sunoco has demolished and rebuilt several of these. This one was not so lucky. It closed in 2017, the canopy was demolished, and the store boarded up. Update: The store was demolished in 2018.
This dealership closed in 2007 or early 2008, and has remained vacant since. The other part of this dealership, across the street, has become Car Vision, a used car lot. Even though this building sits unused and the land is for sale, Car Vision is using their lot for overflow parking.
They apparently cared enough to remove the oval Ford sign from the front of the building, but it still has their name in cutout letters on the other side.
Update: Demolished late 2018.
This bank was the standard Commerce style, used from the 70's up until they were bought out. Now that I think about it, most of the ones I know of had to use red brick or stone instead of the white brick, so one of the "standard" style is actually not that common, at least in the Philadelphia suburbs.
At the time I took this picture, I thought this was out of business. The sign was down, and the lot was being used for Christmas trees. In truth, it must have been closed for the season and having their logo replaced at the same time. It's open again, and has the DQ sign.
This location was built as an IHOP, probably in the early 90's. They didn't last terribly long, and were gone by the early 2000's. It then became a diner that lasted a few years, but appears to have closed by 2016. After I got this picture, it was converted to an Indian restaurant. They kept most of the building the same, but redid the entrance tower.
This was a slightly unusual Kinney Shoes location- the front porch wrapped around the side a little, most likely due to the location of the parking lot. The slant is more visible on the other side of the building. After Kinney closed, it became a Blockbuster until about 2011. Pep Boys opened in 2013. There isn't much actual store, most of it was carved out to make way for auto bays.
The shopping center behind this was built in 1992; I think it would be safe to assume this bank is original to it, meaning it would have opened as PSFS-Mellon, which was sold to Citizen's after the Mellon left the retail banking industry.
CVS opened this store in late 2007. Less than a year later, Rite Aid moved from across the street to a location further down the road. I feel like this wasn't a coincidence.
I like the stone facing on this building a lot. It looks much more authentic than the stuff you see on most places.
I've always thought the canopy on this place was much larger than necessary, especially considering how there's only 6 pumps. There never seems to be many people here, so I'm actually surprised it's still in business. The station next door has been at least 3 different brands over the past decade.
Wawa is going to build a store across the street soon, which certainly won't help things.
I imagine this was built as a Susquehanna, most likely in the 70's. In 2015, it became an incredibly short-lived BB&T, who axed this location after only a month or two in favor of a larger former National Penn next door.
A dentist's office opened here in early 2018.
Dunkin' Donuts moved across the street to the former Gino's. This sat vacant for quite a while before AT&T opened here in 2018. Aside from painting the building gray, they didn't change anything on the outside.
PNC, Phoenixville, PA
This was probably built as something else, possibly Provident National Bank in the 60's. It's an interesting design, but I wouldn't call it my favorite.
The exterior is nearing completion, although the inside hasn't even been started yet. They did a really good job building the store, it was well worth the wait. If I hadn't watched them build it, it would be easy to convince me they took an old barn and turned it into a new store.
A newspaper clipping from after Montesano's opened in the 2000's. It has a photo of the interior before the fire. They did the rebuilding on a budget, so it didn't look as fancy after reopening (fluorescent lights, concrete instead of the wood floor). The inside was remodeled again to a fancier look in early 2018.
Montesano Bros. has several photos of the place over the years (I could stand to take another one for myself, seeing how I don't have any from after the reopening).
This aerial photo shows it probably sometime in the 90's, when it was still operating as Wright's Deli. As you can see, the shopping center behind it hadn't been built yet, not had the daycare to the left. The little photo of land in front became home to Eagle Eye in 2017.
This sign doesn't get updated nearly as often as it should. A few months before I got this picture, they finally got a couple long-gone stores off of here and added Liberty Union. Almost immediately afterwards, STS got bought out. It took them a while to get it updated again.
Apologies for not posting yesterday. I was busy all day. To make up for it, here's a double set.
This store also has the elusive Walmart handbaskets! From what I understand, these are supposed to be a rare find, or were at least in 2016. I think other stores have received them since then.
South Street has a reputation for being the trendy street in town. There's a ton of (expensive) restaurants and some (really hippie and/or campy) stores. It even has its own song!
It's fun to look around, but most of the time when I walk here it's just to get to the grocery store.
This trolley line is the only one in the city still using the classic 40's cars. The rest have ones from the 70's (for now- they're being replaced soon).These had their engines rebuilt in the 90's, meaning they will hopefully escape replacement, at least for another 20 years.
Funny story how I got this picture. I was going for one of the gas station in the background, but this pulled in front of me right as I was about to take the picture. Of all the vehicles that could block me, I'm glad it was this one!
