Year Five Recap
Hey y'all, it is hard to believe that I've been at this for five years now! A lot has changed during that time, but somehow, I have managed to keep writing about long-forgotten convenience and grocery stores while keeping somebody's attention. Year six will be an exciting one because I plan to finish my coverage of all former Sing Food Stores that were sold to Amoco in 1990 (plus a few extras). This means that the blog will likely evolve a bit more in the coming months, but I look forward to seeing what positive changes this milestone can usher in.
Taking a look at my stats, readership of the blog over the last twelve months was more than double what it was from the previous four years combined. Better yet, every post I published last year, save one, beat my most popular post's readership from last year hands down. That still astonishes me, especially considering how I initially planned on nobody reading my rants and raves covering such obscure topics. I suppose that some of the increased readership resulted from years of groundwork and some lucky timing, but heck, I cannot complain.
I would also like to take this time to thank everybody who has helped me with this journey over the past year. I may be a one man show when it comes to writing and assembling these posts, but I could not do all of this without my small army of contributors who help with back-end legwork. Everything from tips, to reconnaissance, to design advice is greatly appreciated!
Here are the typical tables of posts from this past year. Don't forget to follow my special features page, formally known as More Than Convenience, to see when I've posted new content anywhere on the internet and to see a full directory of every retail post I've ever written.
|
Post |
Location |
Publication Date |
MTC Topic |
|
Atlanta, GA |
1/26/2025 |
|
|
| Six Flags |
Austell, GA |
2/09/2025 |
Target T-1164 |
| Winn-Dixie #44 |
Valdosta, GA |
2/23/2025 |
Big Lots #5375 |
| Jackson #2 / #5 |
Jackson, MS |
3/09/2025 |
Winn-Dixie #1310 |
|
Naples, FL |
3/16/2025 |
||
| Gadsden |
Gadsden, AL |
4/06/2025 |
Former Winn-Dixie #1905 |
| BP |
Calhoun, GA |
5/04/2025 |
Food Lion #2615 |
| Columbus #5 |
Columbus, GA |
5/18/2025 |
Winn-Dixie #443 |
| Asian Supermarket |
Columbus, GA |
6/01/2025 |
Former Winn-Dixie #480 |
| Tallahassee #14 |
Tallahassee, FL |
6/22/2025 |
Winn-Dixie #3 |
| Publix #139 |
St. Pete Beach, FL |
7/20/2025 |
|
| Winn-Dixie #104 |
Perry, FL |
8/24/2025 |
|
| Tallahassee #6 |
Tallahassee, FL |
9/21/2025 |
Harveys #1631 |
| Winn-Dixie #184 |
Quincy, FL |
10/04/2025 |
|
|
Quincy, FL |
10/18/2025 |
||
| Winn-Dixie #2238 |
St. Cloud, FL |
10/24/2025 |
|
| Opp |
Opp, AL |
11/02/2025 |
Winn-Dixie #426 |
|
Jacksonville, FL |
11/16/2025 |
Publix #177 | |
| Winn-Dixie #108 |
Jacksonville, FL |
11/29/2025 |
Former Publix #731 |
| Winn-Dixie #102 |
Williston, FL |
12/14/2025 |
Winn-Dixie #171 |
The top five posts from this year were:
1. Former Publix #460 / Former Food Lion #443 / Former Winn-Dixie #147
Statesboro, GA - This post was published in December 2023, but received new life this year as rumors began to circulate about Academy Sports moving into the old Publix space that has been vacant since 1999.
2. Tallahassee #6 / Harveys #1631
Tallahassee, FL | Havana, FL - I'm not sure why this post took off like it did, but local radio host Greg Tish recently shared several of my photos with his Tallahassee audience. The Havana Harveys also recently closed and was the last store to feature the Delhaize-era "Southern Farmstand" interior.
3. Publix #1010
Atlanta, GA - This was quite the unique Publix considering its unusual placement in a mixed-use development. The company announced that this store would close on December 27, 2025, and local news outlet ToNeToATL featured my coverage.
4. Winn-Dixie Marketplace #44 / Big Lots #5375
Valdosta, GA - I also wonder if this post was shared by somebody else, but I'm not surprised it did well considering how there is not much existing coverage on the birth of the Marketplace concept. Furthermore, the timing lined up quite well with the transformation of the Big Lots chain.
