Shaw's - Manchester, VT plus...

Shaw's
Opened: 2001

Owner: Albertsons Companies

Previous Tenants: Grand Union (ca. 1980s-2001)

Cooperative: none

Location: 64 Equinox Terr, Manchester, VT

Photographed: August 12, 2021

Okay, we've already toured one Grand Union-turned-Shaw's in Wilmington, now let's check out another! Grand Union built this store in the 1980s or so, replacing an older location in town (more on that soon). It measures around 42,000 square feet, making it significantly larger than Wilmington.

I visited this store in the summer of 2021, and since then, it's gotten some minor renovations and held a grand reopening. One much-needed change was redoing the signage outside to drop this small and off-center logo. The outside also got a full fresh coat of paint, and that's good because this rather rundown exterior belies the very nice interior.

But before we head inside, check out these posters near the entrance still advertising Wild Harvest and Essential Everyday items, roughly seven years after Shaw's dropped those items in favor of the current Signature Select and O Organics brands (that's because Shaw's was previously owned by Supervalu and carried those Supervalu brands, while now Albertsons Companies uses brands previously owned by Safeway).

The interior had already been remodeled when I visited five years ago, but has gotten some more updates since with new flooring throughout and some other small upgrades. But as you can see, even prior to that work, this store had a very attractive interior and was nicely remodeled from the Grand Union days.

The grand aisle is on the right side of the store, with produce on the left side and deli on the right side. Bakery is at the back of the grand aisle, with meat and seafood lining the back wall. Dairy and frozen are on the back wall, with beer and wine in the front-left corner. That's all a distinctly Grand Union layout, and distinctly not a Shaw's layout, so definitely a leftover from the previous tenant. The flooring you can see above is also probably Grand Union-era. Not sure what decor was here previously.

Shaw's is one of two full-service supermarkets here in Manchester, and definitely the nicer of the two. The other is a somewhat rundown Price Chopper, which we'll take a look at tomorrow.

Looking across the back wall. The flooring was in good condition when I visited, but the crazy patterns probably related well to the Grand Union decor but less so to the Shaw's decor.

This store even still had a designated natural foods department in the first few aisles, which I assume Shaw's removed in the remodel.

I would assume the Grand Union probably looked something like this.

But even after the renovation, the Grand Union arches along the front wall remain! Why remove them? It's a nice touch.

Now, speaking of Grand Union, there's one more thing to see in town before moving along, and that's this former Grand Union location downtown.

Original Grocery Tenant: Grand Union

Address: 4993 Main St, Manchester, VT

Opened: between 1962 and 1965

Closed: ca. 1980s

Later Tenants: assorted non-grocery tenants

Photographed: August 12, 2021

This store was constructed in the early 1960s, closing by the late 1980s and apparently being replaced by the location that is today Shaw's.

It's around 14,000 square feet, or much smaller than the space that's now Shaw's. One more stop before we leave Manchester tomorrow, so come back to see it!