Today’s residents of Signal Mountain might not recognize this particular cluster of retail stores in the Signal Plaza Shopping Center.
This photo was taken in March 1966, weeks after the ribbon cutting for Signal Mountain Plaza, 1210 Taft Highway. None of the businesses in the old, black-and-white photo remain today.
Instead of a supermarket and a dime store, today this property is occupied by a Regions Bank branch, Accents gift store, All Creatures Great and Small gift shop, the Southern Star take-out restaurant and El Metate Mexican restaurant.
But back in the day, it was a grocery shopping hub, home to the M&J Super Market, part of a former regional chain with stores across the Chattanooga area. M&J, which stands for Mulkey and Jackson, opened three stores here in 1965-66 alone, including this Signal Mountain location along with stores in Brainerd Village and Highland Plaza in Hixson, according to newspaper archives.
In the 1970s, M&J Super Markets were sold to another local grocery group, Pruett’s Food Town, a family business that continues to operatetoday as Pruett’s Signal Mountain Market on a nearby property.