TOUR: Price Chopper - Spencer, MA

Price Chopper
Opened: 1995
Previous Tenants: Big D Supermarkets
Location: 133 Main St, Spencer, MA
Photographed: October 14, 2019

Spencer has two supermarkets in town, a Big Y and a Price Chopper that's right in the middle of town. A Hannaford is to the northwest in North Brookfield, and a massive Walmart is east in Leicester.

At around 37,500 square feet, this Price Chopper is much smaller than the Big Y. The store opened in 1967 as a Big D Supermarket, a Worcester-based chain that sold out to Price Chopper in 1995. The store was originally closer to 19,000 square feet, and was expanded out three directions either right before Big D went under or right after Price Chopper took over.

This store is also a big rougher around the edges than the Big Y, but it's still a nice store. It's an older-fashioned store, though. There's no grand aisle, and produce is on the left side in the first aisle. Seafood is in the back left corner, with meat and bakery on the back wall. Dairy/frozen are on the far right side, and deli is in the front right corner. Because it's not a typical Price Chopper layout, I would be inclined to guess that Big D was the one responsible for the expansion.

The store is definitely smaller than Big Y, and all of the service departments are also smaller. Still, it's in good shape and maintained rather well.

It also doesn't feel that small once you're inside.

I'm assuming the posts we see here are where the store originally ended. HABA is in the first few aisles. Price Chopper typically uses a layout we rarely see in other chains (at least around here), with HABA and paper/cleaning in the first few aisles, then grocery items in the rest of the store.

Customer service on the front wall. Big Y has a pharmacy; Price Chopper does not.

Back to the back wall. I'm not aware of other Price Choppers that have the bakery in this location, so I assume Big D put it here. Typically you'd see the bakery either in the grand aisle or on the outside of the last aisle -- though come to think of it, that might also be a Big D-inspired layout. We'll see a few other Big D to Price Chopper conversions in and around Worcester.

I've never loved Price Chopper, as I find them to be (ironically) pretty expensive for a mediocre supermarket. But this is definitely one of the better Worcester-area stores, and the newer Market 32 stores are spectacular not only in design but in offerings, with truly better selections and higher quality than the Price Chopper stores. In those, I don't mind the higher prices because of the substantially higher quality and wider selection.

Sorry for the blurry picture, but here's the freezer aisle...

Cold cuts, some frozen, and dairy in the last aisle. This, of course, was several cell phones ago and the photography was not great.

Deli is in the front corner next to the registers. It's an unusual location for that, too, and again I'm thinking it might be left over from the Big D days.

This store definitely feels larger than its size, but I'm accustomed to much larger Price Choppers. We'll see some that are really big.

Again, a blurry photo of the front-end...

We have just one more store in this area, and we'll be taking a look tomorrow!