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