The Market Report

Putnam Supermarket Owner: Jay Sinha Opened:  2010 under current ownership; unknown previously Cooperative:  none Location:  162 Providence St, Putnam, CT Photographed:  September 25, 2020 Welcome to Putnam, Connecticut! The quaint town of 10,000 people is such a quintessential small town that it's been used as the setting for Hallmark movies (which frequently feature Hartford, Providence, and Worcester -- all of which are within about 40 miles away -- as the big bad city). There are two supermarkets in the downtown area, plus a Stop & Shop about two miles outside of town. (Speaking of, I posted an update on the NJ/NY Stop & Shops here last night.) One of the two is the longtime independent Putnam Supermarket, not a member of any cooperative but supplied by New Hampshire's C&S Wholesale Grocers (which originated in Worcester, by the way). I haven't been able to place when the store opened, and Historic Aerials isn't much help either, showing that it was...

One more time to check out some NJ-area Stop & Shop stores! My last two posts ( here and here ) were quite popular -- actually, the first one was my most-viewed post ever and the second one was my third-most viewed post. Well, I wish I had some real news to report, but as I've said, that's going to have to wait until May 8th, when Ahold Delhaize is set to report Q1 2024 and will have a " full answer " on Stop & Shop and other US brands. Will that be a major announcement or just something like a new remodel project? Rumors include that the stores are to be shifted to the Giant-PA division or that the stores are to be sold, possibly to Kroger . I would take any of that with a grain of salt, but I still think there's something coming. Some of the stores I've visited have been exceptionally good, some have been truly awful. Still, the trends I'm seeing are oversized, understocked, understaffed, aging stores that appear to mostly be low- to mid-volum...