Co-op Food Stores - White River Junction, VT

Co-op Food Stores
Opened: 2010

Owner: cooperatively owned

Previous Tenants: Grand Union (ca. 1960s-2001) > P&C Foods (2001-2009)

Cooperative: National Co-op Grocers

Location: 209 Maple St, White River Junction, VT

Photographed: July 6, 2023

It's time to tour another co-op supermarket, but this one has a twist. While many New England co-ops are recently-built facilities, this one has a long history as a grocer. In fact, Grand Union built this 17,000 square foot store back in the 1960s or so, and it appears to have lasted right up until the chain went under. In 2001, it became a P&C Foods, part of the Penn Traffic company, which closed this store in 2009. (Most locations went to Tops; for some reason, this one didn't, possibly because Tops has a limited presence in Vermont.) The building owner then looked for a new tenant, and approached the team running a co-op across the border in Hanover, NH. That co-op reopened this supermarket, fixing it up while remarkably keeping all of Grand Union's decor intact.

White River Junction then became a town with two co-ops, which they advertised with a campaign when this one opened. The other co-op is the Upper Valley Food Co-op, a smaller one just across the White River from this store. It focuses more on the specialty items, while this one is more of a full-line supermarket. Though they're run by different co-op teams, they're both affiliated with National Co-op Grocers (that's essentially a co-op of co-ops). And thanks to this emergency evacuation plan, here's our look at the layout of the WRJ Co-op...

So you enter in the bottom-right corner of this map, with dairy in the first aisle on the right side. Meat and seafood are on the back wall, with frozen in the middle of the store. Deli and bakery are in the back-left corner, with produce on the left side of the store and beer/wine in the front-left corner. That appears to have been the same layout as Grand Union, which we can tell because Grand Union's decor remains inside...

...though as we can see, some subsequent tenant (probably the co-op and not P&C) has done some notable updates, including replacing most of the fixtures, painting the walls, and providing the old Grand Union signs with new trim. So it doesn't feel extremely old inside, despite the fact that this decor has been around for decades.

Given that this store tends to lean towards full-line supermarket instead of natural food store, as most co-ops are, it looks like they're supplied by National Co-op Grocers with Field Day items from UNFI but also Food Club and Full Circle products, possibly from Associated Grocers of New England. I've seen another store or two that uses that combination.

I haven't been able to find any pictures inside the P&C, but I imagine they didn't do anything when they took over from Grand Union. The freezer aisle here looks brand new, with new cases and signage...

This store and the Upper Valley Co-op are the only two full-service grocers in White River Junction, though across the river are Hannaford, Shaw's, and Price Chopper in New Hampshire.

And as you can see, though the store is on the older side, it's not neglected at all. In fact, it seems to be thriving as a co-op. The Hanover Co-op also has a location over in Lebanon, NH.

I'm glad to see that this store is not only still surviving but appears to be doing well and serving White River Junction well as its only true supermarket. Now this post was a bit of a detour from what we've been seeing in the Bellows Falls area (about 35 miles north), so tomorrow The Market Report returns to that area in Chester!