Back in 1966, Yorktown-based Marsh Supermarkets shook things up by diving into the booming convenience store market. Fast-forward forty years, and they’d built a network of 154 Village Pantries across Indiana and Ohio! Today, many of the oldest have found second or third lives as something new. I try to take a picture whenever I pass one.
Opened in Fall 1967, Gas City’s Village Pantry was the company’s third1. Early Village Pantry stores generally stocked about 3,000 items across 2,500 square feet of space2, but Gas City’s was a little different: the building was also home to a pharmacy, Towne Drugs3.
The Village Pantry shut its doors sometime around 19884. After that, Reese Motors took over the space before it was transformed into the Mississinewa Medical Center5. The building has housed Catey Williams Dental since 20136, but you’d never guess it started life as a convenience store since its original appearance has all but been erased. Today, a newer Village Pantry serves customers near the intersection of I-69 and State Road 22.
Sources Cited
1 Third Village Pantry Planned (1967, August 2). The Muncie Star. P. 13.
2 Marsh Plans New Division (1966, September 19). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 14.
3 What Our Economy and this Country Needs Is… (1968, August 25). The Marion Chronicle-Tribune. p. 6.
4 Reese Motors Started In Gas City (1988, December 21). The Twin City Journal-Reporter. p. 7.
5 Medical Center Is Open In Gas City (1990, January 17). The Twin City Journal-Reporter. p. 1.
6 Catey Williams Dental opening new office (2013, March 10). The Marion Chronicle-Tribune. p. 27.
What do you know about the still-open VPs? Are they independent, part of a chain, or a little of both? I was surprised that a VP still operates on a corner near my home.
Today they’re part of a convenience store conglomerate based in Richmond, Virginia that also owns Admiral, Fas Mart and Li’L Cricket, among maybe ten other brands.
Thanks! I just looked those brands up and found a company called GPM Investments, which owns an unholy alliance of convenience-store brands across the nation. Wow.
Tons and tons of random brands they own. It’s crazy.
Meanwhile, most every c-store that has “Village” or “Pantry” is an old VP, as you might expect. I see a lot of Village Marts and Hometown Pantries.