At first glance, Bourbon Street Sports Bar & Grill in Anderson’s Southdale Plaza looks like just another watering hole. It may well be, but buried behind its facade is a reminder of the building’s fascinating history: in the early 1960s, it was home to a cutting-edge Marsh supermarket!
Marsh was still a relatively young company when tragedy struck in 1959. On August 7, a plane crash claimed the lives of founder Ermal Marsh, company treasurer Spencer Deal, and Deal’s young daughter, Jean. The loss could have derailed the growing supermarket chain, but Ermal’s younger brother, Estel Marsh, stepped forward to lead the company. Under his direction, the business entered a new era, even adopting a new name: Marsh Supermarkets, which replaced the old Marsh Foodliners moniker1.
Determined to push the company into a new era, Estel soon unveiled plans for a new generation of Marsh stores. These weren’t intended to be ordinary supermarkets. Instead, he envisioned showpieces that would set Marsh apart from its competitors- stores he boldly promised would rank among the most beautiful in the nation2. Their design was centered around enormous, laminated arches of Douglas Fir, which eliminated posts and columns3. The first opened in Muncie in 19624.
Other arched-roof stores opened across the area, including in Plainfield5, Fountain Square6, and Fairborn, Ohio7. Anderson’s came online in 1963 as the company’s sixty-eighth store and third in town after the 1957 Panorama Plaza grocery and the 1959 supermarket on Nichol Avenue. At the time, three others were under construction in Lafayette and Indianapolis8.
Anderson’s arched-roof Marsh was an original tenant of Southdale Plaza, which also featured an Arnold Palmer Putting Course, Excel Beauty Salon, Guarantee Auto, Hooks’ Drugs, Moore’s Stores, Southdale Plaza Barber Shop, United Oil Service, Valu-U Dress Shop, and Marsh9. The plaza was anchored by a W.T. Grant department store and a detached, 76,000-square-foot K-Mart10.
Its arches may have been the store’s most eye-catching feature, but they were far from its only innovation. Inside, the 16,500-square-foot supermarket featured pastel-colored walls accented with oak wood-grain finishes and artwork depicting the foods sold throughout the store. Six peach-pink checkout lanes lined the front, while a large directory on the rear wall helped shoppers find their way. The meat department incorporated state-of-the-art refrigeration that kept products chilled from the moment they arrived on refrigerated trucks through processing and display. Altogether, the store carried approximately 7,000 different items11.
Unfortunately, the arched-roof Marsh only lasted ten years before the company deemed it too small. An all-new, 25,000-square-foot supermarkets three storefronts north opened on November 5, 1973. The replacement store was said to feature the latest decor and convenience, with thirteen shopping aisles and eight checkout stations including an express lane12. After several rebrands, the 1973 store closed in 201213.
I haven’t been able to find what businesses took over the 1963 Marsh until 1983, when ShowBiz Pizza opened its 166th pizza arcade in 198314. The restaurant -an early Chuck E. Cheese competitor- closed in 1985 along with forty others including locations in Logansport and West Lafayette15. At some point, the storefront became home to Bourbon Street. I haven’t been inside, but I’m told that Marsh’s original wooden arches are still visible.
It’s rare that a building captures two of my biggest interests: Marsh supermarkets and ShowBiz Pizza. Most people driving past Bourbon Street probably see little more than a neighborhood bar, but its walls tell a much richer story. This storefront has been a futuristic supermarket, a pizza arcade filled with animatronic characters, and now a sports bar.
If the original wooden arches are still hiding overhead, they’re a tangible reminder of a brief moment when Marsh set out to build some of the most ambitious grocery stores in the country. The next time I find myself in Southdale Plaza, I may have to step inside and see those arches for myself.
Sources Cited
1 Marsh Company Has New Name; State Approves (1960, August 7). The Anderson Herald-Bulletin. p. 8.
2 Wooden Arches Used in New Store (1960, October 25). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 2.
3 New Marsh Supermarket In Southdale Opens Wednesday (1963, June 24). The Anderson Daily Bulletin. p. 3.
4 Grand Opening (1962, February 22). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 11.
5 Seventieth Store Opened By Marsh (1961, November 3). The Anderson Daily Bulletin. p. 2.
6 Opens Thursday Feb. 8th 9am (1962, February 7). The Indianapolis Star. p. 11.
7 Marsh Opens 72nd Store (1961, December 15). The Muncie Evening Press. p. 20.
8 (See footnote 7).
9 Let’s go to the Opening (1963, October 3). The Anderson Herald. p. 13.
10 Hayes, M.D. (2012, July 11). Marsh replacement at Southdale Plaza possible. The Anderson Herald Bulletin. Web. Retrieved June 17, 2026.
11 (See footnote 3).
12 Marsh to Open Anderson Store (1973, November 3). The Muncie Star. p. 16.
13 Hayes, M.D. (2012, July 11). Marsh replacement at Southdale Plaza possible. The Anderson Herald Bulletin. Web. Retrieved June 17, 2026.
14 ShowBiz Pizza Place to open Wednesday (1983, March 22). The Anderson Herald. p. 10.
15 Marocco, M. (1985, October 6). ShowBiz Pizza Place Closes. The Logansport Pharos-Tribune. p. 14.
