Columbus #5 | Winn-Dixie #443 - Columbus, GA
Sing Food Store
4410 Macon Road
Columbus, GA 31907
Spectrum #49 | Circle K #6705
Scroll Down for today's MTC post on Winn-Dixie #443 across the street.
Welcome back to The Sing Oil Blog! As you entered the site, you may have noticed a subtle but important change: the URL. Gone are the days of adding "blogspot" to my links because now, all you have to type is "singoil.com" in your browser's address bar, and poof, you're here!
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Columbus, Georgia, has a long and rich history with Sing Oil Company; so much so that the South Georgia business operated eight stations in Muscogee County during the Twentieth Century and had another three undeveloped lots which were built on by others during the Nineties. The Fountain City was third only to Tallahassee and Greater Atlanta with regards to Sing's presence, and was undoubtedly an important part of Sing's portfolio by the time the 1990 Amoco merger took place.
It has also been a while since I've covered a Columbus Sing considering how my post on "Columbus #9" and Fran-Dixie was published over two years ago (before that Winn-Dixie had even begun its remodel . . . the last one to be completed before the Aldi acquisition).
With that, on top of me having photographed this station waaay back in 2021, I figured I needed to give a little love to the area. What do you say, shall we?
A 15-year lease dated December 4, 1970, was signed by Dick Singletary to secure Sing Oil's rights to the parcel at the corner of Macon and Reese Roads, with the option for two 10-year renewals.
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| The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Newspapers.com) - November 11, 1971 |
Thanks to my photo archives, we have a nice look at this store from the early-1970's. Look at how fresh the blacktop still looks – this store must have been less than a year old when the shot was taken.
Likewise, all of the copper-colored shingles look so fresh and bright. One of these days I'll make it up to Knoxville to see the last-remaining pump canopy of that style, too.
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| The Columbus Ledger (Newspapers.com) - January 22, 1978 |
The new Sing Store did look nice, but area residents weren't entirely on board with some of the changes it would bring about: namely, the self-service fuel pumps. Local columnist Bev Green wrote an entire piece in 1978 about how self-service gas stations discriminated against women.
"While macho males think nothing of hopping from their cars on the coldest, hottest, wettest, windiest days to operate the gas pump, to turn the little crank so that all the numbers line up on "0000" and to flip open their gas caps and even to run around to the front and throw open their hoods to gauge their oil and water and all that stuff up there, you show me a female who could get a charge out of it. I mean really." - Bev Green for The Ledger.
Mrs. Green gets on a tirade about how the Macon Road Sing offered mostly self-serve pumps, and how women are now expected, "to risk our hairdos, our manicures, our hose, and even our clothing," to, "save a few cents a gallon," pumping gas.
The thing that really set her off, though, was when one of the station attendants muttered for her to, "stick it in her ear." This led to quite the shouting match at the station. She ends the piece by facetiously asking her readers how can she be expected to get the gas nozzle into her ear if she can't get it into her gas tank.
I'm not sure if I know the answer.
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| The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Newspapers.com) - May 1, 1991 |
I do, however, know that the Sing name stuck around in Columbus until roughly 1993. That's when West Point-based Spectrum Stores assumed the lease to this 2.36 acre parcel and swapped the station over to Amoco fuels.
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| The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Newspapers) - April 13, 2006 |
The 90-store Spectrum chain sold out to Canadian oil giant Circle K in 2006, with the brand slowly being phased out from convenience stores over the following years. Couche-Tard also jumped at the chance to rebrand most of these stations to Circle K fuels following BP's 10-year contract expiration between 2012 and 2016.
There we are, at the present intersection of Macon and Reese Roads.
This store has sported Circle K's current livery since roughly 2017, but not much else has changed since the BP brand was dropped and the car wash was closed several years earlier.
There was also once a drive-up Wachovia ATM in the corner of the parking lot, but that seems to have been torn down around the time of the Wells Fargo merger in 2008.
I'm not sure when one of the left windows was covered over, but it seems to have been during the Spectrum days.
This store also had some major tile patchwork done at some point – and I'm not exactly sure why. This shot was taken from the front door looking to the left.
The far left wall was home to the fountain drink and ICEE machines, sitting atop the same metal cabinets I've seen elsewhere. I still think Sing used the orange-topped Formica fixtures, but I wonder if these stainless steel fixtures were a remnant from Spectrum.
