Shaw's - Montpelier, VT

Shaw's

Opened: 2001

Owner: Albertsons Companies

Previous Tenants: Grand Union (ca. early 1960s-2001)

Cooperative: none

Location: 2 Main St, Montpelier, VT

Photographed: August 13, 2025

Yep, that's rain you're seeing in that picture. What a nice day to stroll around beautiful quaint Montpelier. Oh well -- it passed quickly. Vermont's capital city is home to two supermarkets, one of which is a beautiful food co-op and the other is this Shaw's with a bit of history! It was built in the early 1960s or so as a Grand Union, which appears to have closed and sold to Shaw's in the chain's 2001 bankruptcy (like this one). At around 21,000 square feet, this store is slightly larger than the Hunger Mountain Co-op, but definitely feels smaller as it's less modern and more cramped.

I believe the majority of the setup here is left over from the Grand Union days, although Shaw's does also appear to have done several rounds of renovations. Produce is on the left side of the store, with baked goods in the rest of the first aisle (not sure if there's an in-store bakery). Deli and meat/seafood are on the back wall, with dairy/frozen on the right side. Shaw's typically has frozen in the second-to-last aisle with dairy in the last aisle. Here it's switched, and my guess is that's because of Grand Union's layout.

As you can see, this store is old but far from neglected. It's gotten a lot of fixture updates along with the current Shaw's decor package, which replaced this decor (and that decor probably replaced an older decor package that went in as soon as Shaw's took over this store). The lighting and sign frames remain from the previous decor, as you can see below -- with varying levels of success.

In a situation like this, there's absolutely no possibility of expanding this store, and it would be an uphill battle to try to move it to a spot where you could build a larger supermarket. That would also take it out of downtown Montpelier. So it seems Shaw's has just done the updates they can without completely changing the whole facility. In these small New England towns, even the big-chain operators have to get creative. From here, The Market Report is heading north to a small town to see another general store!