"The PCC-II cars were built in 1947 and 1948 as PCC All Electric cars for Philadelphia Transportation Company. The LRV on the Subway-Surface Lines and the Media-Sharon Hill Lines were built between 1980 and 1982. The PCC-II cars were built in the early 2000's by using the exterior of the 194-48 cars with all new interiors.The Route 15 currently runs the PCC-II cars from 63rd & Girard to Frsnkford & Delaware while the section between Girard & Frankford to Richmond & Westmoreland is being rebuilt (and currently using buses for this portion of the route)"-mrambojr
This building was built in 1925, and expanded in 1927. The bank probably closed when the neighborhood turned in the 50's. It's been smaller tenants over the years. The upper floors appear to have been abandoned for a long time. The city tried to fix up the intersection in 2009, the owners probably fixed up the exterior of this building around then. The large plywood signs were removed and replaced with much classier-looking small signs. The check cashing place in the left side of the building closed in 2012, and sits vacant, but the deli on the right does pretty well.
I've seen a few buildings like this around the city. I'm not sure what they were originally, but many seem to be operating as independent donut shops. So, presumably, they were all part of a donut shop chain at one point in time. This place makes their own, and is pretty good despite being located in a sketchy neighborhood. Update: Was originally Church's Chicken.
Over the last year or so, the Housing Authority went around and pulled down a lot of abandoned rowhomes like this. I don't remember exactly where this picture was taken, so I can't say for sure what happened to it, but we can reasonably assume it's gone.
Another old McDonald's/Amoco hybrid, now shared with BP. I don't want to jinx it by saying this, but I haven't seen any of these hybrid McDonald's get remodeled yet. This one still even has the red and white paint!
BP's made a few investments here, most notably solar panels on top of the canopy. Of all the stations I could expect that from, BP would be towards the bottom of the list.
You can see City Hall in the background at the end of the street.
Fresh Grocer opened this store in 2007. If I remember right, Obama spoke here shortly after being elected. It was something about nutrition in inner-city communities. This location was chosen because it was the first full-scale this neighborhood has had in years. I think it may have also been the last to open before the Shoprite buyout.
Of the seemingly dozens of Rite Aid's along Broad Street, this one appears to be the oldest, I'm guessing mid-80's at latest. It had the original Rainbow decor up until around 2013, when it was redone to the first Wellness decor.
I thought the sign here was interesting- the lettering is shaped like their current logo,but I think the sign may be original! Their current lettering is based off their longtime Shield logo. Originally, their stores didn't have the name anywhere but on the shield. Since this one didn't have the Shield sign, they put up what would have been in it in cutout letters.
I feel like I didn't explain that well, so TL;DR- This store had the current logo before the current logo was a thing.
Comparing the sign to the building, I think it would be safe to assume this was rebuilt at some point. it looks like one of the newer mansard-roof ones. I'd guess its from the early 2000's. The interior appears to have been redone somewhat recently.
Maps Links haven't worked for me much in the past, but I'll try again for the sake of showing you what the inside is like.
This theater was built in 1927. It was supposed to be a destination performance and movie theater, but after the great depression hit a few years later, it became more of a neighborhood thing. In the 50's, it became an important R&B/Soul music venue, which would have weekly events for students at nearby Temple University. Daryl Hall performed at one of these events, won the talent show and got his first record deal here. In the 70's, the theater closed and the auditorium was turned into a church. That closed in the 90's, after the building deteriorated to the point where it couldn't be used.
In 2002, it was purchased by a nonprofit organization, who has been keeping the building from further falling apart. They finally procured the funds to restore the building in early 2018, and are looking at a mid-2019 reopening.
The bottom floor of this rowhome was used as a bar for a while. Somehow they were able to keep on top of the health inspections in spite of the upper floors being in the shape they are. The bar unfortunately closed down in 2012 after the owner passed away, leaving the building totally abandoned.
This rowhome and the unit next to it burned in mid-2016. Its neighbor was pulled down shortly after that. This one still stands, although has racked up a number of unsafe structure violations. I'm wondering if it has some kind of historic significance protecting it from demolition.
This station opened in the 50's. It's had some modifications done to it over the years, but the original porcelain facade is still intact. This my all-time favorite gas station design.
Despite the pump islands still being here, I think this hasn't sold gas in decades. Crabs Plus has been here for a while. They turned the right side of the building into a water ice stand more recently.
This was built as an Arco in the 70's. While the A-Plus store takes up the entire building now, it did have a small auto center at one point. This is one of the earlier stations to have a full size convenience store, which would have taken up half the building originally.
This old 30's Gulf station has been maintained very well. Practically every other one I know of is abandoned or in rough shape.
There's another (newer) former Gulf at the other end of the block. I'm not sure if these coexisted, or of that replaced this one.
