Town & Country Discount Store

Something that has been very curious to me is the discovery of a defunct discount chain that apparently everyone forgot about: Town & Country.  In 1961, they were purchased by Lane Bryant, which quickly expanded the chain.  Prior to the purchase they were a Harrisburg-based operation with six small discount stores and a catalog service.  As they grew, they were mostly located in Pennsylvania, but they expanded to three locations were in Virginia, two in Maryland, and one in West Virginia.  Quite a few of the former locations still exist today, most repurposed in some form or another since they were generally smaller stores of around 30,000 square feet that were relatively easy to redevelop.  In all, it looks like the chain had at least 21 locations at its peak, and it catered to small and medium sized markets.

1969 photo of the Town & Country store located in Winchester, VA (Photo by Tim Legg)

It is not entirely clear how Town & Country was marketed, but judging by the ads they were a store that focused a bit more on hard lines than soft lines (although its parent company was a clothing store), and it sold a little of everything sort of like Kmart did at the time.  Its catchphrase was that it offered a "Golden Guarantee".  While the stores carried a wide variety of merchandise, they did not appear to offer any services such as a pharmacy, auto center, garden center, restaurant, optical, etc.  This explains how they could offer a wide variety of merchandise in only a 30,000 square feet store.  Perhaps this lack of services was a factor that led to their demise since it was not an all-in-one shopping experience.  It made it difficult to make them stand out against competitors like Woolworth/Woolco, Murphy's Mart, and Newberry's.  It seemed that Kmart's expansion into its territory was what led to its seemingly planned demise.  No mention was ever made that the store chain was actually unprofitable as a reason for its closure.  Most likely it was a corporate decision to focus on their core business: Lane Bryant.

Town & Country grand opening flyer at North Hanover Plaza in Hanover, PA in 1965.  It was the 12th in the chain.  Image from "The Evening Sun" from September 15, 1965.

Clearly the logo didn't match the exterior in the first iteration of the store.  It would be replaced with an awesome looking logo by the 1970's.  Image from The Evening Sun from September 15, 1965.

October 12, 1966 ad from The Evening Sun.

1970 saw the enclosure of North Hanover Plaza into North Hanover Mall.  The portion with Town & Country was fronted by an enclosed strip that ended at the former store.  Kmart looks to have greatly expanded the store in later years.  Image from April 1, 1970.

The 1971 reopening introduced us to that AMAZING "turbo" logo that was in use in the first part of the decade.  Note the update to the entrance to accommodate the enclosure of the strip in front of the store.  Image from The Evening Sun from June 29, 1971.

The interior of the updated Town & Country at North Hanover Mall.  It looks small and cluttered by today's standards, but this was apparently spacious for the time.  Image from The Evening Sun from June 29, 1971.

The store chain used three different logos, and the second generation logo was memorable...a mid-century turbo-style font.  Many of their stores featured a distinctive "hooded" canopy feature over the front entrance with sloping sides and a glass front that was quite similar to classic Mobil stations built during the same period.  Not much else is known about them except that they went out of business in 1977, and Kmart took over many locations as an attempt to expand into the Mid-Atlantic region.  Kmart locations that opened in these stores operated into the 1990's.  That means that most likely Kmart was willing to finish the leases on these stores considering that they likely operated on a 30 year lease with most locations open only around 10-15 years as Town & Country.

One more flyer from the grand reopening.  Image from The Evening Sun from June 29, 1971.

Constant logo changes could not have helped the bottom line of Town & Country.  This is the third and final version as shown in this ad from The Evening Standard from June 29, 1974.

Norman Rockwell dads are waiting to be showered with gifts on Fathers Day.  They also want you to make sure you shop the specials at Town & Country!  Image from The Evening Standard from June 29, 1974.

Maybe the Blues Brothers should have crashed into Town & Country instead of Dixie Square Mall, because "This place has everything!".  Image from The Evening Standard from June 29, 1974.

The New York influence comes out in this ad.  It was pretty clear that "Every day's a sale day at May's" was playing through their head when they came up with that slogan.  It's also a bit ironic to see bone thin cartoon women with no butts in a clothing ad from a store whose parent company is Lane Bryant.  Image from The Evening Standard from June 29, 1974.

Kmart has since closed or replaced every store that originally opened as Town & Country, all much smaller than the typical Kmart.  Along with J.M. Fields and others, it was one of the early casualties of the highly competitive discount store market that today is down to primarily just Wal-Mart and Target with no regional discount stores left in the Mid-Atlantic states.  Stores like Ames, Hill's, Murphy's, Jamesway, Clover, and others were all later casualties, but they lasted much longer than Town & Country and had a more significant footprint.

Part of why I wrote a post on this store is that I kept bumping into these stores.  When I saw this former store in Harrisonburg, VA, I was DYING to know what store it used to be.  Needless to say, finding out it was an obscure discount chain nobody had ever heard of was pretty exciting.  Look closely and you can see the angled canopy, which has been largely covered up on the front with this detestable stucco update.

The unceremonious end of Town & Country usually ended up like this one: a single store subdivided into two or more stores.  Of course, this Big Lots has obviously been here awhile as it still sports the older logo.

Interior detail, including angled canopy, at the Big Lots (former Town & Country/Kmart) in Winchester, VA.

