The Market Report

ShopRite of Southington Owner: Don Drust Opened:  2010 Previous Tenants:  GE Madison (department store - 1960-early 1980s) > Edwards Super Food Store (mid 1980s-1996) > Shaw's (1996-before 2007) Cooperative:  Wakefern Food Corp. Location:  750 Queen St, Southington, CT Photographed:  November 20, 2020 We've talked about the exit of Shaw's from the Connecticut market, and their stores were mostly sold to Stop & Shop or Wakefern , which reopened them as Price Rite and ShopRite stores. Several of the Wakefern stores haven't made it, with Price Rite in Willimantic and ShopRite in West Hartford , for example, both closing in 2019. Others seem to be doing quite well, such as this ShopRite here in Southington. It was constructed in 1960 as a department store, then became an Edwards by the mid-1980s and Shaw's in 1996. But this one didn't make it all the way until Shaw's left CT in 2010 -- Shaw's closed before 2007 and ShopRite opened in 2010. The e...

Original Grocery Tenant: A&P Super Foodmart Address: 235 Queen St, Southington, CT Opened:  ca. 1980 Closed:  unknown Later Tenants:  subdivided Photographed:  October 7, 2023 This facade is pretty easily recognizable to me, even though I don't think there are any supermarkets left with it. It dates back to the 1990s or so, when this A&P would've been renovated and expanded into an A&P Super Foodmart. At the time of its closing, the store totaled 43,000 square feet. (The store may also have been a Waldbaum's at the time it opened.) For comparison, here's a look at this facade on the Newington location , which later became a Best Market and then Local Market. The distinctive angled edges and circle accents over the columns are easy to spot, although of course this one has been painted. A&P closed most of its central CT locations by about 2005, although some remained later . Quite a few of the southwestern CT locations lasted until the 2015 bankruptcy...