This would have been a very upscale twin house when it was first built in the early 1900's. When the houses were combined and turned into a funeral home, the facade was covered with black marble. I'm sure it's not nearly as ornate as the facade would have been originally, but I really like the look of the marble.
I'm not sure what the history of this place is, but it looks like a corner store that was redone and expanded in the 50's. The walls would have all been windows at that point, but they have since been painted over.
Wendy's has been in this building since the 90's, and remodeled in 2015. It looks like it was a light remodel- they just swapped out the signs, and left the rest of the space as it was.
This location was built in the mid-2000's. While streetfront Foot Locker's aren't common, there's still a few of them in the city.
Sunoco has been at this intersection since the 50's, but moved from across the street in the 80's. The old site was demolished in the early 80's for a high school, which itself was demolished recently. The site will be part of Temple University's new football stadium.
Yes, that's the same link from a few photos up. Sunoco is on the same page.
In late 2016, most BP stations in Philadelphia changed to Conoco. I think these all must have been the same franchisee. This was also Conoco's return to Philadelphia. They used to have 76 and Phillips 66 stations here until the 70's. 76 made a return here a few years ago, but didn't last long. Most of them became independent operators or were switched to Conoco.
Here, the rebranding was still a work in progress. The canopy had been switched over, but the store and roadside sign were still BP.
This building was built in the early 1900's, and served as a Studebaker dealership. The article I read also said this was a manufacturing plant, but I'm questioning that. There's a much larger Studebaker building (built in the exact same style, too) down the road that was definitely used for manufacturing. Up until recently, this building had a boxy 60's facade stuck over it, which was pulled off in 2016, and the original facade restored.
It hasn't been a dealership since Studebaker went out of business in 1967, and was more recently used as an office building. As part of the renovation, the ground floor was turned into retail space.
See here for a 1948 picture of the building. It's towards the bottom of the page.
This Arco station is now home to a Meineke service center. Despite the amount of work they did to the lower part of the building, they left the roof intact. "It looks like someone made a goof on that Broad Street sign on the traffic light post. PA 611 hasn't been US 611 since 1972, and I don't think that sign is 45 years old (it looks too new)." -AFB (By the way, I'm interning with the Streets Department over the summer, so I will be sure to mention this)
The buildings over here are a little shorter, so the effect isn't as dramatic.
By the way, I'll be doing 20-a-day uploads until Monday to fulfill my promise of finishing off my 2016 photos by the time school starts up again.
This intersection is considered the start of South Philly, so Sunoco is there, while where I was is Center City.
This Sunoco was remodeled in 2011 to a very short-lived design. It was remodeled again to the current prototype only two years later.
I know Maps links don't work for a lot of you, so if you're really curious you can look up the intersection, go onto Catherine Street, and turn back Streetview to 2012 if you want to see how it looked before.
If we're being totally honest here, this isn't actually Lincoln Square. That's being built on the block in the background. However, this is part of the same site. When Lincoln was just starting construction, Kimco, the developer, listed both blocks as being part of it. Now, this block isn't listed. I'm guessing they sold it off. The part Lincoln Square stands on now was the only one they had definite plans for, anyway.
My guess is they wanted to put apartments here instead of retail; Kimco doesn't do residential development.
The building in the background is now Sprout's Farmers Market, and the site to the left of it now holds Target, PetSmart, and a few other stores. Apartments are above it, which I'm guessing is managed by another company.
The Sprouts building is where Lincoln Square's name comes from. It used to be a railroad station, which Lincoln's body passed through and spent the night after he was assassinated. This area used to be a rail yard in the 1800's, but was used for industrial purposes for the last few decades.
This station was built in the 30's as a Gulf, and remained in use for a surprisingly long time. It closed as an Amoco in the 80's or 90's (and still had the "torch arm" sign post until 2012). After that closed, it sat abandoned for a while before being fixed up in 2012. I don't believe the building is being used for anything , but at least it's being maintained. The lot is now used as parking by the neighbors.
Domino's, Philadelphia (South St)
Domino's has been here for a while. In 2015, they remodeled the space from its longtime red-and-white decor to their current design.
Johnny Rockets opened this location in 1997, and closed it in late 2017. I'm guessing they had a 20-year lease that ran out. It's still vacant as far as I'm aware.
The former Pearl Arts & Crafts building is being converted to a Kicks USA store. I thought it was interesting what they did with the facade- it used to be the marble rectangle around the outside, with a brick area in the middle, which had a couple windows in it. Kicks kept the marble, but turned the entire brick area into a large window. The Pearl sign is still up, even though the building has since been converted. I think it might be some kind of landmark now.
If you're trying to read the labelscar, it says "Cohen's ServiStar Hardware," which occupied the building before Pearl, and was covered up by a box sign for the last 30 years or so.
