Key Food Supermarkets
Owner: Jeffrey Perez
Key Food has been growing in and around New York City, but their growth in New England started with this store here in Hartford and two in Massachusetts. This was their second Hartford-area store, with the older one in Waterbury opening a year before this. The 25,000 square foot store opened in a former Save-A-Lot in 2020, and the store is in a slice of a former Bradlees department store. There also was a Stop & Shop supermarket at the other end of the strip mall. Since this one, Key Food has opened in Save-A-Lot stores in New Britain, East Hartford, and Manchester (coming soon), as well as Indian Orchard, MA, and Providence, RI.
When my friend lived in Hartford, he lived in the apartments just behind this supermarket. He was very excited when Key Food opened and shopped there at least once or twice a week, and didn't have to make the longer walk to the smaller CTown nearby to shop.
And this Key Food is definitely much larger and much nicer than the CTown. Its selection is significantly larger, too, with more in all departments. It seemed quite popular judging by my visit.
Produce is in the front half of the first aisle, with meats in the back left corner. Service meat and seafood are in the center of the back wall, with milk in the back right corner and dairy/frozen on the right side. Deli/hot food are in the front right corner.
That layout is almost identical to the upcoming store in Manchester, making me think it might be the same owners (or, at the very least, the same architect).
Key Food seems to have replaced all the fixtures here when they moved in. As I mentioned in the New Britain post, they've very successfully turned a midsized discount supermarket into a well-appointed mainstream supermarket.
Save-A-Lot, of course, wouldn't have had a service meat or seafood counter, so this is all new.
The grocery aisles are extensive, too, with an aisle of international foods alongside a full line of general grocery items.
Of course, the store is still only around 25,000 square feet, so there's a limit to how much it can fit.
Frozen foods are also on one side of aisle 6, the second-to-last aisle, and then continue down the inside of the last aisle, aisle 7.
I also generally like this decor, and I think it suits the store well. It doesn't look too cheap but it's not too elaborate, either, making it easy to retrofit into a former Save-A-Lot.
Oh, and by the way, we saw this store in progress courtesy of my friend a few years ago. And way back to 2008, we can find this photo from The Caldor Rainbow showing us that the Save-A-Lot was previously on the far right side of the strip mall.
Of course, Key Food is an all-new supermarket and doesn't really feel like a converted Save-A-Lot inside.
It helps, too, that the service counters are all here now.
Deli, hot food, and baked goods are here in the front corner, with customer service around the corner from it.
We'll see a few more Key Food-affiliated stores that are similar shortly, but don't forget to check out the former Stop & Shop next door here!
Owner: Jeffrey Perez
Opened: 2020
Previous Tenants: Bradlees > Save-A-Lot (closed 2019)
Cooperative: Key Food Stores
Location: 1250 Park St, Frog Hollow, Hartford, CT
Photographed: July 9, 2023
And tomorrow, we're off to East Hartford, where we'll be checking out a former supermarket!
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