Original Grocery Tenant: Grand Union
Address: 766 Putney Rd, Brattleboro, VT
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In the same mall as yesterday's ALDI is this former Grand Union. Grand Union built this store of around 33,000 square feet in the 1970s, though I haven't been able to pinpoint an exact year, and it closed in 1998 as the chain struggled. One strategy Grand Union attempted, to save their failing locations, was converting them to a discount format called Hot Dot Discount. Unfortunately, here Hot Dot only lasted a year, closing in 1999, two years before the rest of the chain declared bankruptcy. A new Hannaford had just been constructed up the street, opening in 1996, and it's possible that store put this one out of business.
Address: 766 Putney Rd, Brattleboro, VT
Opened: 1970s
Closed: 1998
Later Tenants: Hot Dot Discount (1998-1999)
Photographed: August 10, 2021
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The space has subsequently been split up. Grand Union was headquartered just outside of Paterson, New Jersey, but had a large base of stores in upstate New York and then across the border here into Vermont. We'll see many more Grand Union locations here in this area. And after a roughly 15 year hiatus, this strip mall has regained a supermarket with the opening of ALDI in 2014. On Monday, we're going to check out the Hannaford up the street!
Grand Union grew geographically through acquisitions during the 50s. In Vermont, they bought a chain called Champagne's that seems to have covered much of the state.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the detail!
DeleteAnd of course in later years their wholesaler (who eventually bought the remains in bankruptcy and ran some for a decade after that) C&S was set up out of Keene NH which is not far across the line from Brattleboro.
ReplyDeleteGood point, thanks for the addition!
DeleteSpeaking of Hot Dot Foods, Rifa's Big M over in Plattsburgh in New York has what is probably one of the rare few examples of Hot Dot decor inside.
ReplyDeleteIt's a great one -- and I actually have several stores in the Plattsburgh area photographed including that one (when it was Yando's). Keep an eye out in November!
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