This location is shaped like an L, most likely due to the Auto Center being expanded in the early years it was here. It's all store now, and is among the larger ones as a result of the shape. I also thought it was cool how this still has the original 60's decorative lamps around the outside.
Whole Foods hadn't moved in here yet, but construction was getting close to completion. It looks like they were done with all the heavy construction, and just had some cosmetic work to do on the inside.
This prison opened in 1829, and remained in operation until 1971. It housed a number of high-profile criminals, like Al Capone, over the years. It sat abandoned until 1991. The owners have opted to keep the building a "preserved ruin," rather than restoring it completely. This basically means they keep everything the way it was while it was abandoned, but work to prevent further decay. They offer tours throughout the year, and use it as a haunted house attraction near Halloween. It was supposed to have a reputation for being incredibly scary, but I think they must have mellowed it down recently. It wasn't all that scary when I went last year.
Despite the school's name, it is actually just a private grade school, started by Founding Father Stephen Girard. It opened in 1833, a couple years after Girard's death. The school operates a museum displaying many things that once belonged to him.
McDonald's built this location in the 90's, and remodeled it to the eyebrow look sometime between 2012 and 2014. It has the same paint pattern as most eyebrow locations, but in gray instead of brown.
This also happens to be right next to Pep Boys' headquarters. Their original flagship service center is to the left, and their former flagship store was across the street. That moved in 2017.
Friendly's opened here in the 70's. The interior was remodeled heavily in the early 2000's. Unfortunately, this location has closed down sometime between late 2017 and now. One of the other few remaining area locations (Frazer) is still open for business and recently had the exterior repainted, but still looks to be hanging on by a thread. The property is for lease and the owner is sitting on demolition permits.
That's three things featured in this photo set that have closed since the pictures were taken (The Walmart and the motel were the other two in case you already forgot). That's gotta be some kind of personal record.
I'm guessing this was a 70's Mobil location that Lukoil picked up after the Exxon merger. I like how they repurposed the circular pegasus sign with their oil drop logo.
This location has a reputation for closing early in the evening. If you want gas at 8 PM, you're out of luck. Google lists them as being 24 hours, but the lights are always out when I drive by at night.
This building was originally built as some sort of railroad-industrial building in the late 1800's. In the early 90's, it was turned into a Fresh Fields grocery store as the surrunding property was developed into a shopping center. Fresh Fields was sold to Whole Foods in 1996 and renamed in 2002. I imagine Whole Foods is looking to replace this store once they have a chance, like they have done with a few other former Fresh Fields locations. Of the 22 there were at the time of the merger, I know at least 3 have moved in recent years.
JCP opened in 2005, and is the smallest anchor in the center. Macy's has a smaller footprint, but is two stories, Super Target is easily 3 times the foot print of this, and Bass Pro Shops might be the largest of them all.
This theater, which opened in 2006, is also part of the Northfield at Stapleton development. It looks huge from this side, but is rather narrow. It has 18 auditoriums, which is still pretty big, but less than I'd expect.
Bass Pro Shops opened here in 2005 as part of an open-air mall on the site of the Stapleton International Airport.
Despite being open-air (is this what they call a :Power Center"?), this mall still has all the stores you'd expect in an actual mall- including a Macy's and JCPenney.
"I've always used "power center" to describe a strip of stores with category killers. Open-air malls strike me more as "lifestyle centers." (I didn't write the book on this, but I did read about it in marketing last year XD )"-Retail Retell
This motel was still in operation when I took this picture. However, it closed down not long afterwards. In the end, it was mainly serving low-income long term tenants. I'm hoping this sign is still there.
The pictures posted online of the rooms looked positively disgusting. One of the reviews said "Homeless people sleeping in the hallway."
From the outside, it looked nice though. It was built in the style of a c-shaped colonial house, around a circular parking lot.
Update: CDOT bought this in January, which is (surprisingly the only) reason this place got shut down. The highway is being realigned and this motel stands in the way.
Walmart opened this store in the mid-90's, and closed for good July 7, 2017. There's a Supercenter in town, which probably contributed to its demise. Plus, Golden and all the towns next to it have grown to the point where they all sorta run into each other. The entire area surrounding Denver is basically one giant town. Walmart's been shutting down a few redundancies lately, so I shouldn't be too surprised.
As far as I can tell, this is still vacant.
There may have been an older station here that was rebuilt. Streetview from when it was a Conoco shows the canopy in back, abandoned with old decor and 80's pumps. The front canopy was still in use and featuring the newest look. It switched branding to Sinclair in 2016, after which the rear canopy was brought back to life.
