Sears conversion to Whole Foods begins in Greensboro

Greensboro's Whole Foods Market, which is scheduled to open in the Spring of 2012, has already began to take shape. The store will occupy 34,000 square feet in the Sears building at Friendly Center while Sears is downsizing its footprint from approximately 164,000 square feet to 130,000 square feet. These photos display the Friendly Avenue entrance to Sears, which will become transformed into Whole Foods' main entrance.


The two images below show Sears' Pembroke Road entrance, which will serve as their main entrance. In the picture immediately below, upon entering the doors the wall on the left will be the partition between Sears and Whole Foods Market.

Compare Foods - Independence Shopping Center

Compare Foods came onto the North Carolina grocerying scene a few years ago, and its popularity is undeniable. The store caters to a more ethnic crowd, particularly Latinos, but their stores are popular amongst all backgrounds. The store generally does not build new buildings, but is very green and economical in its efforts to re-use former grocery stores, such as the former Winn Dixie in Rock Hill. Patrons have stated to Grocerying that the value, freshness and variety of food makes it a unique fixture on the scene. The interesting thing about their stores is that they also reuse fixtures that were generally left in place from the previous store, and not only that, but are one of the few grocers to showcase their stores via photos on their websites. So if you remember what a mid-90s Harris Teeter looked like, these photos are almost like having a flashback to the signs. The Harris Teeter at Independence Shopping Center (Independence Boulevard-Hwy 74 at Idlewild Road in East Charlotte) was one of the oldest operating stores in the chain, built in 1970 and enjoyed a 35 year run closing in 2005. The store size today is approximately 40,000 square feet. Compare Foods has other Carolinas locations in the aforementioned Rock Hill, and additionally in the Triad and Triangle. See more photos inside the store via Compare Foods' website here.

(Harris Teeter photo via Charlotte Mecklenburg Real Estate Lookup; Compare Foods photo via CompareSupermarkets.com)


Update: As of early 2012, this store has closed.

Before & After: The Transformation of a Raleigh Wal-Mart

Raleigh's Wal-Mart Supercenter off of New Hope Church Road started out originally as just a regular Wal-Mart. According to the Wake County tax website, the store originally opened in 1993 and then in 2004 was renovated and expanded. The Wake County Tax site is one of the most comprehensive tax websites in the state, storing photos of buildings from the mid-90s to present day. Because of this, we can chronicle the time line of the Wal-Mart's transformation.

See more photos here

Before & After: Food Lion, Plaza-Midwood

This store is one of Charlotte's older grocery stores, however it hasn't always been a Food Lion. According to the tax site and Groceteria, the store opened in 1960 originally as a Winn-Dixie. Winn Dixie closed in 1987, and in 1991 Food Lion moved in. The store, still with its narrow parking lot, serves customers in Charlotte's Plaza-Midwood, Country Club and NoDa neighborhoods. It is also the closest Food Lion store to Uptown Charlotte. There is approximately 36,000 square feet of shopping space inside and the before and after reflects the upgrades that were made to the store over the past couple of years.

Before & After: Bi-Lo, Freedom Drive/Ashley Road

The first store opened originally in 1978 at Freedom Plaza (corner of Freedom Dr. and Ashley Rd.) as one of the first Kroger Sav-On stores in Charlotte. Then in the 80s when Kroger bowed out, it naturally became a Bi-Lo store. There is also a store that looks identical to this one over on Eastway as well at Northpark Mall. Bi-Lo left this location in 2002 to move down the street to the corner of Ashley and Allegheny to build one of their signature stores that is over 50,000 square feet. At last check, the old store had become a Dollar Tree store.

Information from Charlotte Mecklenburg Tax Website & Groceteria.com

Harris Teeter at Charlotte's Cotswold Village and Raleigh's Lassiter Mill

Harris Teeter Cotswold

November 2006 (After):
November 2005 (Before):

One of Charlotte's oldest Harris Teeter stores, open since the early 1960s, has gotten a facelift. It is also one of the highest-grocing stores in the area. A beautiful store part of Cotswold Village Shops in Southeast Charlotte. Although the red crosshatching pattern on the windows will be missed, it is nice to see this store's renovation. There is new brick on the exterior, and it resembles the store at Lassiter Mill in Raleigh (see below) The original picture of the store above was taken on Thanksgiving Day (of the pre-remodel store) so that's why there are no cars in the lot, otherwise it's be packed as it is in the post-remodel photo.

Update: Interior Photos, Feb. 2009: Notice the similar style of the ceiling in the bakery/produce section, and the use of drop ceilings only found in older Harris Teeter stores these days.

Harris Teeter at Lassiter Mill Shopping Center, Raleigh, NC: (Feb. 2005)

This store which looks similar to the one in Cotswold was remodeled in 2002 as a part of the whole North Hills revitalization, a few miles north of downtown Raleigh. Here is a picture of the store from 1995, courtesy the Wake County Tax Website. I'm not 100% sure the store was a Harris Teeter in 1995 because it's hard to read exactly what the sign says although it does look like one, but i'm sure someone will know for sure. Edit: Steven says it was formerly a Winn-Dixie store.

1995:

Update: As of 2010, Harris Teeter's Lassiter Mill store has closed and relocated to a two-level location across the street in the new North Hills expansion.

Before & After: Bi-Lo, Pineville

This Bi-Lo store is located at the corner of Park Road and Hwy 51 near 485 in Pineville's The Terraces at Park Place. The store opened originally in 1981 as a Kroger, and then became a Bi-Lo during the Kroger/Bi-Lo switch in the late 1980s. The store went through a renovation process as displayed in the images above in 2001, and currently encompasses 45,074 square feet. (Loopnet)