A complete list of former Town & Country locations (as of 1974) is below along with the present tenant (if the building still exists).  The known locations to have existed include the following:

1. Altoona, PA (3100 Pleasant Valley Blvd.)
• Now a Nissan dealership (Courtesy Motor Sales)
2. Beckley Plaza Mall: Beckley, WV
• Was later Kmart, currently Schewel's
• Kmart relocated in a new store to left of existing shopping center in the 1990's
3. Carlisle Plaza Mall: Carlisle, PA
• Opened 1964, closed 1977
• Was a mall anchor on the east end of the mall
• Was replaced by Kmart, which itself closed in 1995 and relocated
• Former location was demolished for Lowe's along with a portion of the mall
4. Chambersburg, PA (1363 Lincoln Way East)
• Subdivided between Napa Auto Parts & Essis & Sons Carpet One Floor & Home
5. White Oaks Shopping Center: Cumberland, MD
• Subdivided between Big Lots & Aaron Furniture Rental
• Aaron's was formerly Rite-Aid
• Larger Town & Country location
6. Hagerstown, MD (562 Northern Ave)
• Currently Gold's Gym
7. North Hanover Mall: Hanover, PA
• Opened 1965, became Kmart in 1977
• It was the 12th location opened
• Kmart closed and relocated to a Super Kmart in February 1995
• Was Black Diamond Antiques after Kmart closed
• Presently Dick's Sporting Goods
8. Harrisburg, PA (100 E. Park Shopping Center/4200 Derry St)
• Building gutted with only the roof and walls intact (unrecognizable) and in that state at least a decade
• Was the site of a spectacular fire in the 1970's that destroyed the original building
9. Cloverleaf Shopping Center: Harrisonburg, VA (131 S. Carlton St)
• Subdivided into three tenants, including Big Lots and a Chinese restaurant
10. Hazleton, PA (702 W. Broad Street)
• Free-standing store
• Was probably a Kmart location before Kmart opened in a former Ames at Laurel Mall in 1994
• Was Ollie's Bargain Outlet, now vacant
11. Latrobe Shopping Center (Latrobe 30 Plaza): Latrobe, PA
• Subdivided between Dunham Sports & Planet Fitness
12. Lemoyne, PA (1023 State Road)
• Road name appars to have been changed to Gettysburg Road
• Location unclear, but appears to be close to Capital City Mall
• Most likely where Big Lots and Aldi have subdivided a store next to AMC Camp Hill 12
• First location to close, closing in 1976
13. Greater Lewistown Plaza: Lewistown, PA
• Located either where Weis is currently or where Ollie's is currently (across the street from each other)
• Weis may have been in current Ollie's and relocated into the former Town & Country
14. Pottsville, PA (North Claude A. Lord Blvd/Rt. 61)
• Appears to be where Giant is currently located
15. Westerly Parkway Plaza: State College, PA (424 Westerly Pkwy)
• Unclear of where it was located in the shopping center
• May have been demolished
• Weis may also be present location
16. Staunton, VA (1106 Greenville Avenue)
• Current location of Goodwill & Super Shoes
• Appears to have been subdivided
17. Sunbury, PA (Shamokin Dam)
• Appears to be Orchard Hills Shopping Center
• Currently Tractor Supply
18. Uniontown Shopping Center: Uniontown, PA
• Currently Tractor Supply Company
19. West Chester, PA (1115 West Chester Pike)
• Appears to be current location of Shop-Rite
20. Williamsport, PA (3500 W. 4th St)
• No longer retail
• Now home to 3D Creative Services, a metal working shop
21. Winchester, VA (1090 Millwood Pike)
• Was previously as Kmart, currently Big Lots
• Kmart appears to have relocated in 1994
• Kmart's later location closed in 2014 and is today subdivided between Dick's Sporting Goods and The Fresh Market

Lost Vintage Sky City: Morristown, TN

Very interesting video here: vintage Ingles and Sky City.  This was a much older style of Sky City than what I was familiar with, which had a much more modern logo.  This store looks to have been one of the 60's or ealry 70's models.  A similar Ingles/Sky City arrangement was common in Georgia and North Carolina, but it also existed in Tennessee.  Check out some of the other videos from the author of the Rose's during demolition in Morristown.  The creator of this video is also the photographer of the lone photo currently available online of a Sky City store.

Wal-Mart Style in Blairsville

The image in the mind of most people of Wal-Mart is the tacky blue monolith full of stuff they can only find cheaper in a dollar store. Indeed, the Wal-Mart of the 90's was a store of more substance than style, and this resonated true with the anti-Wal-Mart crowd. Realizing negative public perception, the chain recently updated their logo and attempted to "upscale" their image to compete more fiercely with Target. While I will never see Wal-Mart ever one-upping Target in the cheap chic niche, I am indeed impressed with the results of their attempts to do so. Their experiments in image retailing have resulted in some much improved decor and less cheesy ads. This new store featured here in Blairsville is the complete culmination of that.


Opening on August 20, 2009 the Blairsville Wal-Mart is quite different from any one I have seen before. Its location is odd enough, situated two miles outside of the city at a major intersection that at current is graced with nothing more than a tractor supply store. The terrain in the area is very rugged, too, which is why this store made its way to the town late. The previous attempt to locate in the city was postponed due to the previous property being too rocky. That land today belongs to the county as part of their park.




