Stop & Shop
Opened: late 1990s
Given that Stop & Shop is based here in Quincy, it's fitting that the last store we're going to see in town is a Stop & Shop. There's another store in the city, too, just outside of downtown on Southern Artery.
This is another multi-year store tour, so it's a combination of pictures from my 2019 visit and from 2023. This was the first Stop & Shop I visited with their latest decor package, and I was really impressed. It was a significant step up from what they'd been doing.
The nearly 80,000 square foot store is a fairly typical (if slightly larger than average) late-90s Super Stop & Shop model, and it's not that different from the other Quincy location -- just slightly larger.
The layout is also very similar to the Southern Artery store, with the grand aisle on the right side. Natural foods are in the front-right corner, with deli and prepared foods lining the rest of the right-side wall, and meat/seafood at the back. Dairy also lines the back wall and then continues into the last aisle with frozen foods and HABA on the left side. Bakery, pharmacy, and a Dunkin' Donuts -- another Quincy native company -- are in the front-left corner.
This is clearly a top store for the chain, and it was one of the first to get the latest decor package (if not the first...?). When I visited in 2019, it was still sporting its ca. 2014 decor and it was looking good if aging a little.
The grand aisle and natural foods department were particularly nice. The lighting and merchandising here in natural foods are pretty spectacular. Unfortunately, the natural foods department is gone and the products are now integrated into the aisles.
I'm not sure I'm familiar with too many other stores with this exact setup, especially with the natural foods going all the way up to the front wall. Typically, floral is between the front wall and the natural foods department. The flooring, lighting, and wall colors are just perfect here.
And although the store lost a bit of its character in the remodel, it's looking really good and much better than the average Stop & Shop.
The produce department has been expanded into the former natural foods department, and while it's sad the natural foods department is gone, this is a pretty great-looking Stop & Shop produce department. Most renovated stores don't look nearly as good as this. Still, it's a little plain.
What's not plain is this absolutely gorgeous floral display!
It's clear this store has a lot of supervision being so close to headquarters. It's absolutely first-rate.
Unfortunately, the wonderful lighting of the natural foods department didn't extend to other departments, and here we see Grab & Go looking a bit dim.
This area is looking a lot better after the renovation, and the whole store is brighter.
I would say that this decor is a little lower-end than some of the past decor packages Stop & Shop has used, including the one it replaced in this location. (That decor package could look amazing or awful, depending on execution, though.) It seems the intention is to position the chain at the lower end of the middle-market.
Looking up towards the front of the grand aisle...
Again, we have a massive service meat and seafood counter that's way larger than we'd see in other locations. This is definitely a top-notch location.
And it's looking just as good today...
Not much changed in the grocery aisles in the renovation, naturally.
Beer and wine run up the middle of the store.
It's really difficult to get a picture of the beer and wine sign they installed in the renovation, but it looks very good in person.
Unfortunately, there were some basic issues with decor when I visited in 2019, such as this empty sign frame. (That's something I've seen elsewhere, and I wonder if possibly these were posters for some program that was discontinued, and then Stop & Shop never replaced them with anything.)
Milk with a big, bold sign after the renovation...
Unfortunately, whatever this sign frame had once held was also gone by the time I visited. My guess is this was either for baby items or pet food, and the store was reset to place those items somewhere else. It would've been easier to just remove the letters than to move the whole sign.
HABA with a nice Relax. Revive. Renew sign in some shorter and lower aisles on the left side of the store.
This area has been remerchandised with full-height, full-length aisles. This brings up another sign that this is a premier Stop & Shop location: at almost 80,000 square feet, they obviously have no trouble filling the store. There's no empty spaces or awkward corners. All of the space is used really well.
Frozen foods, before and after...
I love the signage here in the last aisle, and it makes me happy that the decor doesn't peter out after the grand aisle.
Bakery in the front-left corner, again looking bountiful...
There's also a Dunkin' Donuts in store, which a few Stop & Shops have. Others have Starbucks counters.
While I really like the signage from this older decor package, it really falls flat if it's not lit well.
The new decor is certainly lit well -- the whole store is extremely bright. There's no attempt at mood lighting of any kind, and it really works for the decor package.
Opened: late 1990s
Owner: Ahold Delhaize
Previous Tenants: none
Cooperative: none
Location: 65 Newport Ave, Quincy, MA
Photographed: August 4, 2019 and May 6, 2023
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And that wraps up Quincy! Now, I don't know about you, but I need a break. So tomorrow begins The Market Report's spring break. See you in June!
Just a quickie for now... your pics of the new décor are incredible! Some of them look like professionally staged photos. Great job! I have more ramblings to contribute to this one and will stop by again later today.
ReplyDeleteAre more stores getting this decor? It feels like they should, as it really leans back into the red/green light theme.
ReplyDeleteI like this decor package. It may be simpler, but it looks stylish to me, and definitely screams "Stop & Shop". Sometimes less is more.
ReplyDeleteIn that cart storage picture from 2023; does it not seem strange that some Market Basket PWP carts have leeched into the fleet? They are the ones with the pale aftermarket seat flaps with Stop & Shop-spec purple handle inserts.
ReplyDeleteThe cart in the "Committed to Quality" picture is another odd one that I don't believe that I have seen at Stop and Shop
DeleteThat actually belongs to Stop & Shop. It is a Unarco M100TN, and was part of the now-discontinued "Tight Nesting" lineup. It seems like it was an experimental model Stop & Shop was trying out, which did not work out.
DeleteSpeaking of Unarco, I feel that the quality of their carts has gone down in the last decade or so. The cart design that they had before with the full width plastic handle seemed to hold up much better than these newer models with the plastic cover in the middle. I always thought that the best carts were the tote cart models that Acme used to use that were all yellow.
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