The Market Report

Vista Foods Opened:  unknown Owner: Associated Grocers of New England Previous Tenants: unknown; possibly Shaw's Cooperative:  Associated Grocers of New England Location: 376 S Main St, Laconia, NH Photographed: August 16, 2025 This roughly 23,000 square foot supermarket is today under the Vista Foods brand, owned by Associated Grocers of New England, but I suspect it may have previously been a Shaw's. There was a Shaw's here in Laconia at one time, but I haven't been able to track down the address (and there no longer is one in town, with the nearest one now being to the north in Gilford). The exterior was remodeled around 2010, and I don't recognize the previous facade clearly enough as a definitive former Shaw's look that I can say that for sure. Any info? Today, the store is old-school but complete, with produce in the front-right corner and deli-bakery lining the right side wall. Meat and dairy are on the back wall, with frozen foods and beer/wine on t...

Sunflower Natural Foods Opened: 1992 in current location; 1985 previously Owner: Paul Flynn Previous Tenants: unknown Cooperative: none Location: 390 S Main St, Laconia, NH Photographed: August 16, 2025 Downtown Laconia has two grocers, and they're actually right next to each other. This small natural foods store called Sunflower Natural Foods (no relation to the similarly-named store in New York ) is just next door to the supermarket, Vista Foods, which you can tour here . This store has been around since the 1980s, and in this roughly 3500 square foot building since 1992. Tomorrow, we move on to see another small grocer here in Laconia!

Save A Lot Opened: 2018 Owner: unknown Previous Tenants: none Cooperative: none/Key Food Stores(?) Location: 200 Central Ave, Orange, NJ Photographed: June 22, 2026 Welcome back to Save A Lot here in Orange! This store opened back in 2018 as part of a push into North Jersey, along with stores in Newark, Linden, and Hillside. Hard to say whether that initial push waas a success, but these days, only this store and Newark remain Save A Lots. Linden closed, and Hillside became a SuperFresh . Let's go back and take a closer look at these stores. So, over the past few years, Save A Lot has switched from corporate-owned stores to a fully franchise model, and it looks like that was when Linden closed. Orange and Hillside were both sold to the same owner around 2021, who ran the stores poorly and sold them again in 2023. Newark, Orange, and Hillside at that point were all redone and reset to become full supermarkets rather than limited-assortment discount stores, so when Hillside sw...