Stop & Shop
Opened: between 1996 and 2001
Owner: Ahold Delhaize
Previous Tenants: none
Cooperative: none
Location: 36 New State Hwy, Raynham, MA
Photographed: October 13, 2024
Closing Date: October 31, 2024
This weekend is going to be a packed weekend! I'm already posting through the weekend with a look at
former grocers of northeastern Worcester, and we're adding to that a bunch of Stop & Shop and other stores today and tomorrow. This Raynham location is a last-minute addition to the collection of closing Stop & Shop locations we're seeing, as I was just here last weekend.
The store measures around 64,000 square feet and was constructed as a new-build between 1996 and 2001. I'm not sure if it replaced an older store nearby. It appears to have received a minor renovation around 2005-2008, and it's unusual to see one of these gray-siding exterior stores with the Taste & Time decor inside. Those built with this decor package looked like
this outside, most of the time.
Like most of the
other closing stores, this one is scheduled to close on the afternoon of Halloween.
I'm pretty sure this store would've opened with
this decor, or else this was a real anomaly. Of course, that's not impossible at all -- the floor doesn't really give us many clues, but it seems to vaguely resemble
this (more than what I linked in Jackson).
The store was completely deserted when I visited, but there was still certain merchandise out. There were two employees behind the deli counter, but the deli counter wasn't open.
The natural foods department had already been cleaned out completely, and as we'll see several departments were already gone.
It's a standard Super Stop & Shop layout, with floral and natural foods on the left side in the front of the grand aisle. Deli and prepared foods are behind that on the left, with seafood and cheese at the back and produce on the right of the grand aisle. Meat and dairy line the back wall of the store, with frozen and bread on the right side. Bakery and a (previously closed) pharmacy are in the front right corner.
The store felt really desolate, not just because it was missing stock and customers but because some sections of the refrigeration had already been permanently closed up with their covers pulled down over them.
It does look like this store was kept pretty clean, though. The fixtures and flooring look shiny and nice. The flooring, though, does show several signs of age throughout the store.
This store competes most directly with a Shaw's just half a mile east, which all indications suggest is a very high-volume store. It has the latest Shaw's decor package (although most Shaw's have been renovated to that decor package) and was quite busy when I visited. Walmart and Target are both within a short drive away, and Taunton just to the west has a Hannaford along with two locations of local chain Trucchi's. Those stores, of which I visited one, strike me as particularly well-run independent supermarkets that are competitive with Shaw's and Hannaford.
This store didn't have a service seafood department anymore by this time. It looks like they once did.
Notice that the decor is scaled down and rearranged slightly to accommodate the lower ceilings of this generation of Super Stop & Shop stores; normally the Ocean & Tide lettering would be stacked on top of the blue SEAFOOD bar.
Many aisles had already completely emptied out, still a couple weeks before the store is set to close...
...and others were very sparse.
The meat department still had some stock, although a lot of it was empty. Notice the decor here has been made into a series of posters that are mounted on the diagonal ceiling. Obviously, this signage has not aged well, but the store doesn't look particularly outdated other than these cosmetic issues.
It's possible Trucchi's could be interested in opening a new location here, although I believe this one is a bit larger than their average location. Their County St. store in Taunton is about 45,000 square feet, 20,000 square feet smaller than this one. Or, perhaps Big Y could be interested, since they always seem to be on the prowl for new locations and have been turning out some exceptional stores lately. Although Massachusetts favorite Market Basket always wants new stores, they require buildings a bit bigger than this one.
Any of that, of course, assumes this space remains a supermarket, which is far from a given.
This store had a surprising amount of HABA (most stores cleared out their HABA early on) -- although the majority of what was left was makeup and similar items.
Some other random personal care items had been condensed into this area.
But most of the department was completely empty...
Here we can see the adapted department signage, but we can also see how poorly the decor aged.
Here's what this signage should've looked like. I'm a bit surprised they never painted the ceiling panels around these signs beige to match the design of the other stores.
My guess is that the lit strip of trim running above all the departments
originally looked like this, in the previous decor package. That's in
Jackson. You can see that, even closure aside,
Shaw's was looking better for a while. Since the Shaw's renovation was somewhat minimal and no different from what they're doing in other locations, I doubt that's what killed this store, but I'm not aware of any other major openings in the area that would've done this location in. Maybe it was more of a slow decline.
Nonfoods stocked fairly well, but definitely thinning out.
Here's another look across the back wall. You can tell the store doesn't have the typical flooring of this era, such as what Jackson has. But I don't believe its flooring was changed when it was renovated.
Many stores of this era got updated freezer cases; this one never did. I would bet these date back to the store's opening.
In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if all of the fixtures are original and the ca. 2005 renovation was strictly a decor change -- possibly Shaw's renovated around that time, too.
A look down the last aisle. Here we can see some signs of age, with the fixtures and flooring.
The bakery department was all but cleaned out, but they still had out fresh loose rolls in the case. Wouldn't that be something you assume is stopped right away when the store is set to close?
A look across the vast expanse where bakery and pharmacy used to be. The decor can take up a bit more space on these walls, but again notice that it's scaled-down compared to what we typically see. No lit department signage, the text is simply printed on the picture panel rather than mounted in front of it, and so on.
The pharmacy had previously been closed and walled in here. You can see where the signage would've been, though.
One indicator that this store didn't open with this decor package is that stores of the model that uses this decor package would've roughly switched where the bakery and floral departments were. In stores built with this decor, floral is typically where this pharmacy was, and pharmacy would be where bakery is here. Bakery, meanwhile, would be where floral is in this store. Natural foods would've been in the last aisle(s) rather than in the grand aisle.
So that wraps up our look at the Raynham Stop & Shop, but there's a lot more to see today!
Maybe since they are closing stores on October 31st, they should announce that people can come at 3pm and they'll hand out leftover merchandise as a "Trick or Treat" special ;)
ReplyDeleteTrick or treat! Here's some Lysol and an orange! I love this idea!
DeleteThat welcome sign in the second interior shot is bizarre! The text is so small you would need binoculars to read it, yet 2/3 of the sign is empty. Really could have been set up to be an easier read and more visually appealing.
ReplyDeleteI agree, and I can't say I recall seeing it in other locations. This store's whole decor package is slightly off, given that (like I said, as far as I can tell) it was an awkward retrofit.
Delete