From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Dec. 6, 1973:

The Kroger corporation this week finalized its plans for a $400,000 conversion and remodeling of the 54,000-square-foot site at 23rd and Alabama as a food market and drug store. Officials hoped to be finished the project before September 1974. Plans called for a 31,650-square-foot Kroger Super Food Store and a 22,350-square-foot Super-X Drug Store. One detail in the plans included the filling in of a large drainage ditch in front of the store to provide more parking north of the store. The site had originally served as a Kroger Family Center with a wide range of general merchandise as well as food, but it had been phased down in late 1972 to a simpler food-only operation. Kroger official C. W. White spoke enthusiastically about the exterior renovation, intended to “create a modernistic, cloistered entry and walkway” in the front of the building, and the increased departmentalization and new color palette for the interior. “We’ll get away from the traditional supermarket whites and pale pastels and use strong earth colors, such as green, gold and bittersweet, along with wooden beams and golden lights. It will all be keyed to the comfort and convenience of the shopper,” White said, adding that there would also be sections for “ethnic foods” such as Mexican, Chinese, Japanese and Italian, as well as health foods, gourmet foods, and special bakery goods.