Original Grocery Tenant: Grand Union
Address: 300 Depot St, Bennington, VT
Opened: late 1980s
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When Grand Union vacated their North Street store here in Bennington, they appear to have built this store just to the north of downtown. At slightly over 30,000 square feet, this store was more than double the size of the previous one. This store probably made it all the way to Grand Union's bankruptcy in 2001, or at least closed after 1995.
Though it doesn't appear to have been another supermarket after Grand Union, Tractor Supply has kept the Grand Union facade intact. I didn't go in, and don't see any obvious GU remnants inside from pictures available online.
Closed: between 1995 and 2001
Later Tenants: assorted non-grocery tenants
Photographed: August 8, 2021
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So while Grand Union is gone from Bennington, the city is still home to three big-chain supermarkets. Come back on Monday to see two of them!
This is the exact opposite of how the one in Castleton-on-Hudson was done. That one had the exterior redone while (at least) still having the lighted panels over the register area inside, though the GU embellishments were removed when TSC moved in.
ReplyDeleteI was JUST looking at this location yesterday. Prepping a bit of a Grand Union event on Acme Style for next week. Love seeing these former locations!
ReplyDeleteThis one definitely stayed open until the final bankruptcy in 2001, and Tractor Supply has been the only tenant since. I think it may have taken a little while for them to open but not a huge gap as I remember.
ReplyDeleteAbout the only change to this outside was to put the doors in the middle of the front, as Grand Union had the double entries/exits on the ends (that are still visible).
Not totally sure why they did that, as they did NOT do so on the one Retail Regents mentions in Schodack (or Castleton-on-Hudson). In fact, that was not really redone outside at all, as it was a 1977 build store that never had the awning look like this, and had the single (orange/yellow) letters on it until the end (that one also lasted through 2001, and did so without ever getting scanners - still all hand rung purchases with price stickers!).