131 Lower Main St W, Johnson, VT

Original Grocery Tenant: Grand Union
Address: 131 Lower Main St W, Johnson, VT

Opened: before 1981

Closed: 2001

Later Tenants: Grand Union Family Markets (2001-2011) > Sterling Market (2013-2023)

Photographed: August 10, 2025

A lot of independent grocery stores have been able to be saved by being acquired by a cooperative. Wakefern has acquired several of its members and customers to keep them going, and here in New England, the same has happened with AGNE. Unfortunately, even that sometimes isn't enough to save a small-town grocery store. That's the case here in Johnson, where a Grand Union had been in business for decades before switching to Grand Union Family Markets, owned by C&S Wholesale Grocers, in 2001. Ten years later, this store was sold to AGNE and operated as the Sterling Market from 2013 to 2023. Unfortunately, a major flood that year destroyed the store, and AGNE never reopened. Shaw's considered opening here, but never did. So the roughly 10,000 square foot store remains vacant.

The interior of Sterling Market looked like the store AGNE still runs in Waterbury, and the Grand Union-era exterior looked a lot like the former Grand Union I posted in White River Junction. That's all for now, so enjoy the weekend and I'll see you on Monday!