The Market Report

Buddies Groceries Opened: 1992 Owner:  Shane and Bud Savage Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  IGA Location:  43 Main St, Oakland, ME Photographed:  August 12, 2019 I love the look of these old-school street front stores in small towns! Once again, I'm not too certain on the history of this building, but Buddies Groceries has been occupying the approximately 9,000 square foot space since 1992. They're an IGA member. The first aisle is on the right side of the store, with beer on the outside wall along with some dairy. Meat and deli line the back wall with the rest of dairy and produce in the last aisle on the left side. Frozen foods are in the front-left corner. It's a small store, but complete (there's even a small in-store kitchen that makes prepared foods). This store is obviously on the older side, but like many small-town independent grocers, kept up nicely. IGA stores in New England (and parts of the mid-Atlantic) are supplied by Bozzuto's and use F...

Hannaford Opened: before 2007 Owner:  Ahold Delhaize Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  none Location:  190 Kennedy Memorial Dr, Waterville, ME Photographed:  August 12, 2019 Waterville has two Hannafords along with a Shaw's (and previously had a Save-A-Lot ). Both are around 45,000 square feet, and this one is on the southern end of town just down the street from the Shaw's. Unfortunately, I don't have much to report on the history of the store -- tracking down full history for a lot of these Maine stores has been tricky -- but I seem to remember Hannaford briefly owning a warehouse-style discount store, which I believe was under the name Sun Foods . This exterior bears some resemblance to those stores, so it's possible it was once a Sun Foods but I don't have confirmation of that. Tomorrow, we'll be headed about three miles west to tour an independent grocer in a nearby small town!

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...

Pleau's Market Opened:  unknown Owner:  Rob Pleau Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  Associated Grocers of New England Location:  10 China Rd, Winslow, ME Photographed:  August 12, 2019 Happy June! Winslow is a suburb of Waterville, ME, and here we're just across the Kennebec River from downtown Waterville. While I haven't been able to find a specific opening date for this little store of about 14,000 square feet, I think it's safe to say it's been here a long time (or at least, it's been a supermarket of some kind for a very long time). The store looks small but well-kept inside , though I didn't get the chance to go in. It's a member of Associated Grocers of New England. Tomorrow, we're headed across the river to Waterville!

ShopRite of East Orange Opened: May 27, 2026 Owner: Sumas family/Village Super Market Previous Tenants: none Cooperative: Wakefern Food Corp. Location: 533 Main St, East Orange, NJ Photographed: May 27, 2026 It's not all that often that I get to post about a brand-new ShopRite, so today is an exciting day. It's especially exciting because Village Super Market has replaced the tired old store at Brick Church Plaza with a truly impressive new-build one on the same property. This is the latest development in a multi-year project to reuse a large lot right at the Brick Church train station in downtown East Orange. Since the late 1980s, it's held a fairly unremarkable strip mall anchored by a ShopRite. Now, a new development has brought a higher-rise building complete with a new supermarket on the ground floor. You can see the store in progress in 2024 here , and tour the previous ShopRite here . Although the new supermarket has been in the planning and construction phases...