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Local Historic Landmarks |
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Publix Groceries
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This building is significant for its association with the growth and development of Publix Supermarkets, which is one of the largest corporations in Florida. Constructed in 1951, this building opened as St. Petersburg’s first Publix Supermarket and would operate until 1982. The building is also representative of the transition during the 1930s and 1940s in the food retailing industry from small-scale specialty groceries located within neighborhoods to supermarkets providing a full range of dry goods, perishables and other consumer items that were located along major arterial roadways. Finally, the building is one of only three freestanding Publix Supermarkets built in St. Petersburg. The remaining stores built after 1954 were constructed as anchor tenants within neighborhood shopping centers where the opportunity for architectural expression was limited. The building is significant as an example of the Art Moderne style, an architectural style that developed during the 1930s as a result of the convergence of the new “machine” aesthetic and Depression-enforced frugality. Significantly, Art Moderne was the signature architectural style of the “first wave” of newly constructed Publix Supermarkets built in the late 1940s and early 1950s when the credit crunch and material shortages subsided after the Second World War. Built throughout Central Florida, these early stores were modeled on the first Publix Supermarket built in Winter Haven in 1940. |
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