The Marsh Supermarket in downtown Indianapolis originally opened as Sears, Roebuck and Co. in 1929. It closed in 1983. O’Malia’s Food Markets opened in the first floor of the building three years later. Marsh purchased O’Malia in 2001. After six years, it rebranded the store as Marsh the Marketplace at Lockerbie. Unfortunately, the store closed in 2017. Today, it’s home to Needler’s Fresh Market.
Abandoned Marsh was my project to stylistically document the Marsh Supermarkets closed by Sun Capital Partners, an investment firm that owned the home-grown company for the final decade of its eighty-six year history. The last Marsh supermarket closed in 2017.
The company’s stores built from around 1980 to 2004 or so were easily identifiable because of their angular greenhouses and dark brick massing. Instead of taking pictures of the buildings, I decided to create 18×24 vector files in Adobe Illustrator, focusing on the complexity of their angles and how shadows and highlights interacted.
I visited this store fairly frequently, because it was a convenient first-stop on my way home when my office was on the eastern side of downtown. I have always liked that store under each different brand name.
I’ve never been inside this one, but I think the rule of the Needlers’ stores is that, if it was a nice Marsh, it will be a nice Needlers’. I see they just sold out to SpartanNash, so we’ll see if that continues.
Oh, had not been aware that Needler’s had sold out. Holding my breath now.
We are still waiting here at 135 and Stones Crossing to see what becomes of the old Marsh
Although the owner is the parent company of Needlers we have been told it will be an entertainment complex. 😎
I hadn’t heard that!