The tile discrepancies are even more obvious from this angle. You would think they could have at least tried to better match the grout.
At least the drink coolers are still where Sing left them! That lower section of ceiling is still hanging around (just without the old decorative shingled roof). This store looks a lot like LaGrange #2 from this angle!
The cash register was still situated in the center of the store, right where I believe Sing left it.
Hopping over to the other end of the building, we find a surprisingly organized display of soft drinks paired with an even worse tile patch job.
I'm just shocked by the organization!
Not a great shot, but this happens to be the only one I took looking down the front wall of the store.
And there you have it, Columbus Sing #5. Let's check out a few more things in the area before setting our sights on the old Winn-Dixie just down the road.
If you thought that Spectrum was eradicated by Circle K, you would be wrong! About halfway between the WD and I-185 stands this little guy who proudly bore the Spectrum livery until roughly a year ago.
I really just wonder why Spectrum had the former Sing, this store, and another location a block from here all operating at the same time. They weren't even on different sides of the road!
Keep on scrolling for a look at the Winn-Dixie.
Street Views
Google Street View - November 2007
Google Street View - October 2012
Google Street View - July 2016
Google Street View - March 2025
Aerial Views
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| Historic Aerials - 1968 Future site of the Columbus #5 Sing |
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| Historic Aerials - 1981 Former Columbus Sing #5 |
Additional Resources:
Muscogee County Property Records
Parcel ID: 085 030 001
The Macon-Dixie
Winn-Dixie #443
Fountain Park
4231 Macon Road
Columbus, GA 31907
Update (May 19, 2025): This store is rumored to become a Renfroe's Foodland. That information has not been verified, and one other comment mentions it could become a Food Lion.
It saddens me to say this, but Walmart is about to be my preferred grocer in a place I hold dear to my heart: Levy County, FL. There is a reason why Winn-Dixie #168 was my first ever post on My Florida Retail Blog or why I poured my heart into a post covering Cedar Key following Hurricane Helene, and that is because the rural Floridian county has cast a spell on this Georgia boy.
With that, the news that Aldi plans to convert my most frequented and most depended upon Winn-Dixie still angers me. If the locals or I had wanted cheap groceries, we could have gone to either Save-A-Lot or Walmart. Instead, we went to Winn-Dixie, regardless of how sad and dated the inside looked, because it was the grocery store. Having spent much time in Cedar Key, I've come to appreciate how useful The Market was, and now that Helene has washed it away, Winn-Dixie became the de-facto choice for food. It's the fact that WD had everything you needed without bothering with the hustle and bustle of the downtown core Walmart that made it so great; it had all the peace and solitude your body craves. It may not have been Publix, but it came close enough and offered more than just the bare necessities.
Now, my only choices without driving twice as far are limited-selection discounters, or Walmart. For how mad Aldi has made me through this process, I'll pick the soulless void of Walmart any day, especially considering how the latter at least has most items on my list. Now I just wish a full service store would come to town and eat Aldi's lunch . . . I'm mad if I'm forced to shop at Walmart!
You know how I need to rant from time to time, and I also know that my inconvenience is far inferior to the hundreds of jobs lost through this deal. In addition to the converted stores needing far fewer staff members onsite, there are now also fewer truck drivers, warehouse employees, and middle management staff in the mix.
And then you get to the truly unlucky stores: the closures.
That is where today's post will take us, as now former Winn-Dixie #443 was one of seven locations earmarked for outright closure following Aldi's sale of Southeastern Grocers to C&S Wholesale. Macon-Dixie officially closed on April 27, 2025, leaving Muscogee County, and West Georgia, with a single remaining WD: store #439 (Fran-Dixie).
Before we get into the news of 2025, let's rewind back to 1949 to explore this grocery store's origins.
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| The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Newspapers.com) - March 22, 1949 |
Before Winn-Dixie, there was King's Super Markets. The Columbus-based King's opened a new store at 1400 17th Street in March 1949 which played a role in Fountain Park's roundabout lineage.
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| The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Newspapers.com) - May 28, 1956 |
May of 1956 was a busy month for Winn-Dixie, because not only did it open their first store in Columbus (the Cross Country Plaza Kwik Chek), but the grocer also acquired King's, strengthening the company's position in the Chattahoochee Valley.
