The Market Report

Save-A-Lot Open: 2012-2023 Owner:  employee owned Previous Tenants:  Ames Later Tenants:  vacant Cooperative:  none Location:  20 Concourse W, Waterville, ME Photographed:  August 12, 2019 Save-A-Lot has had some well-publicized struggles in recent years, and part of the shift was switching all of the corporate-owned stores to independent franchise ownership. But beyond that, even some independently-owned stores have faced hard times, and that's been the case here in Waterville. A new, roughly 20,000 square foot Save-A-Lot opened downtown in 2012 in part of a former Ames department store, but closed a little over a decade later. This one was employee-owned by a local group that also runs Food City supermarkets in New England. I visited in 2019, and it was still looking fairly new despite the fact that it would close four years later. Produce was in the front-right corner with sale items in the rest of the first aisle. Meat and cold cuts were on the back wa...

Shaw's Opened: 2003 Owner:  Albertsons Companies Previous Tenants:  Ames (closed 2002) Cooperative:  none Location:  235 Camden St, Rockland, ME Photographed:  August 13, 2019 Shaw's opened its 53,000 square foot Rockland store in 2003, and it looks like it was in the space of an Ames department store that had closed the prior year. Several Shaw's have made homes in former Ames stores . This appears to be the slightly larger of the two chain supermarkets here in Rockland, with the nearby Hannaford ever so slightly smaller. Tomorrow, we continue north along the West Penobscot Bay to the next town The Market Report will visit, Camden!

Shaw's Opened:  2003 Owner:  Albertsons Companies Previous Tenants:  Ames (closed 2002) Cooperative:  none Location:  670 Bath Rd, Wiscasset, ME Photographed:  August 10, 2019 It's not hard to tell that this 45,000 square foot Shaw's was originally a department store. In fact, it was previously an Ames, which closed in 2002. The outside has since gotten a fresh paint job , and an interior renovation that finished about a year ago. This isn't the only Shaw's that's moved into a former Ames; in fact, there are several (like this one ). Tomorrow, The Market Report heads about ten miles northeast along the coast for our next stop!

ShopRite of Tri-City Plaza Owner:  Rich Cohen Opened:  2020 Previous Tenants:  Ames > Price Chopper (2004-2019) Cooperative:  Wakefern Food Corp. Location:  35 Talcottville Rd, Vernon, CT Photographed:  November 21, 2021 Welcome to Vernon, Connecticut! The town of 30,000 people is about 10 miles outside Hartford and home to two Stop & Shops, an ALDI, and this ShopRite. This store opened in 2020 in part of a former Price Chopper (which itself was originally an Ames). The Price Chopper was a behemoth of a store at over 100,000 square feet, and the ShopRite is significantly smaller (but still quite large) at 75,000 square feet. They took the right 3/4 of the store, and the left 1/4 is now a Home Sense. The store is owned by the Cohen family, which also owns two other Connecticut ShopRites under their company Waverly Markets , in Manchester and East Hartford . The store reopened in early 2020, just days before the major coronavirus shutdowns started. W...