Shaw's
Opened: 2001
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One look at the outside of this store will tell you it's definitely not the average Shaw's. In fact, this store is pretty small for Shaw's (around 20,000 square feet), and that's because it's a Grand Union that was built in the 1970s and appears to actually have lasted all the way to Grand Union's final bankruptcy in 2001. It's in the small town of Wilmington, Vermont, which is roughly halfway between Brattleboro and Bennington.
The interior is freshly renovated by Shaw's and really looks good, but we can tell it's an old building. Produce is in the front-left corner and continues down the first aisle, with a tiny bakery behind it and deli on the back wall next to meat. Frozen and dairy are on the right side, with beer and wine in the front-right corner.
This decor package really looks good in this small store. Until the renovation around 2020, it previously had the same decor it presumably opened with in 2001. Shaw's has managed to really freshen up their store fleet with some pretty simple remodels, and these days most (not all) of their stores look quite good if not particularly exciting.
You can see that a lot of these are older fixtures, possibly even from the Grand Union days, but with new updates like a fresh coat of black paint and some new doors.
You can see some of the lighting left over from the previous decor, which in some departments (deli) is more successfully repurposed than in others (like here in meat, where the lights only illuminate part of the sign).
Still, this store is in excellent condition considering its age and size.
One really exciting find up at the front of the store is this Grand Union-era red dot clock on the front wall. Kind of jarring to see this relic next to the new Drive Up & Go signage!
Owner: Albertsons Companies
Previous Tenants: Grand Union (ca. 1970s-2001)
Cooperative: none
Location: 97 E Main St, Wilmington, VT
Photographed: August 7, 2021
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This wraps up our look at the southeastern part of Vermont, especially given that Wilmington is really in south-central Vermont. Now it's time to move west along route 9, so come back tomorrow to preview what's next!
Beautiful store considering its age and size! And amazing the GU clock remains. Another GU artifact I spotted was the tile on the deli wall. Jumping back to photos of Shaw's previous decor, you can also see the GU flooring remained until this most recent remodel. All signs are the Grand Union closed with the early 90's green decor package. Similar to the 80's remodel but using green and yellow instead of red, along with some other enhancements. Obviously a successful store having lasted until GU's bankruptcy and Shaw's investment in the recent remodel.
ReplyDeleteShaw's bought quite a few locations in VT when GU went out - the next closest to this is likely Manchester (about the same distance from Bennington, just North vs. East) - that one was a newer location so larger than this.
ReplyDeleteAlso, sensible that little work was done when they first took over - both because (as I remember) most of the stores only closed for a day or two to transition (thus not much time to do anything) and that they were getting a bunch (so hard to do a lot of work at any one spot when you have multiple places to work on at one time). One additional thing was likely that the chains taking over wanted to be sure that they would keep the stores (though this one seems likely given the lack of another actual supermarket in the area), so run them for a bit before thinking on doing work.