It didn't take long for the King's locations to become integrated within the Winn-Dixie fold considering how this store was marketed as a Kwik Chek by November 1956.
Being just under two miles away from the brand-new Cross Country Plaza store, it's no surprise that The Beef People decided to kill off the older King's market within four years of acquiring it.
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| The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Newspapers.com) - November 20, 1960 |
By November 1960, ads were appearing in The Ledger showcasing the former King's as the all new Carpetmaster carpet store. There is no doubt that "The Largest Carpet Store In The South" had all of the shag that your heart could desire, most of it likely originating up the road in Dalton, Georgia.
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| The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Newspapers) - November 6, 1966 |
The only issue is that Automatic Candy Company would replace Carpetmaster by 1966. I'm not entirely sure what happened to either business, but I do know that both made their share of modifications to the former post-war era supermarket.
The building went through several more occupants before turning up vacant around 2006 following Five Star Food Service exiting the space.
Thanks to blog contributor Swifty, we get to see how that store looked from the outside before the Google Street View car even had a chance to drive by. With his Kodak digital camera in hand, Swifty ventured down to 17th street midday in early-2007 to snag these photos, certainly never imagining they would end up here.
At some point, a sloped roof was added to cover the old supermarket awning, while fieldstone and wood paneling were used to cover the facade.
The shingles may have needed a little bit of work, but the space didn't look very bad. I also wonder if the angled loading dock we see is original to King's, or if it was added by Automatic Candy Company (the first shot I found where it is visible).
While I cannot confirm it, Swifty mentioned that the round sign by the street may be original to Kwik Chek's tenure on this corner.
I can say that he ended up taking these pictures just in time, considering how the building was transformed into its current dilapidated state by the time the potato cam drove by in December 2007. My guess is that he was tipped off about the pending construction and decided to grab some photos while he could.
If there is anything useful that time has done, it is revealing part of the old Carpetmaster logo from 1960. I sure do wonder why construction crews wrecked the place just to leave it, though.
Regardless, the Kwik Chek at Cross Country Plaza continued to chug on for the next twenty years with business as usual. Swifty commented that he seems to remember the store converting to the Winn-Dixie name but can't find anything to back that theory up. I plan to cover that store in more detail at a later date.
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| The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Newspapers.com) - May 2, 1980 |
By the time May Day 1982 was rolling around, Winn-Dixie was rolling out its first computerized checkouts in The Fountain City at the predecessor to Winn-Dixie #482 (closed in June 2017) on Buena Vista Road. This then-new store may not be the one we are focusing on today, but its news writeup happens to mention how the old Cross Country Plaza Winn-Dixie was shuttered the month before without a direct replacement.
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| The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Newspapers.com) - May 19, 1983 |
It would take three more years for that store's indirect replacement to open a couple of miles down the road at . . . wait for it . . . Fountain Park Shopping Center.
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| The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Newspapers.com) - November 30, 1983 |
That's right, the 30,000 sq ft Winn-Dixie #443 first welcomed shoppers on December 1, 1983, and offered the brand new amenities of a butcher counter and a seafood department, all while sporting the interior look of former Winn-Dixie #1905 in Fort Payne.
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| Historic Images (eBay) - Ledger-Enquirer photo of Fountain Park Shopping Center |
Sowega Properties (Sowega being an acronym for Southwest Georgia) constructed Fountain Park on nine acres it purchased from neighboring Parkhill Cemetery and the Owen D. Edge estate that was once the site of the Edgewood Drive-In Theater. The shopping center's original tenants included the aforementioned WD, Columbus' first Revco pharmacy, and Otasco, an auto supply and appliance store.
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| The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Newspapers.com) - December 9, 1983 |
An expansion was added to the right side of the plaza around 1988, when the town's first T.J. Maxx opened its doors to eager bargain hunters. T.J. Maxx would surprisingly stick around here until 2012, when the off-price retailer moved to the recently-vacated Publix space in Cross Country Plaza.
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| The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (Newspapers.com) - July 8, 1998 |
Last, but certainly not least, this Winn-Dixie received a 10,000 sq ft expansion in 1998 to upgrade it to the Marketplace format. I'd imagine this change also entailed a remodel to the Rose and Teal package.