The store itself is truly attractive on the outside. It is tan colored like cut wood, and the entrance has a mountain theme with stone at the foot, alpine trimmings and fake windows interspersed with real ones over the entrances to make the store seem less blocky and imposing. The store sports the new logo inside and out. Inside, the store is laid out considerably different than most modern stores. The footprint is more narrow and a bit smaller. The food area has a contemporary theme featuring a motif of orange, yellow and green reminiscent of the late 70's and early 80's when Wal-Mart was first hitting its stride. While a throwback to the 70's in color schemes, the design is clean, modern and attractive. The rest of the store did not embrace the tan renovations of older stores, however. The theme is the usual white, gray and blue. The Pharmacy is actually located next to the food area instead of the other side of the store. In all, the selection seems less but it is still the best discount store this town ever had.

I love the food part of the store. This area is reminiscent of grocery stores past as well as completely contemporary.

The last time Blairsville had its own discount store was in 1990. That was when troubled discounter Sky City closed its doors in the Ingles Shopping Center. Since then, residents of Union County have had to choose betweeen the Wal-Mart in Murphy, NC close to 25 miles away or the Rose's in Blue Ridge, also 25 miles away. In that time span, the city saw much new development from retirees and the wealthy from Atlanta and Florida building homes in the area, which is one of the most mountainous in Georgia and quite different from the rest of the state. Those newcomers were generally not in favor of a Wal-Mart coming in, and the opposition combined with the difficulty finding a suitable site delayed the project for quite some time. However, in a town with a technical college, a large tourist population and a central location at the crossroads of two major US highways, the need was becoming pretty apparent.

The first photo is a look at the aisle between the food area and the rest of the store in the first photo. The second photo focuses on the checkout area. The rest of the store was not photographed.

In all, it took a lot to inspire me to do any post on Wal-Mart. I did so because I felt this place stood out from other Wal-Mart stores. Indeed, the local population is probably mixed about having it in that it brings much needed convenience and a discount store back to the city, but it also is likely to contribute to further sprawl in a very pristine setting. The store itself is very close to Lake Nottely, the county park and breaks an otherwise largely unspoiled vista between Blue Ridge and Blairsville along SR 515. Nevertheless, it is nice to see that Wal-Mart today recognizes the need to design their stores to better reflect their community and the scenery instead of the mutely brutalist stores of the past.

The late summer sunset casts a mystical light on the new brown sign and the misty mountain scenery behind it.

Target at Lenox Marketplace

Today is my third year anniversary of Georgia Retail Memories! While the new name for the blog will be introduced in the next month (you can still offer your suggestions beforehand), I thought I'd show you something I thought was pretty unique by today's standards...a two-story Target in Atlanta!

Night shot of two-story Target from second level of parking deck.

This Target anchors Lenox Marketplace, located across from Phipps Plaza and near Lenox Square. Because of the enormous cost and lack of available land in Buckhead throughout the past two decades, most new developments have been built upwards instead of outwards. Not far from this development are many new highrises: mostly built around the intersection of Peachtree Road (SR 141) and Piedmont Rd (SR 237) just to the south. I am sure to longtime residents of Atlanta how apparent it is that very little of old Buckhead is left. Most of this demolition has taken place in the last decade.

Parking deck entrance to Target. Target is the only store in the complex accessable from the bottom level of the deck.

Built in 1999, the shopping complex is located at the southwestern corner of Peachtree and Wieuca Roads. The center features a three-story Dick's (originally Galyan's), two-story Target, a Publix, Staples and Filene's Basement. A now-closed Dekor once flanked the shopping center, and the center is completely connected by a multi-story parking deck in the center accessable from Wieuca Road.

Approaching the two-sided elevator and escalators.

Most retail history type blogs (including mine at times) are gloom and doom about the good old days of retail, but we all must have to admit that the major draw of many of these older shopping centers is by and large the period decor and memories attached to them. While many places of that era had pretty fascinating layouts, many also were pretty standard and at the time even somewhat depressing. Think of the dumpiest 70's malls you've visited still in operation or a typical strip mall built in the 80's and 90's. People in the day saw the construction as cheap and ugly while those of us much younger are more sentimental, yet even the older crowd is starting to miss those places today.

That's what is so interesting about these infill developments in cities: these are the places you discover interesting shopping centers that are not old but actually very new. Think of Atlantic Station: an outdoor mall built on top of an enormous parking deck with stuff you'd never find in a mall. Five stories of escalators in the Dillard's and escalators coming out of strange places. Remember it wasn't so long ago that retail was fleeing the cities, and most of us have not recovered fully from the realization that the wonderland downtown department stores are gone, so this is a start.

These, however, are not ordinary escalators. They have a twist. Note that this is a CART escalator. I pulled a cart onto the cart escalator here for a demonstration.

While this would be an oversized strip mall in a place like Canton (e.g. Canton Marketplace), this is built up in a very interesting fashion such that it is one of the oft-overlooked interesting places of today. In fact, I overall believe architecture really took a turn from the better from 1998 on from the pink stucco horrors of the early 90's. Some of us have almost been blindsided by the reality that architecture has improved dramatically from even a decade ago, and is quite fascinating to look at these days much in the same way the art deco and bold color schemes of the 60's and 70's were fascinating in that time.

