Shaw's Opened: 2005 Owner: Albertsons Companies Previous Tenants: none Cooperative: none Location: 760A Boston Rd, Groton, MA Photographed: October 9, 2021 Shaw's has a lot of density in the Boston area, and much of Worcester County, although they don't go west of Worcester County in Massachusetts. But in the Middlesex County area, there are only a handful of stores. In fact, all of Middlesex County -- around 850 square miles -- only has three Shaw's, this one, one in Burlington, and one in Melrose. The Groton store was built in 2005, spanning around 70,000 square feet. I'm not sure if it replaced a smaller and older store nearby, but I don't see evidence of that. This store has a bit of an atypical exterior design, but it's similar to this type . Inside, we'll see it looks quite familiar with one unusual change. I assume the sign is smaller and over the left-side entrance, rather than in the middle like it is in Webster Square, because of zoning r...
Shop 'n Save Opened: 2015 Owner: Mike Szelest Previous Tenants: Victory Markets (closed 2004) > Hannaford (2004-2015) Cooperative: Hannaford franchise Location: 22 Fitchburg Rd, Ayer, MA Photographed: October 9, 2021 Supermarkets are in all manner of converted buildings. Banks , theaters , drugstores , and more. And of course that results in supermarkets being in all kinds of strange shapes. But how many supermarkets do you know of that are round? Technically, the Ayer Shop 'n Save is a tetradecagon, with 14 sides that make it essentially a circle. Just check out an aerial photo -- it's basically round. Why is that? I truly don't know. The building dates back to before 1963, the first historic aerial photo of the area available, and it's unclear if it was originally a supermarket (but I assume it wasn't). It was a Victory Market by the 2000s, and Hannaford acquired Victory in 2004 . At some point between 2008 and 2016, Hannaford sold the store to an in...