Now that we've learned about this store's past, let's see how it looked in 2025.
Our first shot showcases the front of the store looking toward the expansion (the part where the front wall slopes inward). That means the store's original vestibule doors were closed off and consolidated to the angled entryway off to my left.
Once again, The Beef People became discontented with the front of the store and decided to add a separate entry back into the mix (which is the set of doors in the distance).
Stepping through those sliding glass doors, we immediately find ourselves in the floral department (where I'd imagine wine or photo finishing once stood).
The plants here don't look bad, but the fresh flower selection looks pretty small and the live peace lilies and Boston ferns are two of the hardest plants to kill. I can tell that not many people frequented the floral corner.
Turning our attention toward the produce department, we find the selection of promotional bins off to the left.
This store doesn't look half bad, does it? I was initially scared about what I would find venturing in here; thankfully, I wound up better than that corn and didn't get shucked.
This store's wall décor may have screamed that it was from Winn-Dixie's "Down Down" era, but the mint green tile in this department was straight out of a mid-2000's Marketplace Image Remodel.
Again, the produce displays look nice and presentable, but it is easy to see that most items are only stacked one deep. Furthermore, I also see a few clearance tags on some of the more specialty items. Eggplants are typically an easy indicator of how well a store does, and I'd imagine the ones here were a little prune-ish . . .
We find the double-wide Winn-Dixie Dollar Shop on aisle two – a price-conscious feature added during most Down Down and Winn Win remodels. I've never noticed the small "Winn-Dixie" text at the top of the green sign box.
Heading further back in the store, we find the checkered tile which signifies we've entered the deli and bakery corner. Both the tile and this department configuration date back to the store's Marketplace "refresh", as the bakery was previously in the front left corner. I've heard that these departments were combined as a cost cutting measure since they now only required one department manager. Sneaky sneaky!
It's worth noting that these floor tile patterns were also used with Winn-Dixie's Purple / Maroon package, which seemed to be reserved for older stores that were never upgraded to the Marketplace spec or the rare new construction stores from just before the 2005 bankruptcy. Despite that, I'd still imagine this refresh happened just before the Post-Bankruptcy / Getting Better All the Time package was rolled out around 2007/2008.
I'm actually shocked that this is the first "Down Down" store I've covered, considering how I have seen quite a few at this point.
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| Courtesy C L (Google Maps) - March 2018 |
Despite this, it's still crazy to see how different this store looked back in 2018. I'd totally be jealous of that meat department neon sign if I didn't know better by now . . .
Aisle 6 offers a taste of potatoes in several varieties: frozen and crisped.
The Beef People seemed to take a trick out of Safeway's book and use umbrellas as store decorations.
Taking a gander down aisle 7, we see that the notorious coffin cooler was replaced by upright freezers at some point.
The frozen section extended to the back wall, where a selection of frozen meat was presented to shoppers.
Glancing down the Internet's favorite aisle, we see a wide assortment of health and beauty products.
I appreciate how Winn-Dixie typically uses lower shelving on the front half of these two aisles as it opens up the space from feeling too claustrophobic.
Directly in front of us is the old pharmacy space which closed during the 2023 purge. They at least did a good job of fixing up the wall.
Let's bring home the bacon from aisle 16!
You may remember this similar configuration from Auburn, but this style of Marketplace refresh is easily recognized by having beer and wine nestled under the old bakery ceiling accents in the front left corner.
It's quite obvious that a different department once stood here . . .
We'll take one last look toward the old pharmacy before heading outside . . .
. . . to The Nappy Root, of course. As they say, "Come nappy, leave happy!"
I'll also point out how the Dollar Tree to my right is situated in the old Revco pharmacy space.
In typical fashion, Winn-Dixie only bothered to cover the old "+pharmacy" text on the sign out front rather than replacing it entirely. Probably for the best considering how this whole store shuttered only two years after the pharmacy.
Trip #2
And that brings us to April 2025 for my second to last visit to Winn-Dixie.
I remember this being only a few days after the "phase 2" liquidation had begun (where store hours are reduced, closing signage is installed, and no new inventory is received).
Likewise, things looked a bit different than they did in 2024.
The BOGO bins were filled with random tchotchkies including a wide selection of plastic cake decorations and supplies from the bakery (a staple for every SEG liquidation I've been to).