The top of the escalator has the look and feel more of a 70's department store than a typical Target. The distinguishing overhead directory of departments kind of gives it away, though. Now what I would give to see a three-story Super Target!!!

With the increasingly desperate situation in the nation and world around us, those of us remembering the places of our childhood in the 70's and 80's will also look back in awe at these later monuments to American prosperity as well when we were teenagers and in our college years. The only difference is that we will have more successfully preserved today vs. yesterday when documenting these places was not so commonplace without a medium like the internet. Enjoy these pics of this unique Target store, and thanks to all who visit and contribute to my site who appreciate retail history from a Southern perspective.

Richway Early 80's TV Ads

I've waited quite awhile for these, but looking back you have to admit that pretty much any TV from the early 80's was pretty cheesy. Hope you enjoy!



Richway Back to School ad from Fall of 1982.



Is this Lake Lanier or Lake Allatoona? Remember, Richway was headquartered in the old Rich's building the whole time even after Federated bought them, so an ad featuring a local man at a local lake was not unlikely.

Also, maybe I'm imagining it, but I swear I recall a Richway ad from the late 1980's playing the intro part of Laura Branigan's "Gloria". Since using pop songs in ads is nothing unusual today, I wonder if my memory served me right. I was a little kid then. Thanks, J, for the heads up on these!

1983 Richway flyer and more

Here is a treat for what I found to be more than a few people sentimental about Richway. A contributor who chooses to be known only as "J" sent me scans of a flyer made in 1983 for Richway. The story is that he found this in an attic of his grandparents house along with a newspaper from that era. In all, they are very well preserved. Also, he included a low resolution scan of a postcard for the Atlanta Expo Center, which I have outside pics of. The Atlanta Expo Center, located on Jonesboro Road today fills what had been the Richway in addition to the Treasure Island/Home Depot locations mentioned in the previous "Treasure Island" post.


In these pics, I am largely including ones with the logo, but will include a couple others for amusement. You have to admit that times sure have changed since these pics.

I'm guessing Richway had a better selection of hardware than snob-appeal Target that took its place did. Nevertheless, I've heard both are very similar in many ways, though obviously Target is much less fun.


How about a $400 VCR? And this is in 1983 dollars, folks. Also take your pic at Urban Cowboy overkill for $6.99 on your choice of LP or cassette so you can go and replace them all with CD's ten years later just to download them illegally another 10 years later.


One thing you've got to admit: since the 80's the men's shorts have gotten longer and women's a lot shorter. Considering the big gay rights push since the late 80's, it is definitely no coincidence. It's a reaction that mirrored the disco backlash a couple years before this ad. Can you imagine most men being caught dead in most of this stuff today unless they were running on the cross country team?


Hey buddy, you want THAT much for a boom box that doesn't come with high speed dubbing? No way, man!


Nice moehair suit, fella. Imagine the days when you could be a hairy bastard and still be considered smoking hot? I wonder if that guy later joined the other silver hair dudes in a new Vette hoping to land a girl half his age.


Also provided here was this postcard of the Atlanta Expo Center featuring our most well-preserved Richway off of Jonesboro Road. Just don't go there at night.


Here is a close-up outside shot of the Richway on Jonesboro Road taken by yours truly. I understand this was the only Richway not to make it into a Target. That says a lot about that area, unfortunately.

Treasure Island

Treasure Island was a concept ahead of its time. Begun in the late 1960's, this JCPenney owned discount chain was basically the first supercenter concept ever created. Combining a discount and grocery store, this chain featured uniquely designed stores that were found in major cities across the U.S., but were known as "The Treasury" on the west coast. However, they were only successful in two cities: Atlanta and Cincinnati.

Georgia had four locations of Treasure Island stores, all located immediately off of I-285 except the first mentioned here, which was over a mile from Atlanta's perimeter highway. They were also located on major state highways in high traffic areas. These locations were at the intersection of U.S. 41 (Cobb Parkway) and Terrell Mill Road in Marietta, Buford Highway (GA 13) in Doraville, Memorial Drive (GA 10) near Decatur and Jonesboro Road (GA 54) in Forest Park.

The former location on Jonesboro Road in Forest Park is the most well-preserved location of a Treasure Island. You can also see the original painted over Home Depot sign in the background. The Home Depots were all on the left side of the original floorspace.

Consolidation of the discount store industry became fierce in the 1970's and 1980's following the massive failure of the W.T. Grant chain. This resulted in Treasure Island with its few massive stores having trouble competing with Kmart on steroids and the plethora of other discounters nationwide. Treasure Island was liquidated in 1981, and the vacancy of these stores created an opportunity for a brand new retail chain to emerge in Atlanta...Home Depot. Indeed, Home Depots very first locations were far smaller than today, taking up only a third of the former Treasure Island store space while Zayre initially moved in to take over the rest of the former retailer's floorspace.

The former location on Buford Highway is now a flea market.

