Price Chopper
Opened: unknown
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Just between the former Grand Union and current Shaw's in Manchester Center is this Price Chopper, and yes, this is a terrible photo and I'm aware of that. Here's what the exterior actually looks like, and this store does appear to truly have a pitched roof. It's a very small Price Chopper, possibly in the 20,000 square foot range, and looks fine if a little dated inside. I wasn't able to find out much on the history of this location, but I did find a news article from 2001 saying that Price Chopper was buying Manchester's Grand Union and moving their existing store into that location. The article didn't provide any addresses, so it sounds like this store attempted to move into what's now the Shaw's but didn't. It's also possible that this was also a Grand Union, and Price Chopper moved from elsewhere into this one. Although unlikely, I also suppose it's not impossible that Price Chopper briefly operated what's now the Shaw's for a while before selling or closing it.
Opened: unknown
Owner: Northeast Grocery
Previous Tenants: unknown
Cooperative: none
Location: 263 Depot St, Manchester, VT
Photographed: August 12, 2021
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It does seem like the plan to take over the Grand Union never went through, since in 2010, Price Chopper attempted again to move this store into a newly-built location. Again, that doesn't seem to have ever actually come to fruition, and this much smaller and older location is still going today. That brings us to the end of southern Vermont. Now it's time to move north towards Burlington! That's an area where I actually have a lot of stores photographed, so it'll take almost two months to get through it all, and there's a lot of really interesting grocers. First, come back tomorrow for another 10th year special feature!
I only remember the Shaw's in that spot and the Price Chopper here, though I wasn't in this area nearly as much as down in Bennington.
ReplyDeleteVery much possible that PC was bidding for the old GU spot but didn't get it as they did get a few over in NY from that bankruptcy, but Shaw's seems to have gotten quite a few in VT - including one just north towards Rutland but closer to the state line (Fair Haven) that looks (if possible) even more like an old GU from the outside than the one here!
Not sure where else they were looking in 2010, but maybe more out towards where US 7 runs, since it is a bit more open in a few spots out there, not really much room in town.
This one is definitely small when you get inside, but must do reasonably well since they haven't closed it (unlike several of their older/smaller stores in MA like North Adams and Lee, which closed with no replacements or other stores nearby). They do keep some smaller stores, like the one in Lake George which is small enough that they have only the mini shopping carts!
There is another Shaw's very close to the NY/VT border in Poulteney in a 12,000 sq.ft. space that looks like a very old colonial style Grand Union building.
DeleteI am familiar with some of these older stores, such as Cohoes and Lake George. The latter of which had full-size carts (the green Rehrig ones) until 2017 when they replaced them with the smaller ones. I suppose they wanted to influence customers to buy less over there.