FLASHBACK: A Quick Look at Tops #702

 

In this edition of FLASH BACK, we go back to June 21, 2018 to visit a tiny Tops store with a stately 1990s look. Welcome to Bolton Landing, New York my fellow retail enthusiasts!

This 13,000 sq.ft. store as Grand Union was built in 1998 to replace a 30-year-old market (it is unclear if it was Grand Union or another supermarket) that caught fire in July 1997, opening June 25, 1998. In Adirondack fashion, this store went through the Grand Union > Tops > Grand Union Family Markets > Tops cycle. The pill sign is from its run as GU Family Markets. Curiously the exterior resembles the Schroon Lake location, but with one entrance on the front as opposed to two on the side.

Cart Tax: At the time of photographing this store, the store had Instore INS147s (donning Hannaford insignia as many Tops stores with these carts do) and a random Unarco M100Z I unjammed from some of the Instores. Can't remember if it was a 2005 or 2006, but it is yet another ambiguous Ahold cart. In the years since this store was photographed, they added a set of unspecified black shopping carts into the existing fleet.

Dollar Tree: Nothing's $1.00

As a result of rising prices, Dollar Tree is no longer a real dollar store, and nothing is $1.00. But has the appearance of their stores changed? Let's take a look into one of these:

As it would be false advertising to bear the $1.00 byline, it was removed, leaving some nasty scars. It would be safe to say other stores that had said byline will also don the same removal scars.

As a way of saving money on implementing a new decor package, they stuck new quotes over the existing "Million Dollar Brands!" and older "New Items Weekly" signage. I wonder what happened to stores with the red early 2000s decor package which prominently don the "Everything's $1.00" tagline.

Ain't this laughably bad? Rather than part with their only United, they put stickers on the sides but not the front (does that ring a bell anyone?), and even the filing job on the $1.00 was done poorly! I would hate to see what this would look like in stores that carry partial or full United fleets.

So, how are your Dollar Tree stores faring? Let us know in the comments!

- Retail Regents

From the Archives: Tops #587 and #569

Today's post covers the seventh and eighth soon-to-be Tops-to-Grand Union stores covered by the author of this blog.

Coverage of Tops #587 (Rome, NY) was done on May 21, 2018, and coverage of Tops #569 (Norwich, NY) was done on September 12, 2019.

 

Tops 587

This store was formerly an Ames department store. Tops sold this store to Penn Traffic in 2005, which operated this store as P&C Fresh from 2006 to 2010 when it became Tops for the second time. However, its time as Tops is to expire come January.

The brown checkered flooring seen here is from P&C.

Tops 569

This store and the shopping center was built on the site of the former headquarters of Victory Markets. This store was also sold to Penn Traffic and operated as a P&C Fresh.

Stopped & Topped: Cortland Tops

As this is another store to be converted to Grand Union, I feel it is necessary to showcase it before it gets converted.

All pictures were taken on July 17, 2020.

Typical 1990s-built store. But before we take a look inside, we have a cart tax to settle...

All of this is standard fare in most Tops stores, but...

Most of the full-sized shopping carts are unique ex-Stop & Shop units. One of the ones in the queue happened to have this exposed Stop & Shop logo, pictured here. However, I did not use it as it was jammed like many of the shopping carts.

This was was not jammed, but had an insert covering up the Stop & Shop logo. But here's what cannot be hidden...

That's right, this cart was manufactured in December 2006, which is fairly late for a cart of this design.

Another fairly typical cart for Tops, a 2005 Unarco M100Z. It appears that most if not all of these carts were replaced this year, as seen in the background of Random Retail's post on this store. The replacements appear to be Unarco M90ZXs with black bumpers/caps, and red handle inserts and seat flaps.

Now, to the interior!

Frozen foods, with an arched ceiling, which is fairly typical for Tops stores of this era.

So, who knows what changes C&S intends on making to this larger store when it becomes Grand Union.

Tops #713

As part of the Adirondack experience, let's look at another Tops stores that went through the cycle.

This store is located a 2 Gorman Way, Suite #1 in Peru, New York. This store is one of 12 stores required to be divested as a result of the Tops/Price Chopper merger. Supplier C&S Wholesale Grocers acquired this store and plans to convert it to the revived Grand Union concept.

Inside the store are striped sections of brown floor tile. Like several of their smaller stores, the first aisle serves as the produce section.

Red-on-white register lane light. Most of these stores usually have olive green and white register lane lights.

FLASHBACK: Oneida's Second Tops

In this edition of FLASH BACK, we go back to October 24, 2017 to visit a Tops store located 2 miles east of Oneida, in the village of Sherrill.

Like most Central New York stores, this is a converted P&C Foods store. This is currently one of twelve stores required to be divested as part of the Price Chopper/Tops merger, meaning this is soon to be under the new Grand Union nameplate as C&S Wholesale Grocers took over these stores under the affiliate GU Markets LLC.