Stop & Compare Supermarket - Lynn, MA (Adams St)

Stop & Compare Supermarket

Opened: 2004

Owner: Calvo and Ianotti families

Previous Tenants: A&P (open between 1955 and 1958, closed between 1976 and 1981) > Franklin Supermarket (open by 1981, closed 1993) > Save A Lot (open by 1995, closed 2002) > Midland Farms (2002-2004)

Cooperative: none

Location: 2 Adams St, Lynn, MA

Photographed: August 3, 2019

It's easy to recognize this supermarket right away from the outside! Like I was talking about yesterday at Stop & Shop, once you see enough stores you can easily recognize them at just a glance, but this one is particularly easy. Still, there's a really interesting history here that warrants a close look.

Of course, this store was constructed by A&P, as it has the distinctive A&P Centennial design. But it was constructed between 1955 and 1958 (1959 was A&P's actual centennial), meaning it was either an extremely early centennial store or a more generic store that, by 1969, had been converted to the centennial design. A&P had a presence here in Massachusetts up until 2003, when their last locations on Cape Cod closed, but they left most of the state in the 1980s. This store appears to have closed slightly before that, between 1976 and 1981. By that year, the 16,000 square foot store (now expanded a little bit) had become the independent Franklin Supermarket. Franklin closed in 1993, and the space became a Save-A-Lot from 1995 to 2002. Very briefly, then, it became a Midland Farms -- a small chain with locations in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and the Capital Region of New York. One of their other locations was in Lowell, which I didn't know at the time I was writing that post. Midland Farms only was in business from 2002 to 2004, when Stop & Compare moved in. It was their second location, joining an older one in Chelsea. They've since opened a third location, right here in Lynn.

Even all these decades later, A&P is still making its presence known on the outside! Sure, the facade is easily recognizable from the A&P days, but if you look very carefully at the storefront, the lettering is also still visible. The P is a bit clearer than the A, visible just above and to the left of the corner of the Compare sign.

I mentioned that this chain was originally called Compare Supermarket, and later rebranded to Stop & Compare. Here in East Lynn, the store was still called Compare when I visited in 2019 but has since gotten a refresh with new signage.

Like the Chelsea one, this store is small but complete and very well-maintained if on the older side. Produce is in the first aisle, with meat and seafood on the back wall and dairy/frozen on the left side. Deli is also on the back wall.

I simply don't know enough about the previous tenants here, especially Midland Farms, to know what is left over from a previous tenant inside and what would've been brought in by Stop & Compare. Many of the fixtures look old, but I assume Save-A-Lot had a very different setup here so maybe they were secondhand when this store opened.

The decor and lettering, too, looks older than 2004 to me but I don't know for certain.

It's clear that, although the building is old (it's been a supermarket for seven decades at this point!), it's been maintained impeccably. The flooring had just been replaced when I visited, and generally it was extremely clean and well-stocked.

These aisle markers are probably original to Stop & Compare's opening. As you can see, they say only Compare.

Looking back towards the first aisle...

Here in the last aisle, where dairy is in the back half and frozen is in the front half, we have some unusual category markers. I don't know if those were installed by Stop & Compare or if they're from some other store. I don't recognize them. These large food pictures look similar enough to what A&P (and its other brands) were putting in stores in the Sav-A-Center remodels that I wondered whether there's any chance they're actually left over from A&P's time here, but I strongly doubt it because A&P didn't begin using that decor until after they closed this location, as far as I know. Anyway, would decor really survive here through four subsequent tenants? I mean, it's possible; weirder things have happened. But I doubt it.

As we can see, some of the decor wasn't aging particularly well.

And frozen foods and bread are in the front half of the last aisle. 6 aisles in total, but the first one isn't numbered and the last one is actually two aisles.

A look across the front-end back towards produce...

Notice that, even though the building is older, the flooring is spotless and not a single lightbulb is burnt out. Stop & Compare is definitely serious about keeping their stores in good shape.

And a look at customer service on the front wall. Stop & Compare, or one of the previous tenants here, expanded the store out the front wall (the front wall was originally where these columns are now).

Nice to see an A&P centennial live on as a supermarket, and especially in as good shape as this one is for its age. And that is all for Lynn! Come back tomorrow for a preview of what's next. See ya soon!