Tops Friendly Markets
Opened: 2018
Previous Tenants: Ames (1960s-?) > Hannaford (2008-2018)
Location: 1936 US-6, Carmel, NY
Photographed: May 2019
At the east end of the strip mall where we saw a former Grand Union yesterday is a 62,000 square foot Tops Friendly Markets. It's a former Hannaford that was sold to Tops when Hannaford parent Delhaize and Stop & Shop parent Ahold merged, likely due to the store's proximity to the newly built Mahopac Stop & Shop.
In that store tour, I mentioned that the Stop & Shop didn't blow me away. This store absolutely did, and I wonder why they decided to keep the smaller Stop & Shop instead of the larger and far more deluxe Hannaford while canceling the plans for the Stop & Shop and perhaps selling the store.
The attractive, if somewhat bland, exterior is all original to Hannaford. Inside, we'll see that Tops remodeled the store fully while keeping Hannaford's layout intact.
There's an interesting wrinkle to the story here. While Tops acquired two Hannafords and five Stop & Shops from Ahold Delhaize, Tops was in fact owned by Ahold from 1991 to 2007 when it was sold to Morgan Stanley, then sold again to corporate managers in 2013. So Tops is now back to being fully locally owned, with roughly 150 locations and an additional five franchised locations. For that reason, this store and other new Tops locations make a big deal of being locally owned -- certainly a change from Hannaford, which was owned by Belgium-based Delhaize; Ahold Delhaize is now headquartered in The Netherlands.
Very cool display of Polar seltzer and soda in the foyer. Polar isn't exactly local, but it comes from Worcester, MA, about 110 miles away from this store. Heading in, we see a Hannaford-inspired layout with a large produce department in the front half of the grand aisle, with bakery, deli, seafood, and butcher surrounding natural foods at the back of the grand aisle. Meats line the back wall with frozen, dairy, and beer at the far end with seasonal in the front corner. Like the Stop & Shop, this store does not have a pharmacy but there is a Rite Aid in the mall, which may have exclusive pharmacy rights.
What a first impression! I'm assuming the lighting and some of the fixtures are left from Hannaford, but the decor and flooring are not.
And some outstanding decor here, too. I've never been a fan of Hannaford's decor, which we saw in Pawling. However, some of the new Hannafords look great.
This is even a step up from Tops' last decor package, which we saw in Bath. I think this is based on the Hannaford decor, as the former Stop & Shop location in New Paltz has a different decor package built into the existing Stop & Shop decor. Oh, and this is also Tops' southernmost location with most of their stores being much farther north and west.
Enormous bakery department at the back of the grand aisle, on the right side wall. I've always been very impressed with Tops' bakeries.
Natural foods opposite the bakery, again left from Hannaford's layout. Notice the cereal and milk endcap display -- how about that? I've never seen something like that before.
A disappointingly mediocre shot of the deli, which takes up the back corner. Prepared foods line the back wall. Unfortunately the area was far too busy for me to get any closer. Fun side note, Tops runs the grocery store in the town L. Frank Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz, was from, and it's been called "the best supermarket in America" by Epicurious.
Service seafood and a beautiful curved butcher counter come next along the back wall.
The decor is absolutely outstanding along the back wall. Must have been fairly expensive to put in!
The back wall then has packaged meat and some grocery shelving with specialty, local, and Kosher foods. And candy.
It does not look like the grocery aisles have been significantly changed since Hannaford. In fact, I think this flooring is left over, while the grand aisle flooring is new.
New flooring in the first freezer aisle. There are two, with the last aisle being dairy and beer.
New flooring here too, along with some absolutely outstanding decor...
The front corner has more beer, iced tea, and seasonal. You can have the beer and leave me the iced tea... I drink WAY too much iced tea. Good news is, I mostly drink unsweetened, so the sugar isn't a problem. The caffeine on the other hand... well anyway, let's get back to the store tour.
Flooring is new in this section too. Now for a look at the front end before we head out of this amazing store...
Another reference to the local ownership on the front wall. Customer service is at the far end of the front end.
That's about it! We have another standout store tomorrow near the Connecticut border that we'll be touring, and then one more excellent independent store right at the border before we move into Connecticut after that. Stay tuned!
I don't think L. Frank Baum is from that town . . .close though. https://tracingthepath.libsyn.com/the-wizard-of-oz-tradition
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link!
DeleteThat candy setup on the back of the meat cases is definitely from Hannaford (ours has it and it hasn't moved even in the latest remodel) - I guess it makes sense as you keep seeing it walking down aisles towards the back of the store. Surprising they still had the separate natural section as Hannaford has gotten rid of that in favor of mixing items in (and had done that pre 2018).
ReplyDeleteThe outside entry is also familiar to newer Hannaford stores (and remodels) - beyond that internally, the cases (at least some of them, like tables in bakery, seafood cases, probably some in meat) look familiar but not much else.
Yes to all of that! And actually, Tops seems to be resetting at least some of their stores as of this past summer to incorporate natural and organic into the regular grocery aisles. Not sure of this store's status.
DeleteThey actually retained the Hannaford Festival decor when they initially opened, but changed it later. For me, Tops stores are the retail equivalent of GTA logic.
ReplyDeleteWow, really? So strange. Maybe it was a wait-and-see approach to see if the stores were worth keeping or whether they should be closed/sold quickly before any large investments were made.
DeleteVery likely, as if I remember correctly they did in fact close at least one or two of the stores they took over.
DeleteTwo. One in Wappinger Falls NY and the other in Gardner MA.
DeleteThis store opened as Barkers then Kings, then Ames, then closed and ultimately became Hannaford then Tops.
ReplyDeleteStop&Shop was kept in Mahopac because it was their new and first prototype store in New York State and the first ever in Putnam County.
Thanks for the background here!
DeleteThe reason why the flooring in the last 2 aisles(dairy and frozen) is new is because Tops expanded the sales floor area beyond the Hannaford footprint. The decor package is the same as the Lagrange decor package which was designed around the exterior design of the building.
DeleteVery interesting -- thank you for explaining that!
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