Yorktown-based Marsh Supermarkets entered the booming convenience store market back in 1966. Fast-forward forty years, and they’d built a network of 154 Village Pantries across Indiana and Ohio! Many of the oldest have found second or third lives as something new, and I try to snap a quick photo whenever I drive past one. I absolutely had to when I passed the company’s bizarre outpost in Tipton.
Marsh announced plans to build a new Village Pantry in Tipton in 1988, and construction began the following year1. From the start, Tipton’s VP was designed with an unusual appearance far from the company’s typical dutch- and mansard-roof facilities. Tipton’s featured a “unique design” that coordinated with the city’s post office2!
In practice, that meant that Tipton’s Village Pantry featured columns and an enormous pediment. In addition, the 3,800-square-foot building featured a large patio with tables and chairs. Unlike many of its peers, Tipton’s VP didn’t sell gas3.
When it opened, the Tipton Village Pantry offered a variety of awesome deals- 99-cent two-liters od Coke, donuts for 25 cents each, Nestle Crunch bars for thirty-three cents, and hot breadsticks five for 99-cents4! Village Pantry’s breadsticks were legendary for a certain cohort, and I’m ashamed I was too young and poor to really try them.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t to last. Tipton’s Village Pantry closed in 20045. A VP labelscar is still visible over the building’s pediment, but it’s now home to Midwest Eye Consultants.
Sources Cited
1 Tipton may get Pantry (1988, April 29). The Tipton County Tribune. p. 1.
2 City (1990, March 27). The Tipton County Tribune. p. 2.
3 Segal, B. (1990, October 20). Village Pantry to open. The Tipton County Tribune. p. 1.
4 Village Pantry’s Grand Opening (1991, March 13). The Tipton County Tribune. p. 3.
5 Henry, J.L. (2004, August 3). Village Pantry closed. The Tipton County Tribune. p. 1.
Wow, I would have guessed this was previously a bank or a funeral home. That must have been one fancy convenience store!