Shaw's - Ellsworth, ME

Shaw's
Opened: after 1989

Owner: Albertsons Companies

Previous Tenants: Zayre > IGA

Cooperative: none

Location: 175 High St, Ellsworth, ME

Photographed: June 12, 2022

It's been a little while since we've toured a Shaw's! (It looks like it was back in Massachusetts.) Here in Ellsworth, a roughly 56,000 square foot Shaw's anchors this strip mall. This store is just about the same size as the Hannaford down the street, which we'll see Monday, and much larger than the small John Edward's Market downtown.

Inside, this is pretty much a standard Shaw's. Produce is in the front-right corner, with deli in the back-right corner. Meat and seafood are on the back wall, along with dairy which continues down the last aisle. Frozen foods are also on the left side, and bakery and pharmacy are in the front-left corner.

I couldn't pinpoint an opening date for this store, but judging by the setup, it's probably an early-00s build (or a store that was extensively renovated at that time). Many Shaw's built during that time were former Ames department stores, but the Ames here in Ellsworth was where Hannaford is now. It looks like this space may have been a Zayre department store until Ames bought the chain in 1989 but didn't open this store because of the proximity of their existing location, and this space became an IGA and then Shaw's.

This store was remodeled between 2018 and 2022, and if I had to guess, it was on the earlier end of that range. It previously had the Premium Fresh & Healthy 3.0 decor, so in this case, the remodel was a step up in terms of decor. This particular location also has some nice extras...

Beer and wine are in the first aisle. 

The Ellsworth Shaw's had some other minor upgrades more recently, and held a grand reopening in early 2025. But the decor didn't change.

You can tell this remodel was on the earlier side because it had a lot of signage. More recent remodels are simpler decor-wise but include a lot of fixture replacements, which this one didn't really. I assume that's the type of work that was done prior to the 2025 grand reopening.

Looking across the back wall towards dairy on the left side of the store...

Like many Shaw's, this store is not all that exciting. That's part of the reason we haven't toured many Shaw's in Maine -- when I have visited Maine, I don't particularly want to go to Shaw's, I want to see the unusual local grocers.

A look across the back wall back towards the grand aisle on the right side. Some of these fixtures look pretty old in my 2022 pictures, and may have been replaced more recently.

Frozen foods and dairy are on the left side of the store.

I'm not sure where E.L. Smith was, but this is a great picture!

Bakery and pharmacy in the front-left corner.

When I visited, this was still branded an Osco pharmacy, but Shaw's has removed the Osco name from most or all of their pharmacies.

And a look across the front-end...

This Renys department store at the other end of the strip mall looks like it could've previously been a supermarket, and it's possible that there was a grocer here when Zayre opened. I haven't been able to confirm that, though.

That's all for this Shaw's, and on Monday, we'll check out the competing Hannaford just up the street. Have a good weekend!