"A Staple of the South": A Remodeling Kroger

NOTE: THIS POST COMES FROM EASTERN TENNESSEE. NOT ANYWHERE IN THE TWIN TIERS BLOG COVERAGE AREA. I visited this Kroger while on vacation in the tri-cites area of TN. There may be a few more posts from this area in the future.

Quoting a certain Flickr member from when I was vacation, this post is actually relating to the pictures that I recently finished uploading to Flickr this week from my trip down south. Although you have likely seen these pictures before, I thought I try my hand with a nice blog post about it. Don't be surprised to this happening more often than not now that I have a blog to run! :D

Although Kroger does not exist anywhere in the Twin Tiers blog coverage area anymore, they did at one point in time. They pulled out of Pennsylvania in the late 1980s due to labor disputes in the Pittsburgh area. There was a Kroger located in Warren and evidence of it still remains to this day as it lives on as a Tractor Supply. I may do a blog post on that at some point in the future.

Alternate Angle of the Johnson City, TN Kroger

You enter with the checkout lanes in front of you. I made a left and in front of the registers I took this picture of the front of the store:

Turning around, I next went to the produce area. Even though I realize that this store was remodeling when I visited, I still feel like there should be a better selection of produce here.

I now entered into the back portion of the store where I found this random drop ceiling.

I thought it was a rather odd thing. The only explanation I could possibly give is that it used to keep balloons from floating away?

Greeting Cards

Kroger apparently sells hardware. I did not know that. I visited two other Kroger locations while I visited this area but I did not see a hardware area at those locations.

The only thing that remains from Kroger's Millennium Decor at this location is a few aisle signs.

Notice that this portion of the store has started to receive newer signage. The health and beauty area was the only area I recall seeing these tripod signs.

I could be wrong, but I think finding open freezers in the middle of the aisle like this at Kroger is starting to become more rare. If I'm wrong, please correct me in the comments.

Note the transition of wall colors.

I got a kick out of seeing a 'Z' on the wall here. Must be someone was too tired to continue working. :D

Natural foods is under a drop ceiling at the moment.

The pharmacy area has not received any paint when I visited.

I leave you with a shot of the greenhouse windows that this store entrance features. See you in the next post!

Old Style McDonald's in Corry, PA

I'm glad to see that there are some who have taken an interest in my blog, for this reason I give you another McDonald's:

Corry, PA McDonald's

Although this one isn't as unique as the Wellsville location I posted the other day, it still has some pretty cool things to it. Before I get to the good stuff though, I want to show this sign which is extremely odd. It is not located near the actual McDonald's building, but instead by the plaza sign it shares an entrance with. It makes sense to why it does this, but it is something I had never seen before. You can see shots of the plaza it is located with here:

I'm nowhere near my building.

Now for the more interesting stuff to this location: 

A 'bricked-in' area for seating is what captured my attention about this location.

Nice touch with the stained glass ceiling.

I honestly have no idea why this is laying on the floor here. It is an interesting choice for decoration is all I can say.

Taking a look at the rest of the restaurant.

Well, that its for now. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for additional posts in the future.

A McDonald's Doomed to Fall Eventually

When it happens is the question. For over 5 years now, Walmart has been talking about putting a location in this small town of Wellsville on the site of the town's old airport. The problem is that if it does indeed build there, then this McDonald's would likely bite the dust for a right-of-way. Walmart has even bought out the plaza behind this McDonald's to make a right-of-way. Ironically this plaza used to be Wellsville's Kmart before it relocated to a newer location in the '90s. The problem with all this? Walmart hasn't even broken ground on this location as of this writing.

I took a visit to this McDonald's back in January of 2014 (and July of the year before for some of these pictures) because a newspaper article had claimed that Walmart intended to build that summer. Here we are a year later and nothing has happened further. I'm not entirely sure what is going on, but at least this store still has some retro and vintage elements to it that are still intact to this day, likely due to the fact that it may be torn down in the future.

Enjoy these pictures I took:

Previously a former playground area.

Door is left wide open. This doesn't even lead into the store portion of the McDonald's. It leads straight into the kitchen area. Keep in mind this picture was taken during January, so imagine how much heat they are wasting.

Classic '80s.

Retro doors.

The doors in the previous picture are opposite here.

The neon balloons are great decoration for local pride. Every year the town of Wellsville has an annual balloon rally and it would appear that McDonald's gets in on the fun as well.

The paintings on the wall are for various years of Wellsville's balloon rally.

I hope Retail Retell won't mind me putting in a county map. I find that to be a good idea that I would like to use myself.

Some More General Information to Clear Up a Few Things

I just want to take this time to add a few things to my post from yesterday, although it will be in a completely new post. Anyways, here they are:

• Pictures outside yesterday's map will also be included in this blog.
• I am no stranger to going beyond the lines of yesterday's map. I went down to the tri-cites of TN area back in May and I must of taken a good thousand or so pictures there. I ventured 'outside the lines' quite a few times now for some of my past and future Flickr photos. I just wanted to add this comment to prevent future confusion. If a post is outside the map area, it will be noted in that post.
• Why did I make this blog?
• As I had stated yesterday, I took inspiration from a few of my other Flickr contacts into making a blog. But an additional reason hit me over night, and that would be that I'm about to hit the awesome milestone of 5,000 pictures on my Flickr photostream. I decided since yesterday that this blog would make a great way to accomplish my achievement. 
• Future
• I don't know exactly what the future will hold for the Twin Tiers Retail Blog. I'm hoping to continue doing a few posts every month, but a lot of it will depend on how many of you guys stop by and visit. (If no one is visiting, why should I continue to update this site?) So, if you are here for the first time or have any questions or comments, be sure to leave a comment letting me know you are interested in the site.
• Posts
• I hope to provide a little more detail in my visits to different places around this area. I generally don't provide any information in my actual Flickr photos for various reasons unless I find something that I must say in the description. It may take some time for me to get used to providing additional details, so if I forget one or two in the meantime, I apologize in advance. I'm open to any suggestions or improvements that I could make with my posts.
• As for when actual posts begin, well I can't set a specific date, but hopefully sometime this week.

I hope this will help fill in some more information.

Welcome to the Retail of the Twin Tiers

Now when I say twin tiers, I'm referring to this broad area:

I went ahead and added the major towns and cities which I hope to cover. Some of these areas I already have covered. I plan to add future pictures here and around the same time the pictures will also be added over on my Flickr photostream as well. I may go back through my older pictures and do a blog post or two as well. The general area of the twin tiers are the counties located along the NY/PA border, I decided to name the site after this area. I plan to add at least one tomorrow and after that we will have to see where the blog takes us. 

I have to credit to the Mid-South Retail Blog and the Albertsons Florida Blog for inspiring me to create a blog of my own. These are ran by my fellow Flickr contacts who have been doing a great job at managing both a Flickr photostream and a blog. As a result of their dedication, I figured I ought to give a blog a try myself. I personally welcome you to this blog and thank you for stopping on by.

The picture was created with Wikimedia Commons maps and edited with MS Paint.