Oil City's Giant Eagle

The Giant Eagle in Oil City, PA caught my eye for a number of reasons. One being its small size, but also its unique store exterior. It turns out this was a former A&P supermarket, which explains the weathervane. Although it is a small supermarket by today's standards, it is a perfect fit for a community in need of buying food.

Upon entering the store, you walk by the checkout lanes on your left. The suggested flow is to continue immediately straight into produce. The produce at this location uses an aisle setup in the front right corner of the store.

As you can see, produce wraps around the corner as well. The rest of the produce is seen below:

On the other side of the produce aisles, is the store's snacks and candy area. This does not connect back up to produce.

There is only five checkout lanes. Six if you count the customer service desk.

Even though the supermarket here is small, it still does have a bakery and deli:

The store only has eight aisles.

I personally love the windows here.

And this concludes the tour.

Kmart #3885

NOTE: This month's Kmart tour comes from Honesdale, PA which is just outside of the blog's coverage area. 

Although Moosic is now going to be gone early next year, Northeast Pennsylvania still manages have a decent Kmart count. What is also nice for the two most northeastern stores is that they are among the '90s build stores which are about as modern you can get for the average Kmart.

Let's dive into store #3885, shall we?

A bright sunny day for this location. Is this a sign of positivity? Read on to find out....

Score! A Little Caesars still operates here. That's a step in the right direction!

The corner of the store that was used for 1-Hr Photo is now a clearance room. No complaints here, effective use of space.

An in-store map is also present.

Already seeing positive signs. Very organized and clean!

Now this is a unique setup to this store. Fitting Rooms and Layaway are right by each other.

Very narrow actionway

Clothing in Sporting Goods.... at least it looks presentable.

Sporting Goods desk in use.

Nice setup for appliances and mattresses.

Surprised the electronics desk is still here.

Whoops....

Rating: 9 out of 10.
A Little Caesars continues to operate here along with a pharmacy giving some giving me confidence in this location. Very well maintained and organized. With the exception of the missing 'K' in the thank you signage, there's not a lot to complain about in appearances. There was a somewhat lack of customer traffic, but given the time I visited (midday Friday) I won't fault the store for that.

In Danger of Closing?:
At this point, any store is in danger of closing. But for the sake of argument, this location definitely has some things going for it. And it has manged to survive the last few closing lists, so it must be doing well enough.

Bluelight News Flash: New Year Closings Announced Before the New Year

Another round of closings for Sears and Kmart has been announced:

Kmart:
Albertville, AL
Casa Grande, AZ
Clearwater, FL
Milton, FL
Sebring, FL
Dalton, GA
Macon, GA
Tifton, GA
Ammon, ID
Effingham, IL
Frankfort, KY
Glasgow, KY
Henderson, KY
Versailles, KY
Battle Creek, MI
Clinton Township, MI
Mt. Pleasant, MI
St. Clair Shores, MI
Thief River Falls, MN
Independence, MO
Poplar Bluff, MO
Sedalia, MO
St. Louis, MO (Lemay Ferry Rd)
Ohama, NE
Jacksonville, NC
Austintown, OH
Cleveland, OH (Lorain Ave)
Hillsboro, OH
Oregon, OH
St. Marys, OH
Clarion, PA
Moon Township (Coraopolis), PA
Moosic, PA
Shamokin Dam, PA
Whitehall, PA*
Aberdeen, SD
Cookeville, TN
Nashville, TN (Donelson Pike)
Tullahoma, TN
El Paso, TX
Texarkana, TX
Abingdon, VA
Danville, VA
Lynchburg, VA
Richmond, VA
Stevens Point, WI
Beckley, WV
Martinsburg, WV
Vienna, WV

Sears:
Tuscaloosa, AL (University Mall)
Fayetteville, AR
Fort Smith, AR
Mesa, AZ
Greeley, CO
Lithonia, GA
Valdosta, GA
Louisville, KY (Oxmoor Center)
Lanesboro (Pittsfield), MA
Baltimore, MD (East Point Mall)
St. Cloud, MN
Phillipsburg, NJ
Indiana, PA
Pennsdale (Muncy), PA
State College, PA
Houston, TX (Main St)
Lufkin, TX
San Angelo, TX
Salt Lake City, UT (S State St)
Colonial Heights, VA
Cheyenne, WY

Kmart has officially left the state of Alabama now. It also would appear that Sears keeps dwindling its presence in PA outside of the major southern cities.


As for Twin Tiers stores effected:

Sears (Lycoming Mall)
As a rural location and seeing how Sears has been closing their more rural PA stores over time, I'm not shocked. But this is VERY BAD news for the Lycoming Mall. It now has three empty anchors once Sears closes up shop. Boscov's, if you are listening, please help one of my favorite malls!

Will I return to the store during liquidation? 
More than likely as long as the winter weather is bearable. 

Sears (Nittany Mall)
Although a semi-rural store, State College is quite booming. I never really stepped foot inside this location so as to whether it did ok, I do not know. The mall itself will likely be ok, as this will be the only dept store vacancy.

Will I return to the store during liquidation? 

More than likely no. I don't like traveling too far during winter months.

Kmart (Clarion, PA)
I'm actually somewhat surprised here. I figured the store most do well enough as it just renewed its lease last year. Must be the lease was only for year. As far as business goes, I felt it did well enough.

Will I return to the store during liquidation? 

More than likely no. I don't like traveling too far during winter months.

Kmart (Moosic, PA)
I guess this location's proximity to downtown Scranton wasn't enough to save it. Just like Clarion, I too felt this location to be doing ok.

Will I return to the store during liquidation? 
More than likely no. I don't like traveling too far during winter months.

Kmart (Shamokin Dam, PA)
Not to surprised here. I didn't see a lot going for this location.

Will I return to the store during liquidation? 

More than likely no, but there is a slight chance that I might if given a good weather day after visiting the Muncy Sears.

*The Whitehall, PA store will have an accelerated liquidation sale and close at the end of November 2017.