Marsh Supermarkets made waves around the midwest in 1966 when it entered the fast-growing convenience store segment. By the time the company was sold to a private equity firm forty years later, it operated 154 Village Pantries around Indiana and Ohio! Many of the oldest have been repurposed. I try to take a photo when I see one.
Chesterfield’s first Village Pantry was the fifteenth that Marsh built. It stands at 209 E. Main Street, just north of Plum. Designed by architect George Cox1, the 2,500-square-foot store was the company’s twenty-seventh2. It opened in 1972 and stocked 3,000 items3.
I’d never seen the rearward view of an old Village Pantry until I started driving through Chesterfield on my daily commute. Its back is downright spartan compared to the side that faces customers! Unfortunately, the store closed around 1985 after Marsh built a larger one at the corner of Main and Water Streets4. Today, the original version is home to Studio 32, a hair and nail salon.
Sources Cited
1 Marsh to Build in Southeast Muncie (1966, October 5). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 23.
2 Village Pantry opening set by Marsh firm (1972, March 28). The Anderson Daily Bulletin. p. 2.
3 Marsh Plans New Division (1966, September 19). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 14.
4 Marsh to Appeal Village Pantry’s Rejection (1985, June 16). The Muncie Star Press. p. 15.
