TOUR: Key Food Supermarkets - New Britain, CT

Key Food Supermarkets

Owner: unknown

Opened: 2021

Previous Tenants: Save-A-Lot (ca. 2010-2020)

Cooperative: Key Food Stores

Location: 60 E Main St, New Britain, CT

Photographed: July 9, 2023

Welcome to New Britain! New Britain is a larger town of around 75,000 people, and accordingly, has more supermarkets than some of the smaller towns around. There's an ALDI way to the north of town, a Stop & Shop to the northeast in Newington and another just west of downtown New Britain, and even more in and immediately around downtown. An America's Food Basket has been at the Four Star Plaza north of town since 2017 in a former Save-A-Lot, a Price Rite is just outside of downtown, a Compare Foods is to the northwest, and a CTown is right in the middle of downtown. The newcomer to the New Britain supermarket scene has made its home in a roughly 25,000 square foot space previously occupied by Save-A-Lot. Key Food opened in 2021, following a location in Hartford that we'll tour shortly. In 2022, an East Hartford location opened, and a Manchester location is projected for 2024, all in former Save-A-Lot stores (but under different owners, as each Key Food is independently owned).

This store is very nice and well-stocked, but doesn't seem to be quite as successful as the two closer to Hartford. It's possible, for sure, that there's just more competition here, as that was quite the list of nearby supermarkets. I believe, though, that the owners of this Key Food also own one of the other supermarkets in town, possibly the Compare Foods. I can't remember, and I can't find the article that talks about this store's opening.

There's really nothing left over from Save-A-Lot here, and it appears that the renovation by the Key Food owners was pretty extensive. A service butcher and seafood counter and deli/hot food/bakery counter were installed, although the seafood counter has since been removed.

We enter on the left side of the store to the produce department, with meat and seafood on the back wall. Dairy and frozen are on the right side of the store, with the deli/bakery area in the front right corner.

It looks like many if not all of the fixtures are new here. The grocery shelving definitely is, and the perimeter cases are either new or repainted Save-A-Lot cases. Of course, this store looks nothing like a Save-A-Lot. Or does it? I mentioned some of the changes at the Waterbury location, which include these exact produce tables.

Key Food is definitely a mainstream supermarket, though, not a discount store like Save-A-Lot.

Under the lower ceiling area in the back is the service butcher. The freezer cases to the left used to be the service seafood counter. The seafood department is now split between the packaged meat cases and the freezers here.

The grocery aisles are spotless, well-stocked, and full of a variety of items. The Price Rite, around a third of a mile away as the crow flies, is 8,000 square feet or so larger than this Key Food, but its grocery selection is more limited as it really is a discount store.

Frozen foods are on the rest of the back wall, with milk in the back right corner. I'm not sure what this store's layout would have been when it was a Save-A-Lot.

Key Food might also have more aisles than Save-A-Lot had, and the shelving is definitely higher.

Frozen food and dairy are in the last aisle, with dairy on the outside and frozen foods facing.

Hot food and deli face the frozen and dairy departments in the front corner, and baked goods are around the corner facing the front-end.

Speaking of the front end, here's a look across the front-end.

We'll have to see how this and other Connecticut Key Food stores do. Waterbury, of course, didn't last long at all but was under different ownership from this one and very obviously was not as well-run as this and the other central CT stores. And Waterbury is getting a second life, apparently! Before we head into Hartford, which is about eight miles northeast of here, we'll be checking out a few other stores outside of the city. Have a great weekend!