In the late 1980's, Home Depot began building bigger and better stores while Zayre went bankrupt and was bought out by Ames. At that point, the Zayre locations were closed and Home Depot, now becoming a national chain, abandoned the original smaller stores. Given their location, these stores also faced decline of the area surrounding them. The most successful of these is the location in Marietta, which still has a Value City in the former Home Depot portion. The last major retailer in the Buford Highway location was an Office Depot, and now a large flea market covers much of the old floorspace. The other two locations are no longer retail with DeKalb County running offices out of the Memorial Drive location and the Atlanta Expo Center filling out the Jonesboro Road location. The Jonesboro Road location is unique in that it is completely unchanged from when it last functioned as a Zayre/Home Depot while the other locations were renovated and modified significantly.

Today, a concept like Treasure Island would be welcomed by many to reintroduce competition to a market completely dominated by only two discount chains, but its parent company JCPenney has mostly abandoned its other largely unsuccessful retail concepts. Its last, a collection of drug store chains including Eckerd, is now under different ownership while JCPenney focuses on its original department stores.

Rose's Discount Store

Rose's in Blue Ridge, GA. Additional photos of this store will come in the future. This was an original PH Rose location, completed in 1985.

For those of you disgruntled by Wal-Mart, Rose's was once poised to be serious competition to Wal-Mart here in the southeast. Problem was, as it was preparing for the fight it instead lost its footing and now barely holds on in a few places as a glorified dollar store. In Georgia, Rose's used to be a much more significant chain found in many locations including Lake Shore Mall in Gainesville (now a Belk Men's, Home and Kid's store). Today it is less than half the size it was at its peak in the late 1980's. Like Wal-Mart, Rose's expanded from a five and dime concept originally known as PH Rose. It was headquartered in Western North Carolina.

This location is located in the Mars Hill area north of Asheville on US 25/70 off of Future I-26. It appears to have been built in the 1990's.

The only one I personally know in Georgia still to be operational is a store in Blue Ridge located next to the Ingles, but your comments have alerted me that quite a few exist still across the state. Note the Blue Ridge store pictured above. It was built with the center in 1985 and has never been expanded or updated. Prior to 1995, it was more of a regular discount store, even including a video rental area. The store still gets decent business, though, because Wal-Mart has yet to expand to the city. This is about to diminish, though, as a new Wal-Mart opening in Blairsville will reduce the market area for Rose's.

The Sylva location uses a slightly modified all red logo vs. the older white logo. It is not known if this store is original, but it is off of US 74 (Great Smoky Mountain Expressway) on the exit named simply "Sylva".

While there is not a lot of information aside from the explosively popular Wikipedia article about it (complete with user-submitted locations), Rose's is today apparently part of a collection of dollar stores on steroids. These stores include Maxway (a staple in blue collar neighborhoods), SuperValu, Bill's Dollar Store and others. The company that has owned them since 1995 is SuperValu, and they run them today as sort of a hybrid concept. Basically, imagine Fred's, but run more like Wal-Mart in the 1980's or Big K in the 1970's. I'm amazed they are still around with so much competition on both the dollar store and discount store fronts.

Richway: The Discount Division of Rich's (Updated February 15, 2018)

"Everything under the sun" could be found at Richway if you believed the ads.  In the 1960's, discount stores were an explosive trend across the United States, and this was not lost on department stores.  These new discount stores were making a hit on department stores with their lower prices and wide selection of merchandise, but a few department stores saw an opportunity to expand their footprint and operations by diversifying into this then-new concept.  In 1968, Rich's decided that it, too, needed to enter the discount store business by opening its namesake Richway stores.  Like other similar stores, Richway was an "upscale" discount store that operated more like an actual department store with general merchandise than a discount store.  Their slogan in the 80's was "Richway doesn't look like a discount store, but our price tags give us away".  Richway would last until 1988 when the store was sold to Target.  At its peak, Richway had 31 stores.  While Richway had an interesting history, it was not the first of such "discount divisions" of their parent department stores.  Others included:

• Ayr-Way
• A division of L.S. Ayres in Indianapolis founded in 1961
• Purchased by Dayton-Hudson in 1980 and reopened as Target in 1981
• Target
• A division of Dayton's in Minneapolis founded in 1962 and the last of its kind today
• Almart/J.B. Hunter
• A division of Allied (Department) Stores founded in 1962 and liquidated around 1975
• Treasure Island/The Treasury
• A division of JCPenney founded in 1962 and liquidated in 1981
• Gold Circle
• A discount division of Lazarus/Federated Department Stores founded in 1967 and liquidated in 1988
• Most stores sold to Hills and some to Target
• Prange Way
• A division of Prange's founded in 1965 and dissolved in 1992 when parent company Prange's was sold to Younker's
• Venture
• A division of May Department Stores also founded in 1968 and liquidated in 1998
• Many locations became Kmart
• Clover
• A division of Strawbridge & Clothier founded in 1971
• Liquidated in 1995 and 1996 as part of sale to May Department Stores
• Jefferson Ward
• Purchased by Montgomery Ward in 1973 (originally Jefferson's in Florida)
• Divested and liquidated around 1988

This slide shows the very first Richway store opened located on Covington Highway in Decatur, GA.  (Photo by Stevens & Wilkinson used by permission)  

Richway opened its first stores in 1970 with four locations in Metro Atlanta: all near an interchange with the recently completed I-285.  These original stores were large for their time featuring very distinctive architectural detail with eight large alternating green and orange wedge skylights on the roof.  Inside, the ceiling featured canned sodium vapor lights giving the store an ethereal tone to match the unique effects of the skylights, which were positioned in every direction on the roof.  The store also featured high ceilings making the store feel more spacious.  The original stores also featured a Richway Foods, which was operated by Big Star (formerly Colonial Stores).  Richway Foods was notable for delivering groceries to customers on a conveyor belt for outside pickup.  The original stores also had an auto center in or next to every store, and they were larger than later stores.  The four original locations were located at:

• Decatur: 4000 Covington Highway (Opened in 1969)
• Store #1
• Now Peace Baptist Church
• Store was not replaced when Target vacated the site
• Smyrna: 2201 Cobb Parkway SE (Opened in 1970)
• Still operational as Target
• Last Richway operating as Target
• Richway Foods was later Big Star, A&P, then CompUSA
• Sandy Springs: 235 Johnson Ferry Road (Opening date unknown, probably 1971)
• Operated as Target until 2007
• Demolished in 2013 for Sandy Springs City Hall and Downtown
• Richway Foods was later successively Big Star, A&P, Harris Teeter, and Goodwill
• College Park: 5025 Old National Highway (Opened 1971)
• Operated as Target from 1989-1998
• Target roughly replaced by store at Fayette Pavilion 11 miles south
• Abandoned ever since

This bag carries the original Richway logo that was used from approximately 1970-1977.  Note that the sunrise is far more detailed with the logo in a mixed-case font in a pill shape.  The stores built with this logo had the signs accommodated to fit this logo.

Scan from an original credit card

Richway in Sandy Springs showing the updated logo in a the original pill shape, Richway Foods as Big Star, and the Richway Auto Center on the right.  This undated photo was most likely taken in the late 1970's.  (Photographer unknown)

The success of those four locations led to expansion across the Atlanta region, although the growth of the chain occurred mostly after Rich's was sold to Federated Department Stores.  The next stores that were constructed after the original four in 1970 within the Atlanta area were:

• Atlanta/Forest Park: 3650 Jonesboro Road SE (Opened 1974)
• Never re-opened as Target, now Atlanta Expo Center North
• Atlanta/Druid Hills: 2400 North Druid Hills Road (Opened 1974)
• Reconstructed in 2002 as Target Greatland, now Target
• Land still owned by Macy's/Federated
• Jonesboro: 6525-B Tara Blvd (Arrowhead Mall, Opened 1974)
• Target (now closed) relocated to Mt. Zion Road in 1996
• Was Burlington Coat Factory, now Southside Discount Mall
• Roswell: 610 Holcomb Bridge Road (Roswell Mall, opened 1974)
• Target closed store and relocated to Super Target on Woodstock Road in 1999
• Was a Value City up until chain liquidated
• Presently Home & Decor
• Tucker: 4136 Jimmy Carter Blvd (opening date unknown, probably 1975)
• Torn down in 2001 for Home Depot
• Replaced by current Target at I-285 and LaVista Road
• Doraville: 5766 Buford Highway (opening date unknown, probably 1977)
• Originally a Grant City location (opened 1968)
• Was later a Value City
• Currently a Burlington Coat Factory since 2013

The Atlanta Expo Center North on Jonesboro Road stands as the best preserved former Richway.  Because it was the only former Richway that did not reopen as Target, the skylights were not covered up with the original architecture left largely unchanged.  The orange exterior is original to when it was Richway.

This interior shot of the Atlanta Expo Center shows how all of the original Richway stores appeared inside.  Note the "canned" lights in the ceiling in the backgroung (Photo by J. Fillow).

All of the early Richway stores had an auto center just like Rich's suburban locations did (Photo by Stevens & Wilkinson used by permission)

Expansion of Richway in the 1970's did not, however, include just Atlanta.  Before the sale to Federated Department Stores, four Richway locations opened in the Carolinas.

• Charlotte [Northwest]: Freedom Mall [offsite link] (Opened 1974)
• Converted to government offices
• Charlotte [Southeast]: Independence Blvd (Opened 1974)
• Target relocated to Matthews in 1995
• Torn down for BJ's Wholesale in 2001
• BJ's that replaced it is now Hendrick Automotive Group
• Columbia: Woodhill Mall (Opened 1974)
• Redeveloped with Target on site

Image of Richway in Charlotte after the location closed as Target.  It is assumed this is the Independence Blvd location.  (Photo by J. Fillow)

The curious thing about Richway's expansion outside of the Atlanta metro area is that it did not tend to open in markets that its parent Rich's was located.  While Columbia did gain one Rich's location, Richway never opened a location in Greenville (where Rich's was located).  Likewise, neither Charlotte nor Gastonia ever had Rich's.  Of even greater curiosity is why Richway avoided Birmingham entirely.  A total of three Rich's operated in the Birmingham market, but no Richway ever opened in the city.  Memphis was also overlooked, which contained Rich's sister store Goldsmith's.

