Supermarket aficionados would be hard-pressed to have missed the literally dozens of headlines yesterday about Stop & Shop store closures. After I wondered why so many stores were in such bad shape (and then followed up twice), it seemed to me like an announcement was imminent. And on May 23, at Ahold Delhaize's Strategy Day, the US CEO announced that store closures were coming, along with intensifying the remodeling program and making changes to product mix and pricing. See this thread for some quotes from that meeting. I've seen some minor tweaks to product mix in certain stores and ads promoting thousands of new lower prices, along with matching tags, so that part of the strategy is coming along quickly (although these changes seem to be sporadic and fairly minor). Finally, yesterday, Stop & Shop announced a list of 32 stores to be closed by November 2 of this year. Personally, I can't say many of the inclusions on the list are big surprises, at least among the stores I'm familiar with. But I also wonder if there's more to come -- quite a few stores that are clearly struggling aren't slated for closure. In the next few years, as more stores are remodeled, I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few more store closures of stores that continue to underperform and therefore don't warrant a remodel. (A comment on Reddit claims this is the first set of 90 total closures to be announced, but I'm not sure I believe that just yet.) Of those on this list, I don't think a lot of them will remain supermarkets, although maybe I'll be surprised. That said, here's a look at the full list, along with my thoughts on the stores I've been to.
Connecticut
Ansonia, CT: 100 Division St
Competition: ShopRite and ALDI across the street; Target 3/4 mi N; Big Y 2 mi SE
Danbury, CT: 72 Newtown Rd
Competition: Walmart and ALDI across the street; Target 1 mi NE; Stew Leonard's 1 1/3 mi N; Price Rite 2 mi SW; CTown 2 mi W; ShopRite 2 mi NW; Big Y 2 mi NE; ShopRite 2 mi NE; Big Y 2 mi E
Another Stop & Shop location remains in Danbury at 44 Lake Ave Extension.
Milford, CT: 855 Bridgeport Ave
Competition: Big Y and ALDI 2/3 mi N; ShopRite 2 mi E
Another Stop & Shop location remains in Milford at 1360 E Town Rd.
Stamford, CT: 1937 W Main St
Competition: ShopRites across the street and 2 mi E; ACME 5/6 mi W
Another Stop & Shop location remains in Stamford at 2200 Bedford St.
Torrington, CT: 211 High St
Competition: ALDI 5/6 mi NE; Price Rite 1 mi N; Big Y 2 mi NE
Another Stop & Shop location remains in Torrington at 931 Torringford St.
Massachusetts
Brockton, MA: 932 N Montello St
Competition: Price Rite 1 mi SE; Vicente's Supermarket 1 2/3 mi S; Market Basket & ALDI 2 3/4 mi SW
Another Stop & Shop location at 683 Belmont St in Brockton closed in 2020. Brockton is Shaw's hometown, but it's also a lower-income city. This store was announced for closure in 2023, then the closure was reversed. The local paper refers to it as "whiplash".
Halifax, MA: 341 Plymouth St
Competition: Walmart next door; no other supermarkets within 2 miles
Newton, MA: bfresh Market, 165 Needham St
Competition: Baza Gourmet across the street (Russian grocer); Whole Foods 1 1/3 mi N; Trader Joe's 1 3/4 mi SW; Wegmans 2 mi E
This store is complicated. It opened in 2018 as the first new small-format store under the Stop & Shop banner. Stop & Shop eventually introduced small-format stores in the Boston area under the bfresh banner, and this store transitioned to the bfresh banner in 2020. It was the only remaining bfresh location. Here's some of my 2019 pictures:
Pembroke, MA: 24 Mattakeesett St
Competition: no other supermarkets within 2 miles
Another Stop & Shop location remains in Pembroke at 125 Church St.
Raynham, MA: 36 New State Hwy
Competition: Shaw's 1/3 mi E; ALDI 3/4 mi E; Trucchi's Supermarkets 1 1/4 mi S (local chain); Walmart 1 1/2 mi E
Shrewsbury, MA: 539-571 Boston Tpk
Competition: Price Chopper 1 mi E; Whole Foods 1.5 mi W; Trader Joe's and Shaw's 2 mi W; Market Basket 2 mi S
It won't be long before we're in this part of the Worcester area! I have photographed this store and all the others I mention above; this is definitely a low-traffic store but I'm actually a bit surprised it's closing. When I was here in 2021, it was quiet but not in bad shape at all and fairly pleasant. It might have been built as a Shaw's, or at the very least it was planned to be one because its architecture is distinctively Shaw's, and not Stop & Shop at all. My guess is the Shrewsbury Market Basket did this store in; Stop & Shop locations on Grafton Street in Worcester and Worcester Street in Grafton (yes, I know, it sounds ridiculous but it's true) are also around two miles from the Shrewsbury Market Basket. Expect more info on this store and the others around it in a few months when we get to this area!
