From the Archives: Tops #722 and #724

In today's double-post, we look two Grand Union turned Tops stores not located in the Adirondacks that have rarely been mentioned since they were photographed.

Images of Tops #722 (Stamford, NY) were taken on March 29, 2019 and images of Tops #724 (Coxsackie, NY) were taken on the 1st of March and 12th of September, 2018.

Like #723, this one has the hut-style facade with metal siding. This store as Grand Union had green shingled siding. However, there is one little problem...

In front of the pylon sign is an Ames-branded United Steel & Wire shopping cart from 1999. Apparently these belong to the Core Values Thrift Store across the street, which ironically uses 1990s Grand Union shopping carts. The 2021 Google Street View also shows an Ames cart (possibly this one) in the same place as pictured above.

Cart Tax: This store also happens to have grey Instore carts. What is the story behind these? The full-sized carts prominently don Hannaford logos on their (original) seat flaps, and the express carts have square inserts over top the round handles. The strangest part is Hannaford stores have used the same model of cart(s) for the better end of seven years as replacements for their Precision Wire carts, so how did Tops get these?

In typical Grand Union fashion, the lighted canopy has replaced with a drop ceiling and generic grid lighting.

Now, onto the next store...

This store is an endcap to Hope Plaza.

Cart Tax: Standard 2015-era black shopping carts. Full size one is an Instore; express one unknown.

Rome Revisited, with extras!

Today's post looks at a rather disappointing look at another Tops that became Grand Union.

Our main course leaves a lot to be desired. After three months, the Rome, NY Grand Union still has temporary signage.

Cart Tax: Again, very few carts ever got re-branded. Carts shown here are a 2006 Technibilt #6240 (ex-P&C) and a 2004 Tote 1234 (unknown, likely Giant Eagle or Hannaford). Other carts not shown, but can seen in Bouncers: The Least Worst of Tops consist of Unarco M100Zs (a large number of carts here consisted of these, and only a few were re-branded), a grey 2011 Technibilt #3541, a black 2014 Technibilt #6240, and a 2004 Unarco M100.

Store still has the 2010-2013 era decor, albeit with Grand Union branding. The flooring is from when P&C operated here from 2006 to 2010.

 

Now, to wash away the bad taste from this visit...

The Save-a-Lot on Black River Boulevard North has gotten some updates. Let us take a look at those updates:

The shopping carts had decals with the current logo on a red background covering up the previous logo. This one is on a 2018 Unarco PC42.

The walls were painted dark grey with white lettering on decals. I do not understand what the purpose of signage such as that "Berry Much"seen to the left.

Cooperstown Revisited

In this post, we return to a Tops that became Grand Union outside the city limits of Cooperstown. Buckle up everyone!

By the time this store was photographed (on the 14th of June, 2022), the store got its permanent sign.

Now, I suppose we will start with the cart tax before we continue with the rest of the photoset shall we?

These dark green carts are the only ones that got re-badged with the Grand Union name. This being an ex-P&C Technibilt.

Much like the black Instore at the top, the 20 year old ex-P&C Unarcos have not been re-branded. Like when it was Tops, some bear Tops branding on the handles while some still have a P&C FOODS wordmark on the handle. This is one was re-branded as Tops, and is dated 4-00 as opposed to almost every other Unarco here.

Vestibule with the cart bay behind the right-hand entrance.

Garden Fresh Produce sign. Like most of the decor, it is more likely a rare P&C remnant not seen in other stores.

Registers, with re-badged Penn Traffic-era checkstands.

Deli and Bakery run along the left corner of the store.

Lunch meats and seafood run along the back wall of the store. The baseball team names are still present.

Frozen foods, which runs from front to back along the right-hand side of the store. Also noticeable are the old-style coffin coolers, with portable coolers amusingly displayed on top of them.

Re-badged Penn Traffic-era aisle signage.

Grand Union covered up the "Your neighborhood store with MORE." slogan from Tops. It appears this may have been a pharmacy when it was P&C.

From the Archives: Last Looks at Lansingburgh #010

Wednesday we took a look at a Price Chopper store that missed the compilation post The Good, Bad, and Ugly of 2019. Today's post shows another Price Chopper located across the river from the previous one, however this one has closed since the store was photographed. This store was also photographed on September 3, 2019.

Another thing before we start: to keep the post free of clutter, there will be no cart tax; rather you can see the rest of this store's shopping carts here, here, here, here, and here.

An almost-full view of the exterior. The Price Chopper space was originally built circa 1976, and was certainly expanded given this glass-and-pillar facade. The glass front lacks a byline, a rare feature also seen on the Vails Gate store. The space to the left of the facade was a pharmacy space, last anchored by Rite Aid, and whose entrance was bricked in after the exterior was repainted from grey to this brown color. This store closed on February 29, 2020 and was last occupied by Troy Waterfront Farmers Market for a short time after Price Chopper left.

As this is a store from the 1970s, the lighting consists of long rows of generic suspended fixtures.

A look into a frozen foods aisle showing blue tile grid.

Fresh dairy along the right-hand wall. Bread is to the left, a feature seen in older stores/layouts.

Fresh produce area, with black tile grid.

Looking at these two pictures, it appears the produce area is an expansion to the original store. Also note the rows of lighting are clustered together more closely in this section than in the rest of the store.

Deli in the back right corner of the store.

Do you have any additional information or would like to make corrections? Please feel free to leave a comment!

- Retail Regents

From the Archives: Lighting in the Ceiling - Price Chopper in Cohoes, NY

We are taking a look at a tiny Price Chopper that missed the 2019 compilation post The Good, Bad, and Ugly of 2019. Are you ready?

All photos taken on September 3, 2019.

Fairly plain boxy exterior. This store dates back to the Central Market days. It is not clear with the metal roofline was painted orange, since the interior is nowhere near as modern as that paint job.

Aisle 1, which like many older, smaller supermarkets has both produce and condiments.

Aisle 10 at the very end, which houses paper products, dairy, alcoholic beverages, and bread.

Individual glances at the front end. Notice the nondescript white checkstand lights and lighting placed above the drop ceiling tiles.