SALE TO FEDERATED DEPARTMENT STORES AND FURTHER EXPANSION

Richway was sold along with parent company Rich's to Federated Department Stores in 1976.  This sale resulted in several changes.  For one, the company got a more streamlined logo with a more simple sunrise and the same Helvetica font that was already in use on the Target logo.  In addition, an orange theme was employed throughout the store including orange fiber glass shopping carts, and orange smocks for employees.  Richway Food stores were sold off to Big Star, and new stores were smaller with less emphasis on hard lines.  The distinctive skylights were also dropped from eight to six then dropped altogether by 1980.  Auto centers, which were on all the stores built under Rich ownership, were dropped on newer stores.  However, growth of Richway was already in the works with four mall-based stores that opened in 1977 co-anchored by Kroger Sav-On.  These locations included:

• Columbia [Dentsville]: Decker Mall
• Closed in 1998 when Target relocated, now a storage facility
• Columbia [West]: Bush River Mall (twin store and mall to Decker)
• Closed in 1998 when Target relocated to Harbison Blvd.
• Mall and site demolished and rebuilt as Wal-Mart in 2004
• Charlotte [Northeast]: North Park Mall 
• Closed in 1998 and has since operated as Kimbrell's furniture
• Adjoining mall is abandoned and will soon be demolished for expansion of Charlotte transit lines
• Charlotte [Southwest]: West Park Mall (twin store and mall to North Park Mall)
• Target relocated to Carolina Pavilion
• Store and mall demolished around 2000
• Costco is currently on site today

The last store opened in the Carolinas opened in Gastonia in 1978.  Interestingly, it was not mall-based:

• Gastonia, NC: Akers Shopping Center
• Operated as Target until 2011 when Target relocated to Gaston Mall site
• Now subdivided between Gabe's and Conn's

Image of the Gastonia store prior to closure.  Photo is from 2010, and store closed/relocated in 2011.  The store was built in the parking lot of a previously established shopping center with Akers Shopping Center behind me in the photo.

Additional Georgia locations opened included:

• Marietta: 805 Sandy Plains Road
• Opened in 1980
• Closed in 1998 when Target store relocated to current location on Cobb Place Blvd
• Has since been offices for Wellstar Medical
• Mableton: Austell Road (GA 5) & Hurt Road
• Opened in 1980
• Abandoned after Target closed in 1998 and relocated to East West Commons Shopping Center
• Snellville: Main St (US 78) & McGee Road (Fountain Square)
• Opened in 1983
• Target relocated in 1994 to current location at Presidential Market
• Conyers: 1618 GA 138 (free-standing)
• Opened in 1983
• Target relocated to Conyers Commons in 2006
• Part of store torn down for LA Fitness with about 1/3 of original building standing open and vacant
• Athens: 3505 Atlanta Highway (Clarke Crossing Shopping Center)
• Opened in 1984
• Now Academy Sports

Former Richway on Austell Road in Mableton

The Richway in Snellville featured an updated look that resembled 1980's Wal-Mart stores.

EXPANSION TO TENNESSEE AND FLORIDA

Federated Department Stores was seeing that they had a big success in Richway, so they sought to expand the chain elsewhere.  In Florida, Federated already had a presence with their ownership of Burdine's and the Gold Triangle chain.  In contrast to what was said before on this blog, Gold Triangle stores were not replaced by Richway.  However, they did go out of business in 1981 prior to the entry of Richway into the market in 1982.  It was curious that Richway was chosen considering that Rich's was never located anywhere near Florida, but it still functioned as the discount division of Burdine's, which had been part of Federated Department Stores since 1956.  The list of Richway stores that opened in South Florida in 1982 included:

• West Palm Beach: 1760 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd
• Operated as Target until 2008 when store was demolished and rebuilt as a two-story Target on the same site
• Plantation: 8201 SW 3rd St
• Original address was W. Federated Roadway
• Original store was torn down and rebuilt as Target on same site according to aerials
• Sources claim the store was located elsewhere
• Deerfield Beach: 1200 S. Federal Highway
• New store built just to the south with parking deck on site of original store
• Tamarac: 8399 N University Drive
• Now Renaissance Charter School at University
• Palm Springs: 1941 Military Trail
• Now Sunshine Flea Market

An additional location opened in 1983 in a former Woolco:

• Oakland Park: 5091 North Dixie Highway
• Originally constructed in 1973
• Partially demolished and subdivided with Publix the primary tenant currently
• Was the largest South Florida location for Richway

Richway in Florida had an updated look, but some of their stores featured this interesting sloped front look in lieu of the design used on the store shown in Snellville, GA.  This the Palm Springs location.  (Image from Google Street View, June 2017)

This 2007 Google Street View capture shows the West Palm Beach Store, which was identical to the Palm Springs Store, but it was demolished and rebuilt on site the following year.

Map of South Florida locations using Google Earth

Additionally, Richway saw an opportunity to enter the Tennessee market by acquiring two former Gibson's stores in Chattanooga that had opened originally as Jubilee City.  It is not certain when these stores opened, but it is believed to have been 1982.  These locations included:

• Chattanooga [Brainerd]: 5600 Lee Highway
• Store was torn down for expansion of Chattanooga's airport, but the parking lot remains
• Chattanooga [Hixson]: 600 Northgate Mall Drive
• Located on an outlot of Northgate Mall
• After Target closed and relocated, store was subdivided between Ross and T.J. Maxx

This was the Richway on 5600 Lee Highway in Chattanooga.  Since this store looked new in the image, apparently the front of the store was gutted and rebuilt when it was taken over from Gibson's.  (Image by Stevens & Wilkinson used by permission)

Map of Chattanooga locations using Google Earth

CONVERSION TO GOLD CIRCLE AND SALE

Federated Department Stores changed their corporate strategy and decided that they no longer wanted to operate their two discount stores separately, so the decision was made to merge Richway and Gold Circle in 1986.  In 1987, work began slowly to convert stores to the Gold Circle name.  However, things were not going well with Federated Department Stores as part of the Campeau takeover.  The debt that had been created from frenzied acquisitions and mismanagement by the French-Canadian financier's parent company had left Federated with a tough decision: save the department stores or save their discount stores.  The decision was made to focus on the department stores, thus the combined Richway-Gold Circle would have to be sold to a competitor.

