Shop 'n Save
Opened: 2015
Supermarkets are in all manner of converted buildings. Banks, theaters, drugstores, and more. And of course that results in supermarkets being in all kinds of strange shapes. But how many supermarkets do you know of that are round?
Technically, the Ayer Shop 'n Save is a tetradecagon, with 14 sides that make it essentially a circle. Just check out an aerial photo -- it's basically round. Why is that? I truly don't know. The building dates back to before 1963, the first historic aerial photo of the area available, and it's unclear if it was originally a supermarket (but I assume it wasn't). It was a Victory Market by the 2000s, and Hannaford acquired Victory in 2004. At some point between 2008 and 2016, Hannaford sold the store to an independent Shop 'n Save owner, and Shop 'n Save is a loose cooperative or franchise supplied by Hannaford.
Inside, the oddly-shaped store looks fairly normal, but still has its Hannaford decor.
The strange shape makes for a slightly awkward layout, and you can see there was actually a small expansion out the front that now houses the front-end. Deli and bakery (there's no in-store bakery as far as I could tell) are in the front right corner, with meat on the rest of the right side. Frozen meat and dairy line the back wall, with frozen foods on the left side in the second-to-last aisle and produce in the last aisle.
The store appears to be just over 25,000 square feet.
I suspect the decor was painted after Hannaford left, since I don't think these are standard Hannaford colors. Then again, I'm not overly familiar with this decor package, which if I'm not mistaken came just before this one. I think this decor package, in its full form, looks like this.
My assumption, then, is that this decor dates back to Hannaford's acquisition of Victory, when the store was probably remodeled (or shortly thereafter).
As far as I could tell, the store was clean, well-stocked, and seemed well-run.
Beer in one of the grocery aisles here.
All the fixtures look older, but they're mostly in good shape.
An interesting look at the decor here, on the angled (round, almost!) back wall.
Produce is in the last aisle, on the other side of the freezers on the left side.
Because of the setup of the walls, there's no decor in the produce aisle. Instead, the signage for this department is on the wall above, so it's visible from the rest of the store.
The front-end is located in the (normal, rectagularly-shaped) expansion on the front.
It's hard to capture how round the store is from the ground level, but here's a look around back, where you can get an idea.
Opened: 2015
Owner: Mike Szelest
Previous Tenants: Victory Markets (closed 2004) > Hannaford (2004-2015)
Cooperative: Hannaford franchise
Location: 22 Fitchburg Rd, Ayer, MA
Photographed: October 9, 2021
If I had a nickel for every round supermarket in Massachusetts, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's kind of strange that there are two of them. And we'll tour the other one once we get out to the Boston area! From today's unusual stop, tomorrow's tour is a very normal store in the next town over, about four miles east. Come back to check it out!
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