The Market Report

Buffalo Mountain Market Opened: 2022 in current location; 1975 previously Owner: cooperatively owned Previous Tenants:  Hall's Market > Hardwick Village Market (closed 2022) Cooperative: National Co-op Grocers / Associated Grocers Northeast Location: 75 Mill St, Hardwick, VT Photographed: August 16, 2025 You probably already know this about me: I love a small-town supermarket! So we're here in Hardwick (population 3000) to tour the Buffalo Mountain Market. Buffalo Mountain only opened in 2022, so it's still quite new, but you can tell easily by looking at the outside (or the inside, for that matter) that this building has a bit of history. Up until 2022, the 7200 square foot market was the Hardwick Village Market, and Buffalo Mountain Market was elsewhere in town. You can read a lot more about Buffalo Mountain's history here , and here's its previous location. So while Buffalo Mountain market redid the interior when they moved in here, but you can see some ...

Shaw's Opened: 2001 Owner: Albertsons Companies Previous Tenants: Grand Union (ca. 1970s-2001) Cooperative: none Location: 751 Maple St, Stowe, VT Photographed: August 10, 2025 In New Jersey, my home state, the majority of the Grand Union stores that closed in the chain's 2001 bankruptcy went to Stop & Shop. In upstate New York, a lot went to Tops. In the lower Hudson Valley, Key Food took over quite a few locations. Here in Vermont, though, many transitioned to Shaw's. Here's a look at another (I've previously posted locations in Montpelier , Manchester , and Wilmington ). Like Montpelier and Wilmington, this store is tiny. In fact, at just over 12,000 square feet, I believe this is the smallest Shaw's in the chain, and one of the smallest stores owned by Albertsons Companies. As I mentioned on the previous posts, though, there's not really an opportunity to expand or rebuild elsewhere, so this very old-school store keeps going. Produce is up in t...

Stowe Village Market Opened: 2023 Owner: Associated Grocers Northeast Previous Tenants: Mac's Market (closed 2023) Cooperative: Associated Grocers Northeast Location: 88 S Main St, Stowe, VT Photographed: August 10, 2025 Another grocery store not just supplied by, but owned by, Associated Grocers Northeast (formerly Associated Grocers of New England, and recently rebranded) is the Stowe Village Market. As you've probably gathered, many of their Vermont stores are simply named Village Market with the town's name. This was part of a local chain called Mac's Market, which in 2023 went out of business and sold their remaining three stores to AGNE, including this one. It's just under 10,000 square feet and is right on the main street through Stowe. It's called Main Street, but it's also Vermont Route 100, which is kind of a corridor through this resort area. The year-round population here in Stowe is around 5200, but it's a large enough town to suppor...