TOUR: McKinnon's Supermarket - Wilmington, MA

McKinnon's Supermarket

Opened: 2022

Owner: Carl and Ed Penta

Previous Tenants: Lucci's Supermarket (1956-2022)

Cooperative: none

Location: 211 Lowell St, Wilmington, MA

Photographed: July 8, 2023

Here in Wilmington, a longtime independent supermarket was recently taken over by a local chain. Lucci's Supermarket first opened in Wilmington in 1956, but in 2022, the 20,000 square foot store was sold to McKinnon's Supermarkets, a chain of five stores in northeastern MA and southern NH.

It still has an old-school feel, but it's been nicely fixed up. Lucci's appears to have done a renovation shortly before selling the store. Produce and some frozen are in the first aisle on the left side, which is labeled aisle 10. Additional frozen and packaged meat line the back wall, and the rest of the perimeter departments are in an expansion in the back-right corner, with the rest of meat, deli, prepared foods, and bakery in that corner. Dairy lines the right side wall of the store.

It looks like McKinnon's may have reset the store once they moved in, since ice cream is no longer under this sign on the back wall.

Here's a look across the back of the store. You can see, on the far side of the store, the expansion where the service departments are. Grocery aisles are to the right...

Some pretty old-school bread shelves here, which I like. I also like that it looks like the store has been kept up nicely for years, since although many parts are old it doesn't feel neglected or outdated.

Now as we go around the corner into the back expansion, we have deli on the right side and meats on the left side, with rows of packaged prepared foods and some baked goods in the middle.

Frozen meats are on the back wall, along with this sign that, at least as of my 2023 visit was still thanking customers for shopping Lucci's.

I don't know if this is an oversight or an intentional decision to keep the Lucci's name around in the store.

We'll see a couple more McKinnon's stores, too, although I've only actually been inside one other location. Dairy lines the outside of the last aisle...

...and I wonder if there was previously a service department in this front corner, such as deli prior to the expansion in the back.

This is a very pleasant small-town supermarket, and it's nice to see that it's living on as an independent supermarket even when the original owners sold it. Tomorrow we're headed about three miles west for a look at a couple stores in Burlington!