This may have been the very first Taco Bell to open with the new logo- in early 2015, over 2 years before it made it to any other stores! I think they may have been testing a prototype here, as other stores with the old style and logo were still opening well into 2017.
Also of note is that this was a wood truss ceiling Burger King, which Taco bell kept open. They painted the wood, but it still looks awesome.
This Valero station opened in the 90's. It somehow avoided the building codes. I'm guessing there was some kind of loophole they got through.
Frisco is a ski town, and has some building codes to keep it looking like one. As a result, about half the buildings are built in a Swiss-style, like this; the other half are built in a Western mountain style. It makes for a strange mix.
I've seen McDonald's gas stations before, but a Wendy's one is a first for me.
I'm not quite sure what the deal is with the yellow logo.
Walmart, Frisco, CO
Walmart opened this store in the early 90's. It's got a slightly different facade due to local codes. Despite its age and size, this was one of the first stores to get the Black Decor, and the first I'd seen with a blue facade since around 2011.
I don't know what the deal is with the logo here. I thought they has been using their cursive logo for a decently long time, at least longer than this store's been around. It opened in the 90's, and would have had the neon decor originally. It currently has the script decor, although i imagine Kroger will probably be remodeling this before too long.
This was built in the late 2000's, and has a heavily modified design to fit in with the town. It is by far the nicest 7/11 I've ever been to.
Last I saw, this station didn't have LED parking lot lights, which is very rare for a 7/11. I think it must have been new enough when they went around replacing the lights at other stations that they skipped over it, and maybe just forgot after that. :P
I'm not sure if the wood paneling here was done for local code, but it sure makes this location look old. Judging by the brick, this is definitely one of the older ones to have attached fuel stations. I'd say it was built no later than the 80's.
This Taco Bell opened around 2006, replacing the combo KFC one seen a few pictures back. It was built next to an A&W restaurant, which has since closed and is now, as you'd expect from Colorado, a pot shop.
This is definitely one of the more attractive Conoco stations out there. I really liked what they did with the roof.
This is the same Conoco the Wendy's we saw yesterday was located in.
This Holiday Inn opened in the 80's. It was heavily remodeled around the time the new logo came out. Previously, it was basically a white box with two flat-roof towers on either end.
This closed at least a decade ago, probably closer to 20 years. I'm guessing this opened in the 80's, and would have been run in tandem with the Country Inn behind it. Country Inn became the independent Summit Inn, and the restaurant closed. It looks like the building is being used for something now, but there's no signs up.
This mine was most likely built in the late 1800's, and closed in the 1940's. Despite the building having been abandoned for over 70 years, it still stands and is in reasonable shape. The mountain climate is to credit here, wood won't rot and metal won't rust as easily due to the cold, dry air.
This is starting to become a rare find- a Safeway with an old logo!
This store has a very early version of the Lifestyle decor, which was in use before the new logo came out. I'm guessing they weren't planning on replacing the logo until it got remodeled, and wasn't going to be remodeled since its decor was still Lifestyle.
Also of interest is the Argo Mine in the background. It has been here since the later end of the Gold Rush, and is open to tours.
Red Robin, Highlands Ranch, CO
Red Robin opened this location in the 90's. It is among the older restaurants in town, which until 1981 was just an undeveloped ranch. It was remodeled and given the new logo in 2015.
This was Sports Authority's flagship store. Their headquarters was nearby. As a result, they remodeled this store first every time a new decor came out. After they closed, this building sat vacant for a while. I'm pretty sure this is in the process of being turned into a Burlington.
...but isn't the bed of the truck usually supposed to be UNDER what it's carrying? :P
This was built as a Ford dealership in the mid-2000's. It unfortunately didn't last very long, and closed around 2010. It became a Mattress Kingdom in 2012.
The Chevy dealer that shares a parking lot with this opened and closed the same time (same owner). It sat vacant until 2016, when it became TSG Auto.
Chick-Fil-A opened this location in the mid-2000's. I think the stone facing was used to match the shopping center. Parker does have some rules regarding the exterior styles of stores, but I think CFA's standard brick design would have been allowed.
This was one of Gander's shortest lived stores. It opened in late summer, 2016. The original plan was just to close this and not reopen as Gander Outdoor, but it appears they changed their minds. It opened as Outdoor in mid-2018.
Valero built this location in the late 2000's. Unlike on the east coast, they seem to be doing well here. Most of them have closed or rebranded in my area, but they seem to be one of the top stations out here.
I think after Albertsons and Safeway merged, they decided some towns would be all Safeway and others would be all Albertsons. Safeway had a decent presence in Aurora already, so their two Albertsons were remodeled and turned into Safeways.
These were built in the 90's with the highway. The open-roof portions were always for Colorado's equivalent of EZPass, as they were one of the first states to have a system like that. The covered roof was for the standard manned toll booth. Apparently Colorado must require all drivers to have a pass, as the manned booths were shut down a few years ago.
