The Market Report

Original Grocery Tenant: A&P Address:  194 North St, Bennington, VT Opened: ca. 1960 Closed: unknown Later Tenants: assorted non-grocery tenants Photographed: August 8, 2021 Just across from yesterday's former Grand Union is this former A&P. Behind all these multiple generations of facades, there's actually an A&P centennial store buried, constructed around 1960 at about 11,000 square feet. The space was later expanded (possibly in the 1970s) to around 30,000 square feet, though I'm not certain whether A&P occupied the whole building. Eventually, this store came under A&P's WEO discount brand before closing, though I'm not sure exactly when. You can get a little bit of a sense of the centennial facade peeking through here, but it's much more apparent in aerial photographs. You can also see a little from the back, which has more recently gotten a stucco-type facade similar to what's now on the front. If I had to guess, I would say th...

Original Grocery Tenant: Grand Union Address: 215 North St, Bennington, VT Opened:  ca. early 1950s Closed: by late 1980s Later Tenants: assorted non-grocery tenants Photographed: August 8, 2021 This was certainly Grand Union territory at one point. The New Jersey-based chain developed a stronghold in much of Vermont as well as the I-87 corridor across the border in New York, and while many of those locations are still selling groceries these days , some have been repurposed. This 15,000 square foot store has been split between a Goodwill and a bank. It doesn't seem like the bank has anything left over from Grand Union, but the Goodwill definitely does. Below, you can see the soffit around the perimeter of the store, possibly over the produce department or dairy here on the perimeter wall. If you look really carefully at the flooring, too, you can see evidence of where grocery shelving was removed. You can see tiles that don't quite line up and are a slightly different col...

Henry's Market Opened: 2001 Owner: Gene Guertin Previous Tenants: Salem's Market (1911-2001) Cooperative: none Location:  831 Main St, Bennington, VT Photographed: August 8, 2021 Welcome to Bennington! This is the first time The Market Report visits this city in the far southwestern corner of the Green Mountain State, around five miles to the New York border and around double that to Massachusetts. There's a couple of chain supermarkets just outside of town, but Bennington has had a long history of small corner stores filling grocery needs (more on that soon). So for more than a century, this grocer at the corner of Main and South Branch has sold food. For 90 of those years, it was Salem's Market, before being sold in 2001 and becoming Henry's Market. It's a small market of just about 3500 square feet, but there's a lot here starting with produce at the front and some cheeses next to that. Smoked meats are a house specialty (the bacon is perfection, and...

Woodford General Store Opened: 2019 Owner: Ryan and Heather Hassett Previous Tenants:  Woodford Mountain General Store Cooperative: none Location: 5053 VT-9, Woodford, VT Photographed: August 9, 2021 Woodford is roughly halfway between Wilmington and Bennington on route 9. Those two towns are the ones with bigger supermarkets, but Woodford has had a general store for a long time. It's clear from the inside that this store is freshly remodeled, and that's because it's only been open under its current ownership since 2019. But prior to that, this store (under the name Woodford Mountain General Store) seems to have been in business for a long time. In fact, if you look at the outside, you can see where the "mtn" was removed (for mountain) between Woodford and General. This store is now pretty specialized, with more specialty and local items along with a deli as opposed to the grocery basics. We're about a 20 minute drive from the Wilmington Shaw's but o...

Fine Fare Supermarkets Opened: early 2000s Owner: Miguel Luna Previous Tenants: A&P > CTown Cooperative:  Retail Grocers Group/General Trading Location:  3680 E Tremont Ave, Bronx, NY Photographed: September 11, 2026 Welcome back to the Throggs Neck Fine Fare! I posted this store quite a while ago (the summer of 2020, to be exact) and since my original set of pictures, two significant things have happened. First, I have gotten a much better cell phone camera. And second, the store has finished a rather extensive remodel inside and outside. While it hardly looked dated or unappealing before, it's been beautifully refreshed with a new decor package and some notable upgrades. On the outside, the storefront has been fixed up with a new paint job, awning, and signage, which is nice. Now about that cell phone camera: you'll clearly see the difference between my 2019 pictures and those I took on Friday... ...not just because of the very attractive renovation here. Let's...