The surprising thing, though, was how many fresh items were still hanging around in the produce department. Had I not known better, I would have just thought I was stopping by after the afternoon rush.
I remember, however, smelling a noticeable scent of weed while wandering this side of the store, which is never a great sign for a supermarket. Somebody who had the munchies was out of luck based on how dark the kitchen was.
On the other hand, there was still a surprising selection of baked goods.
Heading toward the cured meats, we see the subtle red tile pattern added along the back wall during the Marketplace refresh. At least those flooring designs aged better than some I can think of . . .
Wow, this aisle was starting to look cleared out.
Not as much as the temporary shelving in front of the pharmacy, though!
I'll admit that the deals weren't that great on the trip, considering how most items being marked down by 15% means they were still more expensive than the weekly ad prices, or even the perpetual "sale" prices of Winn-Dixie.
This trip did make me break down and buy a ground meat masher, since I believe it was marked 50% off. I think Retail Retell was the first person to tell me about this kitchen contraption, and after using it once, I was amazed!
Also, look at how worn out that register belt was . . .
. . . That's because this store still used its register lines from 1998 at the newest. Do they still have "Low prices every day"?
Trip #3
On my final trip to the Macon-Dixie, I figured I would just be stopping in to grab a few final photos of the empty store and then head on my way.
At first, I was right, considering that the produce department was now a lifeless void and the BOGO bins were filled with the same cake decorating supplies I saw last time. I also remember seeing a man pilfering through random cooler bags full of junk which he was hauling away.
I was also disappointed that this was now the fifth closing SEG store I had been to which lacked any "store closing" flyers for me to take. I want something to remember this disaster of a merger by!
Oh boy, does this look strange! My adventure at this store may be the only time I've been to a supermarket that is this emptied out yet still open for business. If this were a Publix, the shelves would still be filled to the brim and hardly anything would be on closeout. The Dixie Chicks would love it in here!
Take note of that lonely buggy off to my right, because it soon became my good friend . . .
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| The spotlights shining on the ground are the only signs of the bygone produce displays. |
No, I didn't take the buggy home, but I did take it with me all around the store. Right around the time I snapped this photo, I noticed a small selection of beer had been moved to the old juice coolers behind me. All alcohol was marked 1/2 off, and I couldn't resist grabbing a few packs of some new craft beers to try at that price!
The endcaps of wine were also 50% off, and I figured I'd capitalize on the opportunity to pick up a couple of bottles to give as gifts.
I wasn't the only one, because I ended up running into a lady on nearly every aisle. She mentioned that it was hard to resist buying all of that wine and beer when they had such good deals!
I really like how this shot turned out – maybe since I actually took the time to frame the word "Butcher" between the two sets of shelves. Then again, the accent lighting in this store really helped the package look much nicer and more inviting.
There's a fire sale on aisle 6. It's burning up in here!
This shot of an empty meat cooler from 2025 might look more like it belongs in March 2020. However, despite all other local grocery stores lacking any dependable supply of meat during COVID, this store was known by locals to have a well-stocked selection of fresh meats all the way through lockdown. The Beef People save the day! (or, this store was already suffering from decreased volume back then . . .)
I was taking a trip to the bathroom and had to explore the rest of the store. There were a few random oddities scattered among the remaining aisles, but I was constrained from viewing the whole space by a line of empty carts funneling me to the rear of the store.
If you wanted any cheap booze, you better not snooze, and ooze on over to the former Produce Patch before you lose.
You're as cold as ice . . . or maybe you're as lukewarm as an unplugged coffin cooler with a stain in the bottom. Honestly, without any kind of cover on top, there probably wasn't much difference in temperature.
Well, that wraps up my tour of Columbus' second to last Winn-Dixie and the old Sing across the street. For completeness, I figured I would throw in a few extra tidbits Swifty told me about the outparcels.
The smaller one out front was a Mazzio’s Pizza. He said, "Mazzio's was awesome. It was sort of a relocation from across the street of what used to be Ken's Pizza.
Next to Mazzio's was Bonanza Steakhouse. It apparently only lasted a decade before it went out of business.
Anyhow, that will conclude today's coverage, but make sure to check back in a couple of weeks for my next adventure!
Until then,
- The Sing Oil Blogger