I'm not sure what happens with out-of-staters if they drive their own car here, especially from a state that doesn't use the same pass system.
"Usually with all electronic toll roads, if you don't have the SunPass, EZPass, or whatever the state calls the electronic toll system, the only option for people from out of state or people without the electronic tag is to use a toll by plate system. That system works by scanning your license plate number as you pass through the toll booth, then sends a bill at the end of every month to the owner of that vehicle for whatever tolls have accumulated. However, the toll by plate system adds an upcharge on top of whatever the toll is as a means to force people to get the electronic transponders. I think that every state should have the technology to accept other state's transponders to make things easier prior to making all electronic toll roads a more common thing, rather than having to have three or more electronic tolling devices in your car if you travel a lot. Either that or have one universal system for electronic tolling across the country, but I doubt that would ever happen." -AFB
Rite Aid's lights and ceiling brackets. This seems like such a waste, since AutoZone's new lights were also fluorescent they probably could have just reused these. Speaking of AutoZone wasting lights, their new fluorescents were taken out less than a year after the store opened and replaced with LED's.
Sorry for not posting yesterday- it was move-in day for me (the apartment is definitely a step up from the dorms!). I was planning on uploading after I got settled in, but was just too tired. Flickr is acting weird today, so expect today's uploads to be in smaller groups and spread out throughout the day. And yes, I still am on track to finish my 2016 photos today. :)
Some roof leakage problems in the housewares department. Unlike with Kmart, they fixed this very quickly.
This is the escalator area in the middle of the store. Despite the lack of investment this store has had, they keep this area very nice.
The long, skinny building is the only remaining building from the Baldwin locomotive factory in Eddystone, PA. It's now used by a company that makes aggregate that I actually interned at a couple summers ago. The rest of the factory buildings, which I believe there were 8 more of, were torn down in the early 2000's to make way for a shopping center anchored by Walmart and Shoprite (which was originally a Festival Foods).
I like when planes fly over places I can recognize. This shopping center was built in the 70's, and originally housed an ACME (now Total Wine). Home Depot was added on in the 90's after ACME moved town the street.
The Wawa in the parking lot was built in 2014 on the site of a former Howard Johnson's Restaurant.
Across the street is a Gulf station that was more recently demolished for a new Shell. A 2015-built CVS sits across the other street from that.
This bag's probably about 25 years old, and has their previous logo. I don't think there are any stores that still have this on them.
These anchors are probably the same age as the ACE bag featured earlier today, probably the early/mid-90's. I think metal anchors like this are hard to find now, basically all the options available are plastic. It looks like this package hasn't even been opened yet!
With this, I conclude my 2016 photos! Tomorrow, I'll post a couple photos of the new apartment and give you the upload schedule for the next term.
This was my first (and so far only) time eating at a Schlotzky's. It was decent, but nothing to write home about. I think it's original to the airport opening in 1995.
I *think* this has since closed, but can't say for certain. The place I thought it is was walled off and under construction last I saw, but for all I know that could've been a different terminal.
A view of the outside, taken a little while after the pictures posted this morning. The diamond windows have been walled up, soon to be followed by about 1/3 of the blue windows by the entrance. AutoZone also uncovered the bottom panes, so the amount of window lost wasn't as bad.
This picture was from the last week or so (I wanna say 3 days) before this store relocated, so I figured I'd get some last-minute photos.
In hindsight, I really should have gone inside. I knew it was moving, but wasn't aware it was that soon.
I picked this up at Grocery outlet (where I specifically went to scour for some remaining A&P goodies). As much as I would have liked to hold onto this, food doesn't last forever. You gotta use it at some point. I decided to snap a picture before cracking open the bottle (hence the pre-dinner mess in the background). One thing I really liked about A&P were their store brands. They never skimped on quality. It was good dressing.
After we finished it off, I washed out the bottle and have it saved.
This station was built in the 60's. I'm not sure if it was ever a BP. Valero has been operating here for at least 15 years, probably longer. They haven't opened any new locations around here in years.
This now-abandoned restaurant is one of five buildings left from the village of Port Kennedy. The town was absorbed into Valley Forge National Park in the 70's, but didn't stay long. When Rt. 422 was built in the early 80's, PennDOT took out most of the town. The other remaining buildings are three houses and a train station, all of which are abandoned. The restaurant was still in use until the 2000's, but had been in decline for several years mainly due to traffic noise from the highway. Although this is abandoned, the NPS is still looking after it and is seeking another restaurant to reopen it.
This center was built in 2007. From my new understanding of what a Power Center is, I think it's safe to say this is one. It's almost all big-box tenants. In addition to the ones pictured here, there's a Wegman's, Movie Tavern, and a few others.