5. Winn-Dixie #2238
St. Cloud, FL - I feel confident that this post performed well through organic means. Considering all of the traffic that my Winn-Dixie conversion page has generated, many of those loyal readers were also curious to see a first-hand account of Winn-Dixie's new "Centennial" look.
Now that we've reflected on my Sing Oil Blog posts, let's take a look at what I've written and published elsewhere. Given the time required to maintain the Winn-Dixie rolling list, I wasn't able to give as much attention to the My Florida Retail page this year as I have in the past.
|
Post |
Location |
Publication Date |
Publication Site |
| Former Winn-Dixie #420 |
Valley, AL |
3/23/2025 |
MFR |
| 2/07/2025 - 12/20/2025 | MFR | ||
| Winn-Dixie Conversion Rolling List | 1/21/2026 | MFR |
Since I have fewer posts in this category, I'll just highlight the best performing post:
1. Winn-Dixie Conversion Rolling List (by a long shot)
A running list of Southeastern Grocers locations converting to ALDI. Back when this mess started, I had the idea to chronicle the changes in the form of a real time list. I had no idea this page would eventually receive over 200,000 views & nearly 2,000 comments or that the conversion process would drag on for so long. Nonetheless, it has been an interesting learning process and something that I intend to see through to the end. In retrospect, there are some aspects that I wish I had done differently, but it is still very cool to see the impact this project has had. I am also very thankful for all of the people who have reached out with information and assistance.
Lastly, I hope that you will take the time to sign up for my email list if you have not done so already. All this does is send you an email within 24 hours of a post going live so that you can stay up to date with my content. I have a personal vendetta against spam email, which means I won't ever sell your address to some third-party. On the other hand, the Follow.it emails, while useful, do have a few junky ads at the bottom of the notifications – just ignore those for the time being. Like I mentioned before, I have several exciting plans in mind, and the people who sign up for emails will be the first to see all of the news!
Also, be sure to check back soon for this year's edition of Marketplace Madness. The theme for this go 'round is "Somebody Else's Cart." I'll let you marinate on what that may entail.
Cheers to another year!
- The Sing Oil Blog
Happy blogiversary!! Five years, wow -- time flies!
ReplyDeleteThank you! It is crazy to think about how long I've been doing this!
DeleteHappy 5th Blogiversary! Plenty of retail blogs don't even make it that long, so it's quite the milestone!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it's nice to know you're so close to getting the remaining Sing stores sold to Amoco posted and featured, and after only 5 years too! At my current rate, I should have the rest of the Florida Albertsons stores I've photographed posted by 2028 - only 15 years after I started this project! I didn't realize just how long it would take to get through all those stores, but at least Sing had less locations to dig through and write about (at least considering the locations that made it to 1990 - I'm sure factoring in older and dealer locations that number would shoot way up!). Considering there are still the long-closed stations as well, at least that will keep some Sing content trickling in going forward, and gives me a little more time to eventually get to Jax #1 and #2 at long last!
My post on the St. Cloud Winn-Dixie post-remodel shot pretty quickly to being my 4th most popular post of last year, even with it being my last post of the year, which was a lot of traffic for one of my posts. I think people are just really interested and invested in this Winn-Dixie saga, as all of my Winn-Dixie posts from the last year have attracted higher views compared to some of my other content. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the WD posts are making the rounds in the retail Facebook groups either, bringing them extra attention, as the WD saga seems like a hot topic there and I've been getting a lot of pageviews from various Facebook links.
I'm sensing conversions will be the topic of this year's Marketplace Madness, and probably not so much the Aldi-type ones...
Thank you! I suppose that I have come across plenty of fly-by-night blogs in my time.
DeleteYes, I am very happy to know that I'm so close to my goal. It doesn't help that I'm postponing any progress until at least April thanks to Marketplace Madness. Oh well. At least I started with fewer stores and convenience stores take less time. 15 years is some serious dedication on your part! There is also no way I would attempt to cover all of the dealer stations because I have close to 100 that I know about. Many of them have also been demolished or drastically altered. Yep, you still have a little bit of time to make it to the Jacksonville stores and I still have time to go to a pool store in Knoxville, TN!
People have been eating up the Winn-Dixie content! I'm not surprised to hear that your St. Cloud post has been popular as well. We won't know what to do once 2026 rolls around and the conversions have wrapped up! I feel confident that our posts are making the rounds on Facebook, and part of me has been tempted to reopen an account to be a fly on the wall.
You were right that conversions are the topic of this year's Marketplace Madness; however, they are older conversions than you probably suspected!