These 1987 photos from Hank McNeely show the conversion of the Independence Blvd Richway in Charlotte to Gold circle.  The Richway logo was in a pill-shaped sign in an ice cream cone shaped support in some of their earlier stores supporting the older logo originally.  Target would again use this sign.

During the conversion from Richway to Gold Circle, tags in the stores began to display Gold Circle logos, but only a few stores actually got the new name.  All seven of the stores in the Carolinas (Columbia, Charlotte, and Gastonia) were converted to the Gold Circle name, but the other stores remained Richway.  Gold Circle seemed like a strange fit at the time considering that the name was not known in the Southeast.  Gold Circle was primarily located around Pittsburgh, Northern Kentucky, Ohio, and New York.  However, no other Richway stores would ever see the Gold Circle name.  In fall of 1988, all of the Richway and Gold Circle stores would be liquidated.

Map of Charlotte area locations using Google Earth

Target, then part of Dayton-Hudson, was in aggressive expansion mode having already expanded massively in the Midwest, and the sale of Richway was the primary vehicle for their growth into the Southeast.  However, it was not Campeau Corporation via Federated Department Stores that sold Richway to Target.  Instead, the entire chain was sold to Kimco Development Corp. who then sold the chain in two chunks.  31 stores were sold to Target.  This included all of the Richway stores, including those converted to Gold Circle.  The most likely reason that the entire 67 store chain was not purchased was probably due to the fact that Target was a much smaller company then and was not capitalized to purchase that many stores.  The risk was great for a chain that was unknown outside of the Midwest at the time.

Maps of Atlanta area locations and Athens location using Google Earth

The remaining 35 Gold Circle stores, all located in the North, were leased to Hills Department Stores, a now defunct chain that had very little overlap with Richway.  Hills had two locations in the Chattanooga market, but nowhere else did they compete.  However, they were a major competitor to Gold Circle in Pennsylvania, New York, Kentucky, and Ohio giving them at the time a greater share of the market.  Had Target not purchased Richway, it is questionable if they would have expanded into the national chain they are today.  It is notable that nearly every major discount store we have today grew rapidly through a major acquisition or takeover of stores from a defunct chain.  This is true with both Wal-Mart (Kuhn's Big K/Edward's) and Kmart (Grant's).

Target reopened all the former Richway and Gold Circle stores it acquired in May of 1989 after extensive remodeling.  In the end, Target proved to be the perfect fit for Richway.  Like Richway, it was a division of a major regional department store, and it marketed to the same demographic.  Their acquired stores proved to be highly successful for them, thus allowing them to expand and modernize throughout the 1990's.  However, Target did not share the same love for the distinctive feel of Richway.  Green and orange skylights were painted black and boarded up with ceilings in the store dropped.  The canned lights were covered up and replaced with regular tube lights.  The orange decor was replaced with the usual Target red, and storefronts repainted with a dull gray cast.  Target had the stores in body, but not in soul.  A celebrated division of Rich's in Atlanta had likewise become a soon to be nationwide corporation operated by a distant company in Minneapolis.

One of the former Richway locations in the North Druid Hills community of Atlanta was rebuilt on-site as Target Greatland in 2002.  Target Greatland is a now canceled concept that was larger than a regular Target, but smaller than a Super Target.

RICHWAY FADES AWAY

As Target has grown, the company proved to have outgrown the old Richway stores.  One by one, the stores were either replaced with a newer location or rebuilt with the bulk of those stores relocated to newly built locations.  The last few stores still operating as Target in 2005 were in Gastonia, Sandy Springs, West Palm Beach, and Smyrna.  By 2011, only one original Richway was left operational as a Target: the Smyrna store.  That same store received likely its final renovation and update around 2009.  Even then, the store is likely on borrowed time as the area around it is rapidly urbanizing since the construction of the new SunTrust Park.  It is believed that Target is looking to relocate to Cumberland Mall at some point in the near future where Sears is currently.

The last operational Richway.  Photo from 2006.

Pictures of the same Richway store after Target updated it in 2009.  The update made the store look more in sync with its original design with the clean lines and large glass front than the rounded stucco.  Note that the wedge skylights are still there painted white.  This store had the distinction of having its auto center in an outlot (now demolished).

RICHWAY REMEMBERED

When this post was first written, almost nothing was available online about the once venerable chain.  As the first post ever written on Sky City, much has been learned about the store since then including former locations and events in the store's history.  Because of that, the original post has been completely rewritten and replaced with this much more detailed post that more accurately depicts the history of a discount store that started as an extension of Georgia's most famous store.  This rewrite includes extensive photos that were not available at the time with better information about former locations.  Hopefully this post this time gives an accurate and complete history of one of many stores that Sky City has not allowed to have been forgotten since this post and blog was first published in 2006.