TOUR: Shaw's - Sturbridge, MA

Shaw's
Opened: unknown; possibly 1972

Previous Tenants: unknown
Location: 178 Main St, Sturbridge, MA
Photographed: November 30, 2018

Today is the slightly smaller of the two supermarkets here in Sturbridge, but at around 42,000 square feet, it's not a small store. The Shaw's of Sturbridge was renovated most recently with the cheap version of Premium Fresh & Healthy 3.0 right at the end of the Supervalu days (around 2012-2013), although at the rate Shaw's has been doing renovations it's possible they've redone it by now.

We enter to customer service in the front right corner. Produce is on the right side, and is kind of a self-contained section split off from the rest of the grand aisle. Behind that is deli and seafood, with meat on the back wall. Dairy/frozen are on the left side, and on the front wall are natural foods (next to the entrance), the registers, sale items, and bakery from right to left.

Note the big empty section of the greens -- something had just been recalled when I was here, but I don't remember what.

This store is quite nice, and I believe this was my first time experiencing PF&H 3.0 in person. It looks much better in person than in pictures, but it's still very cheap-looking.

Notice that the produce department has an L-shaped perimeter, meaning it's cut off from the rest of the grand aisle which is behind a full-height row of produce cases...

Although it's not a particularly beautiful store, it's in very good condition.

Seafood is on the right-side wall with deli on the back wall. Cheeses are opposite that, and cold cuts are on the back of the produce case I mentioned.

The rest of the meat department is on the back wall. The flooring is left over from a prior decor package.

This store was build around 1972, but I don't know if it's been a Shaw's its whole life. This is on the far eastern edge of Sturbridge, right near the Southbridge border.

Natural foods are on the front wall between the entrance and the registers. Shaw's has been removing natural foods departments and integrating the selections, so I don't know if this remains.

Like the Stop & Shop in town, this is a clean and orderly but not particularly exciting supermarket.

There's no service meat department, but here's the butcher window on the back wall.

As we can see, some of these fixtures are quite old. They're in good shape, but I wonder how much longer they'll be in use here.

This seems to be the less-popular supermarket in town, and it feels older and slightly less taken care-of than the Stop & Shop to the north. It's also just a mile and a half from a popular independent supermarket that we'll be touring tomorrow.

Still, there's no signs this store is in disrepair. Shaw's generally, like the other Albertsons banners, takes care of their stores, but this one has gotten very few upgrades that I have seen in other Shaw's.

The dairy department begins on the back wall of the store and continues down the last aisle.

Bakery is in the front left corner and again, the fixtures look rather old here.

Still, again, the store is attractive and well-stocked.

There's actually a dedicated area for sale and seasonal items in the front corner around from bakery. I had wondered if this was previously a pharmacy or something else, which is possible, but it seems that it never was something else.

And a look across the front-end, looking from the natural foods area back towards bakery...

That's all for this Shaw's, and we'll see plenty more Shaw's as we move across New England! In the meantime, though, let's head into Sturbridge -- the larger town in this area -- for a look at a few stores there!