Foodtown of New Hartford
Owner: Mike Fernandez
You've heard of Hartford, Connecticut, and probably East and West Hartford, too. But you may not have heard of New Hartford, a small town of just 6600 in Litchfield County, around 15 miles northwest of the city of Hartford. New Hartford had a longtime independent supermarket called Marandino's, in business since 1963 at this mall. The store of just under 30,000 square feet was first listed for sale in 2019, but it seems the sale didn't close until the summer of 2020 when Mike Fernandez, who owns two Foodtowns in Queens (Bayside and Forest Hills), bought the supermarket and its strip mall. After renovations, that we'll see were fairly extensive, the store reopened as a Foodtown in spring 2021. While the store is no longer a Foodtown, it hasn't been sold -- Fernandez in the summer of 2023 purchased three stores in Rhode Island called Brigido's Fresh Market, and when those stores joined Allegiance (the cooperative that supports Foodtown stores) in August of 2023, this one was also rebranded to Brigido's Fresh Market.
The layout doesn't appear to have changed much between the Marandino's days and the Foodtown/Brigido's setup, but the decor definitely has. The grand aisle is on the right side of the store, with deli and bakery on the outside wall and produce facing. Meat and dairy are on the back wall, with frozen foods on the far left side of the store.
The Foodtown renovation was very extensive, as we can see.
Fernandez also renovated the three Brigido's stores when he bought them, but with a different decor package. I don't think this store was renovated when it switched to Brigido's.
This was the first Foodtown store in Connecticut, and now that Brigido's is in Connecticut and Rhode Island, they are the first and only Allegiance member in those two states. Allegiance's other brands include Shop n Bag, Pathmark, and Green Way.
It looks like this store doesn't have an in-store bakery. I'm not sure if Marandino's did.
The meat department is up next on the back wall...
I really like this decor, but the new decor in the Brigido's stores is better. We'll see those when we get to Rhode Island!
Here's a look across the back wall...
It looks like the grocery shelving was not replaced in the renovation, but the flooring was.
The grocery aisles are very clean and the store has a very solid selection for its size. This is the only supermarket in New Hartford, and other choices include a Stop & Shop about seven miles northwest in Winsted or several stores around six miles southeast in Canton.
The frozen food cases were clearly replaced in the renovation, though, or else Marandino's had replaced them right before they sold the store.
I don't know if the product mix has changed at all since the store became Brigido's, since Brigido's at least based on their other locations tends to lean a little higher-end than this Foodtown did when I visited.
Customer service and the offices are on the front wall between frozen foods and the front-end...
And looking at the front-end...
Owner: Mike Fernandez
Open: 2021-2023
Previous Tenants: Marandino's Supermarket
Later Tenants: Brigido's Fresh Market
Cooperative: Allegiance Retail Services
Location: 141 Main St, New Hartford, CT
Photographed: September 17, 2023
This is a very nice store and I hope it's doing well under the Brigido's name. We'll see the other three Brigido's once we get to Rhode Island, but for now, it's time for Hartford!
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