Springfield, MA: 415 Cooley St
Competition: Big Y across the street; other Stop & Shop and Big Y 1 3/4 mi SW
Stop & Shop locations remain in Springfield at 1277 Liberty St and 1600 Boston Rd. Because Springfield is Big Y's hometown, I think other grocers that aren't specialized in some way (such as focusing on Latin American foods) have had trouble sticking around. Stop & Shop is keeping two Springfield locations, though.
Worcester, MA: 545 Lincoln St
Competition: Target next door; ALDI across the street
Stop & Shop locations remain in Worcester at 949 Grafton St and 940 W Boylston St. Again, shortly we will take an in-depth look at this store and its nearby competition. I'm surprised this is the one to be closing -- there's very little competition in the immediate area, as compared to the Grafton Street one which is close to a Price Chopper and a Market Basket, or the West Boylston Street one, which is around the corner from a beautiful Market 32. My 2019 pictures:
New Jersey
Carlstadt, NJ: 625 Paterson Ave
Competition: ShopRite 1/2 mi W; ALDI 1 mi S; Aisle One 2 mi W (kosher supermarket);SuperFresh and CTown 2 mi NW
I knew this one would be closing sooner or later. A brand-new ShopRite replaced a closed Food Basics just down the street about ten years ago, and Stop & Shop seems to have been letting the store slowly wind down since. Here's my pictures from earlier this year:
Edison, NJ: 1083 Inman Ave
Competition: The Fresh Grocer 2 mi E
Both locations in Edison are closing. It's not surprising to me that the one on Route 1 is -- more on that shortly -- but this one got a remodel around 2015-2018, and although it's smaller and older, it's quite nice if fairly low-volume, from what I can tell. I don't know if the major renovation at The Fresh Grocer just east on Inman Ave did this one in, but I could see an independent supermarket such as a Foodtown moving in here. (And if that feels right, it's because this store was a Foodtown prior to Stop & Shop.) Here's my pictures from this spring...
Edison, NJ: 1049 US-1 S
Competition: ALDI, Walmart, and Whole Foods 1 mi NW; Lotte Plaza Market 1 mi NE (Korean supermarket); ShopRite 1 1/2 mi SW
This one seemed to me to be pretty low-volume and was last updated in the early 00s, so it felt like a candidate for closure even back in 2020 when I visited.
Howell, NJ: 4861 US-9
Competition: Target next door; ALDI and Walmart across the street; ShopRite 3/4 mi N; Gourmet Glatt 1 3/4 mi S (kosher supermarket)
This is an absolute no-brainer for closure. When I visited, I could count the number of customers on one hand. I only encountered two employees, who were standing in the middle of the front-end and talking -- a grocery clerk and a cashier, who had nothing to do because nobody was checking out. It's not an unattractive store, but it's been maintained poorly and suffers from a busy ShopRite just north.
Jackson, NJ: 2275 W County Line Rd
Competition: ShopRite 1 1/3 mi W
This store's closure had already been announced. The aging store appears to have hit the 20-year mark on its lease (although I'm not positive about that) and they've decided not to renew. A busy ShopRite just west serves as a hub for food shopping for a large area, and multiple kosher supermarkets in the area serve the region's large Orthodox Jewish population.
Phillipsburg, NJ: 1278 US-22
Competition: ShopRite across the street; Walmart next door; ALDI and Target 1/2 mi SE
This one doesn't surprise me either, given that it's so far removed from Stop & Shop's core New Jersey market area (it's 20 miles to the next Stop & Shop, but barely five miles to the nearest Giant over the PA border. The busy ShopRite directly across the highway probably doesn't help matters. And here's a few pictures from contributor Lucas:
.jpg "Special Report: Stop & Shop Closing 32 Stores (38)")
.jpg "Special Report: Stop & Shop Closing 32 Stores (39)")
Piscataway, NJ: 581 Stelton Rd
Competition: ShopRite, Asian Food Markets, and ALDI 1/2 mi S; Target 1 mi SE
The writing was on the wall for this store, and it was spelled out in Edwards decor. More than 20 years after Stop & Shop converted the New Jersey stores from Edwards, this one retains its Edwards decor in most of the store. The new ShopRite at Hadley Commons, replacing a much smaller Piscataway store, probably was the final nail in this store's coffin.
Point Pleasant Beach, NJ: 505 Richmond Ave
Competition: other Stop & Shop 2 mi SW
This store of just 17,000 square feet served the shore town for decades, previously as a Norkus Foodtown and now a Stop & Shop since around 2011. A specialty grocer called Joe Leone's is directly across the street; a larger, mainstream Stop & Shop is to the west inland a bit. It's possible this could return to an independent supermarket.
