TOUR: Brigido's Fresh Market - Pascoag, RI

Brigido's Fresh Market
Owner: Mike Fernandez

Opened: 2023 under current ownership; 1978 previously

Cooperative: Allegiance Retail Services
Location: 54 Sayles Ave, Pascoag, RI

Photographed: April 16, 2022

Welcome to Pascoag, Rhode Island, a small village that makes up part of the town of Burrillville. In the middle of this village are a few small businesses, and the largest is this Brigido's Fresh Market. Built in 1978 as a Brigido's IGA, the store became independent and C&S-supplied by the time I got here in 2022. Then in early 2023, the store was sold to Mike Fernandez, who also owns two Foodtowns in New York City and the Brigido's (formerly Foodtown) in New Hartford, CT. Brigido's was a longtime Rhode Island chain of three stores, and when Fernandez purchased the three stores, the New Hartford one was switched.

These days, Brigido's is the only Rhode Island member of the Allegiance Retail cooperative, which also represents Foodtown, Pathmark, Green Way, Shop n Bag, Gristedes, D'Agostino, and other stores, mostly in and around New York City. The New Hartford Brigido's is also the only Connecticut Allegiance store. Let's tour the Pascoag location, back in 2022 before the ownership change!

We enter the 12,000 square foot store in the front left corner, then walk across the front end to soda and produce in the front right corner. Prepared foods and packaged deli items line the rest of the first aisle's refrigerator cases, with a deli at the end of the aisle. Meat takes up the rest of the back wall, with dairy in the second-to-last aisle and frozen foods in the last aisle.

When I visited, the store was still owned by the Brigido family. They were supplied by C&S and used Best Yet and Full Circle storebrand items. Allegiance is also supplied by C&S, so those brands remain but alongside the Foodtown and Green Way brands.

As we can see, the store is somewhat simple because it's small, but it's very attractive and well-maintained. The flooring and most of the fixtures are pretty new, and I believe the new owners have remodeled with new decor. All three RI Brigido's stores had grand reopenings in the summer of 2023.

Like many we saw in Connecticut, this is a prime example of a well-run small-town independent grocer. The flooring looks great on the perimeter and in the aisles, which have a stone texture tile.

Even though the store is only 12,000 square feet (it's the smallest Brigido's location), it's well-stocked with a fairly large selection for its size.

The freezer cases look a little older than the rest of the fixtures here, but they're still in good condition. As we can see, the store shows no signs of age.

Here's a look at the front-end from the produce side with, I think, three registers at the other side. Very old-school setup, but nicely modernized with a clean new look. And I love the big windows at the front that let in a lot of light!

That's all for this Brigido's, but we're actually going to be seeing all three RI stores and our next one is on Monday, about seven miles northeast!