Retail Forever

GIANT #6563 Opened:  2019 Address:  100 Townsedge Dr Photographed:  April 2022 For our next stop, we make a quick return to Lancaster County for one of the final Giant stores in the county that I've not yet photographed, before moving on to Pottstown. For the complete history of what happened here, we must go back to 1916, when E. E. Ferguson and George W. Hassler opened a general store on State Street in downtown Quarryville. It was a while between the opening of that store and the opening of the store at TownsEdge Square, and since this post is only supposed to be about the TownsEdge store, I'll just include a quick timeline of the business's changes through the 1900s that eventually led to the opening of the aforementioned TownsEdge Square store.     1939: A second Ferguson & Hassler opened at the intersection of Routes 472 and 372. It was the first self-service store in Quarryville.     1944: The second store closed     1954: ...

GIANT #6539 Opened:  2016 Address:   5005 Jonestown Rd Photographed:  November 2021 Welcome back to Retail Forever! Today we've got our only Harrisburg supermarket this time around, Giant #6539. This Giant has a long history, starting out in the 1970s at 5007 Jonestown Rd. In 1991, it was relocated across the street to a new store in the Colonial Commons shopping center, 5074 Jonestown Road. It was remodeled in the 2000s, before relocating to 5005 Jonestown Rd (right next door to the original store from the 1970s) in November 2016. The current store was originally a Hill's, Ames, and Gander Mountain. The second store at Colonial Commons, which is now occupied by Hobby Lobby.

GIANT #6271 Opened:  2003 Address:  14635 Mount Airy Rd Photographed:  October 2021  After our brief venture down to Baltimore County, Maryland, we're back up in Pennsylvania. If you've been reading both blogs for a while now, you may remember the former Giant store which I included as a bonus at the bottom of the post about Kmart in Shrewsbury, Pennsylvania. Well, that store was the original location for this store, before it moved. If you haven't already read that, I'll include the information here again. The original Shrewsbury Giant opened in 1983 with a shopping center along Forrest Ave, co-anchoring with Kmart. When Kmart closed in 2000, I can imagine the center started dying off, so in 2003, Giant relocated to a new plaza at 14635 Mount Airy Rd, closing the Forrest Ave store. Gee, that sign has seen better days 

GIANT #6567 Opened:  2019 Address:   35 Friendly Dr Photographed:  July 2021 Similar to Giant's Columbia location, this store started out as a Musser's Market in February 2003. However, this wasn't the first location for Musser's Buck store. The Friendly Drive store originally opened in 1973. That store is where a strip mall now stands , connected to the newer store. Like the other Musser's stores in Columbia and Lebanon, it was sold to Giant, reopening on November 8, 2019, the same day as the Columbia store (Lebanon reopened a week prior). Photo by Theodore Nichols on Google Maps

GIANT #6097 Opened:  Early 2000s Address:   1250 Cocoa Ave Photographed:  July 2021 Giant #6097, located at 1250 Cocoa Ave in Hershey, PA opened in 2000 as the replacement for the store at 710 W. Chocolate Ave (which opened in the 1970s). As of July 2021, this is one of the few remaining stores to have orange exterior signage.

GIANT #6028 Opened:  1979 / 2019 Address:   235 N. Reservoir St Photographed:  July 2021 Giant #6028, located at 235 N. Reservoir Street in Lancaster, Pennsylvania opened in July 1979 as the chain's first store in Lancaster County. The exterior was remodeled in the 1990s, making it more standard among other Giant stores, however, it was announced for closure (along with #6458 on Fruitville Pike) in March 2017, and it closed on May 17 of that same year. In February 2019, it was reopened as a pickup and delivery hub for Giant Direct, serving the greater Lancaster area Appearance of the original store, after the remodel in the mid-1990s. (Bing Maps Streetside) October 2019 - Current satellite view - Google Earth April 1992 - The store's original appearance - Google Earth 1969 - Before anything was built - Historic Aerials

GIANT #6458 Opened:  2008 Closed: 2017 Address:   2074 Fruitville Pike Photographed:  June 2021 Giant #6458 originally opened in Spring 1993 as a Redner's Warehouse Market and as one of the original tenants at the Hawthorne Center shopping complex. Redner's closed on January 12, 2008; selling all fixtures to Giant, with Giant opening on May 7, 2008, after remodeling and rearranging the store. However (likely due to the larger Giant less than two miles away on Lititz Pike ), this store closed on May 18, 2017, less than 10 years after opening. It became a Hobby Lobby in 2018. After closure, before transformation into Hobby Lobby (Google Maps Streetview) Before closure (Coolcat4333 on Flickr) After closure, before signage was r...

GIANT #6566 Opened:  2019 Address:   3985 Columbia Ave Photographed:  June 2021 Giant #6566 originally opened in 1992 as a Fox's Market , although just a few years later, in 1995, it was rebranded to a Redner's Warehouse Market . On January 2, 2009, the store was purchased by another local chain, Musser's Markets. It was remodeled yet again, holding a grand reopening on February 21, 2009. However, when Giant purchased the three-store Musser's chain in 2019, it was rebranded and remodeled yet again, reopening as a Giant Food Store on November 8, 2019. Seafood section at Redner's (from an archive of Musser's website) Back end of Musser's (Courtesy Google Maps) Exterior of Redner's (LNP | LancasterOnline) Dairy at Musser's (Courtesy Google Maps) Musser's frozen section (Courtesy Google Maps) Musser's produce (Courtesy Google Maps) Exterior of Musser's (Google Maps Streetview)

GIANT #6065 Opened:  1990s Address:   1360 Columbia Ave Photographed:  June 2021 Giant #6065, located at 1360 Columbia Avenue in Lancaster, Pennsylvania opened in 1987 as a typical Giant from the era. It was demolished and rebuilt in 2007. This location doesn't appear to have been renovated much since then like some of the busier Lancaster Giants. The store is located at Stone Mill Plaza.

GIANT #6485 Opened:  2011 Address:   789 E. Main St Photographed:  March 2021 Alright, this Giant is pretty much like every other one in Lancaster County so I'm just going to skip the intro and get right into it. Giant's Mount Joy location opened in 2011 and is located at 789 E Main Street. That's just about it. Enjoy my few photos of the store below. This mostly has the standard design of the time, although it was slightly altered specifically for this location. This is one of about four Giant stores in Lancaster County with a gas station. I don't have any photos of it so this Google Maps screenshot will have to do.

Giant #6004, located at 1008 Lititz Pike in Lititz, Pennsylvania opened in 2000 with a variation of the standard Giant exterior model (it was changed so it would fit into the shopping center, but that didn't really matter because Target opened a store there 11 years later with their own design). Anyway, this Giant competes with the Lititz Weis and the Lititz Stauffers  and features its own gas station. Retail in Lancaster County, PA The gas station, which was formerly a Citgo. Quick Information: Opened: 2000 Address:  1008 Lititz Pike Photographed:  January 2021 / March 2021