Ringwood, NJ: 130 Skyline Dr
Competition: no other supermarkets within 2 miles
This one's way out there in the forests of far-northern New Jersey. A former Grand Union, Ringwood got a light renovation around 2015 but retains most of its Grand Union interior and exterior. Cosmo's Fresh Market, an independent grocer, is a bit to the west in Hewitt, and it's possible they or a similar grocer could move in here. I'm a bit surprised that Basking Ridge, another outdated and small former Grand Union, isn't being closed.
Somerset, NJ: 1221 NJ-27
Competition: Tropical Supermarket 1 mi E; ALDI 1 mi NE; Tropical Supermarket and Fine Fare 1 1/2 mi NE; Food Universe 1 2/3 mi NE; Trader Joe's and LIDL 2 mi E;
Another Stop & Shop location remains in Somerset at 940 Easton Ave. I'm a little surprised the Easton Ave store isn't the one closing, since that's the one that seems to be in worse shape. But a vacant Kmart next door is being redeveloped into apartments, and S&S may have wanted to stick around for that.
New York
Brooklyn, NY: 2965 Cropsey Ave
Competition: Shop Fair 6 blocks south; Key Food and NetCost Market 4 blocks S/9 blocks E; Fine Fare 4 blocks S/10 blocks W; Key Food 1 mi E and 1 mi SW
Multiple other Brooklyn locations remain. This one is an acquired Pathmark that has definitely seen better days. Although it seems to be high-traffic, it was also a total mess when I was there earlier this year, with lots of empty shelves or messy displays. With the area's Russian population, I wouldn't be surprised if it became a brand-new NetCost Market. We've seen that conversion before, actually. Otherwise, Key Food always seems to be on the prowl for new NYC locations. This is the only NYC store closure currently.
Coram, NY: 294 Middle Country Rd
Competition: LIDL and ALDI 2 mi W
Greenvale, NY: 130 Wheatley Plz
Competition: Grace's Marketplace 1/2 mi N (small gourmet grocer); Holiday Farms 1 1/2 mi S; Holiday Farms 2 mi N; Whole Foods 2 mi W
Another acquired Pathmark.
East Meadow, NY: 2525 Hempstead Tpk
Competition: Walmart next door; Uncle Giuseppe's Marketplace 1/2 mi W; LIDL and Stew Leonard's 1 mi W; Key Food 1 mi N; King Kullen and Walmart Neighborhood Market 1 1/2 mi E
Hempstead, NY: 132 Fulton Ave
Competition: V&C Supermarket (Asian supermarket) and ALDI 1/2 mi E; Key Food and Bravo 1 mi E; CTown 1 mi S;Foodtown 1 1/2 mi E; other Stop & Shop and Cherry Valley Marketplace 1 1/2 mi W
I expect this store to be scooped up by another operator like a Key Food member or Food Bazaar or something in that category quickly.
Mount Vernon, NY: 240 E Sandford Blvd
Competition: Target next door; ShopRite 2/3 mi S; Manor Market 1 mi E; Food Bazaar, La Placita, and Foodtown 1 mi N; DeCicco & Sons 1 mi NE; Fine Fare and Gitto Farmers Market 1 1/2 mi SW; Key Food, Fine Fare, Foodtown, and Met Foods 1 1/2 mi W; Caribbean Supermarket 1 1/2 mi NW
A lot of competition around here, as we can tell. This store is right near the Bronx border, but it's not in the most accessible location. I suspect the conversion of the Fairway in Pelham, just to the south, to ShopRite has hurt the two nearby Stop & Shops (this one and a really rundown one on Co-Op City Blvd in the Bronx) because it's repositioned the store as less of a gourmet market and more of a mainstream supermarket with lower prices. It's possible an operator like Food Bazaar could take this store, but it's not in a great location; it's outside of town in a fairly industrial area, although it's near some other retail. This store seemed very busy when I visited yesterday, but rumor has it it's a fairly high-theft store. It does look quite nice, though, if a bit dated. But it's in excellent shape.
West Haverstraw, NY: 7 Samsondale Plz
Competition: Ideal Food Basket 1/2 mi S; ALDI and ShopRite 1 mi N; ShopRite 1 1/3 mi W
This is a former Inserra ShopRite, which closed around 2005. It's an aging store but seems busy enough, so it's possible the lease term was up or something.
Rhode Island
Johnston, RI: 11 Commerce Way
Competition: Price Rite and Market Basket across the street; ALDI 1/2 mi S; SuperFresh 1 2/3 mi E
Providence, RI: Eastside Marketplace, 176 Pittman St
Competition: Whole Foods 2 blocks N; Trader Joe's 1 mi SW; Shaw's and other Stop & Shop 1.5 mi E; Whole Foods 1.5 mi NW; other Stop & Shop 2 mi NW
Multiple locations remain in Providence. Between this and the closure of bfresh in Newton, it marks the end of Stop & Shop using alternative banners and store formats. All remaining locations are under the S&S name and roughly within the same format.