This highway (built in the early 80's) has a few interesting bridges going over it. They've been doing a lot of bridge replacement along this road lately, so I decided to catch a photo of this before it's too late.
The old store I've shared a few photos of over the past week or so has finally relocated. The old store currently sits vacant. I'm assuming it will be demolished for part of a new shopping center that's in the works nearby before too long.
Rite Aid built this in 2014 on the site of a former car dealership. It replaced a former Eckerd in the shopping center across the street, which is currently home to Michaels.
This former Gino's most recently served as the Hot Spot Diner, which closed sometime in 2017. Even though it was still open when I go this picture, the space was available. The diner didn't last too much longer.
This is one of ACME's top stores. It originally opened as a wood-frame pitched roof store in 1960 and was expanded several times over the years. It was remodeled in 2011 to the last iteration of the Fresh and Healthy décor, and again in 2017 to their current décor. As far as I'm aware, this is the only one that's been remodeled from that look. This was most likely done so they could boot out the PLCB store and open their own liquor department.
This store was originally built in the 60's as a Two Guys department store. It became Jefferson Ward and later Bradlees in the 80's, which closed with the chain. Giant replaced it in 2002.
Giant will be replacing this store with a new one down the road sometime next year, which has been in the planning stages since at least 2013- as a result, this is one of very few Giants to still have the old produce and bakery cases.
Rite Aid built this store in the late 80's or early 90's. Despite it still having the old logo up front, the interior has been remodeled to the first Wellness décor.
The 1-Hr has also been removed from the Photo sign.
This was built in the 60's or 70's as a Burger King, which became Arby's in the 90's. They took off the roof and resurfaced the building, but it still looked unusual for an Arby's. Much wider and not as tall. They kept the roadside sign, too.
They closed in 2012, and it was turned into the area's first Freddy's. This was also the only one for a few years until another opened in West Chester in 2017. A third one is coming to Lionville (it always makes me proud when they choose a place close to me for this kind of stuff) later this year.
This store opened in the mid-60's. It was their 8th location, and second oldest still in operation (the oldest is #7 in Linwood PA, which sits on a decently sized property so I could imagine them rebuilding like they did with the former #4 last year).
Looks like they plan on keeping this one around a while longer- it was in the first (not counting what I call the "test group" of remodels) batch of major remodels in late 2015.
CVS built this store in 2016 on the site of a former Honda dealership. They also demolished a used car lot/body shop next door to serve as a pad site. Right now, it's just a parking lot around a grass patch.
I think this location is older than it looks. The back part is all brick that's been painted over and it still has a shingle roof. My guess is late 70's/early 80's. The dining area was expanded out under the roof in the 90's.
I thought this station was neat- it's hard to find a 50's style Sunoco they haven't painted over the brick on. They've kept work done to this one at a minimum- it even has the original garage doors. I love the big windows.
Something just doesn't look right about A-Plus' rainbow here. I feel like it should go out as far as the eave of the roof, at least.
Chi-Chi's closed here with the chain and was demolished shortly afterwards. The parking lot sat overgrowing for years before it too was finally pulled up. Apartments are now being built on the site.
There used to be a ceiling lattice hanging over the checkout here, which was removed in 2014. The air vents were just left hanging as a result. I would have thought they'd have fixed this during the remodel. :P
This store has been remodeled since my last visit.
The new décor looks good here, but I think the old stuff was a lot more interesting. I'm not sure if it was just a coincidence this was redone during the mall's redevelopment, or if it was coordinated that way.
However, it did have a very extensive expansion/remodel in the late 90's or early 2000's which was still holding up in decent shape. I guess they decided it's too nice to replace.
The décor this store had before was an interesting combination of the Albertsons Marketplace (aka Santa Fe) décor and Chalkboard market. What makes it interesting is that Chalkboard Market came out when ACME was still independent, while Albertsons Marketplace was used after they bought out ACME- this means that Albertsons Marketplace (and their very similar Awnings décor) was at least influenced by ACME's last independent décor.
These designs were used company-wide, concurrently with the Industrial Circus décor (which is and always has been an Albertsons thing).
It might have been 10th and Passyunk in Philadelphia. Correction: It was Bala Cynwyd. Passyunk might also have them though.
I'm hoping they renegotiate the Rite Aid deal, that way they could finally have one name for their several pharmacies (Currently, they have one for every chain they own, plus Sav-On and Osco).
The flooring and ceiling (higher green around the edges, lower white in the middle) in this store were both from the "Chalkboard market" décor, which Albertsons adopted from ACME.
I'm sorta surprised ACME didn't repaint the ceiling in the remodel here. I can see why they wouldn't in an exposed-beam ceiling, but here they wouldn't have to do much more than swap out the tiles, or even roll a coat of paint over them.
This strip center was built alongside Granite Run Mall in 1974. It's being kept up until they build the new mall. The remaining tenants will then be relocated and this part demolished. The site will either be the relocated theater or will be one of the apartment complexes.
This store opened in the late 80's or early 90's as just a TRU. It was remodeled to the current look in 2011, when BRU was added. It closed earlier this year with the rest of the chain.
I feel like this has to have relocated here from somewhere else. I can't imagine there not being a PLCB store in this area prior to 2016.
This store opened in late 2016, replacing their 1987 store across the street. That store was one of the last to have the late 90's décor (as of now, there are 3 left- one of which was half-remodeled in the 2000's, and another that's moving next year, meaning there's really only one left).
This was one of the two last stores to get the 2010 Ahold décor- it and Harrisburg opened the same time and were the very last to get it before the grayscale décor came out.
Frozen, probably the best depiction of how little they spent on décor vs the Christmas decorations.
I'm pretty sure they covered up a lot of the exposed piping/systems in the semi-remodel.
There's a few scars in the ceiling that look like they would have been elevator shafts at one point. I looked around, but I couldn't figure out where Klein's main staircase would have been. I'm thinking it must have been in one of the spaces off to the side that Walmart didn't move into.
The old Ludwig's Corner Mobil station in its last few days. It was demolished quickly after this. The lot sits vacant now, but the owners are working on a retail/office development for the site that will include a Wawa right next to where Mobil stood.
This is one of the oldest unremodeled Wendy's I know of. I think it might be from the late 70's.
Even though this picture's almost 2 years old, it still looks the same today. I actually doubt they're going to remodel this- it's old enough they might just be saving up for a total rebuild.
The ceilings in this store are much higher than usual. I think that's standard for most new buildings now. I think it's a nice touch.
Despite losing the service center and having the brick painted over, this Arco has been preserved well. It still has the original siding, vents, cupola, and even the spotlights pointing at the peak over the entrance.
I'm not sure if the spire on top of the cupola still lights up, but it looks lie it could.
This Rita's location closed around 2003. The awning was removed, but they left all the signs (painted-over) and the counter up. The building then became Exton Glass for a little while, but that also closed. I can't tell what year since they left their signs up and trucks in the lot for years after closing. The building's in pretty terrible shape now, so I think its safe to say it's been closed for a while.
More recently, the trees and shrubs on the property have been cut back and a "For Sale" sign has gone out in front.
I was positive they were going to knock this thing down. It had been abandoned since 2004 and was looking pretty rough. Surprisingly, it was remodeled into a Verizon store. It looks quite a bit different now, but it's still the same building.
I think I've already given the history of this place in the last few sets of photos I posted from here, but for any new people: This was supposed to be an A&P when it was built in 1978. It was one of the first Futurestores. The plans fell through before it actually opened, but A&P held onto the property and opened it as a SuperFresh in 1980. That closed in the early 2000's, and became Clemens in 2003. Aside from sticking their façade in front and repainting the interior, it was basically all Futurestore inside until the end. Giant bought Clemens in 2006. As of its 2017 closing, it was one of the last 4 Clemens' to not be remodeled. The building was quickly torn down and replaced with a new store on the site, which opened later that year.
A closer look at the front of the building. It's an interesting mashup of all the tenants' facades. I think the red neon is probably original to A&P.
If you want to see how it looked as a Clemens, check out this Bam Margera video.
Unlike the rest of the store, Service departments didn't get a total strip-down. They removed the signage and painted over the rest of the décor. I'm guessing since this isn't structural wall, they couldn't strip this down without taking out the wallboard entirely.
This colorless decor is really going to contrast with that tile in back. I doubt Giant will replace it, but they might at least paint over it.
Stay tuned for next month's update (which never came, thanks a lot Flickr)! I'm not sure how much longer they can drag this out, as it looks like it's getting close to being finished.
Also not the lights are out on the right side of the aisle. I think the trim along the top and the lights they hold are going to be removed. They always seemed like a waste of energy to me, the ceiling lights would do just as well.
I'd be surprised if they didn't get new ones, but it's not a good sign if these were put back up after the trim was replaced. Update: These were replaced with signs matching the décor.
The Sunoco In Drexel Hill, PA Was Actually Built As A Mobil Station In The Late 1960's Or The 1970's.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.google.com/maps/place/Mobil/@43.0751758,-89.447036,3a,20.4y,196.74h,91.13t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sRz1vTHa2mllwvXvzLW7saA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!4m8!1m2!2m1!1smobil!3m4!1s0x0:0x1fb90ce53e0496ae!8m2!3d43.0749304!4d-89.4470036