[MINI-POST] The Five Corners gets an ALDI

On the fifteenth day of September, two thousand and twenty two, ALDI has opened a new store providing easy access to the residents of the Bellevue neighborhood and Broadway corridor.

This new ALDI store relocated from an older, outdated store at Woodlawn Plaza on State Street in Schenectady. The site was previously home to CVS Pharmacy #4610 (née Save Way Market) and Taylor & Vadney Sporting Goods.

Inside it looks like a typical modern ALDI store.

Corporate minimalism has struck with ALDI; these shopping carts now use the ALDI "A" symbol as opposed to the ALDI wordmark. Manufactured in 2022 by Wanzl North America.

Cortland Revisited, with extras!

This post, which should have been done a month earlier, takes us to another Tops turned Grand Union, an updated discount grocery store, and another one with little to no changes whatsoever.

All photos taken on 4 August 2022.

This is a typical 1990s Tops building, which dons a stacked Grand Union logo. The store's grand opening was on the 5th of March.

Overall, the store's decor was left over from a 2000s decor package. Not much to see here, except for the store's absurd shopping carts. The store had 2019 Unarco M90ZXs, which Tops ordered to replace a set of mixed carts that were notorious for being jammed together.

On the other side of 222 is the Save-a-Lot, which recently lost its contradicting features.

Inside the store has been updated to their latest decor package, which seems like an attempt at trying to be more upmarket than they really are.

Retail or Rammstein?

Today's post is not particularly fruitful when it comes to retail, but as the title suggests, some good old fashioned Rammstein! This is not a post I regularly do, so bear with me!

Pictures taken on the 9th and 10th of September, 2022 in the cities of Milford and Foxborough, Massachusetts.

Stop & Shop, which opened in 2017 as a replacement for a store at Quarry Square. No interior photos were taken.

Like the store, the shopping carts are colorless, however these 2021 Wanzl NA #3541 carts replaced a set of Unarco M100Zs.

Target T-1281, which originally opened in October 2000.

Store has Bemis shopping carts, though their time is most likely up.

Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, home to the New England Patriots, but that is not why we were here. This was Rammstein's first performance at this venue. It was originally scheduled for September 6, 2020, then September 8, 2021, but postponed to September 9, 2022.

Oh, and please disregard the random man in the photo.

Rammstein blimp, with people taking photos of those standing in front of it.

And now, for some images from the show:

Perhaps the best pyrotechnic display was during "Sonne."

The concert wrapped up at around 10:30 PM. Felt pretty sore from the headbanging and thigh pounding I did throughout.

Earlier today, before leaving the hotel to return to NY, I decided to snap two final candid retail pics:

The T.J. Maxx and HomeGoods stores shown here are a combination store, and were originally a Kmart Foods and was last a gym prior to the space being redeveloped. The Stop & Shop in this strip was originally Kmart #3138, which operated from 1974 to 2014.

Next week, we will return to our regularly scheduled programming of pure retail!

bis Übermorgen!

- Retail Regents

A Trip Through the Green Mountain State

Today's post is another compilation post, this time a set of various sights around western Vermont. The Green Mountains await you!

A REMODEL AT SHAW'S
Manchester

The arched windows on this store easily identify it as being a former Grand Union location. The trim around the logo used to be green.

Inside, it appears the grand aisle on the right-most side of the store is an add-on based on the open ceiling. Deli is on the right and bakery is in the back.

Gripping the cart tightly, we look over to the main section of the store. Also notable is the new woodgrain flooring, which replaced white tile.

Frozen foods aisle still bearing tile. Other aisles have had their tile replaced with linoleum.

UP MOUNT EQUINOX WE GO!

Arlington

At the Summit is The Saint Bruno Scenic Viewing Center, built in 2012 on the site of the former Sky Line Inn.

A couple pictures facing north. The mountains at the left-most side are part of the Adirondack Mountains in New York while the one in the foreground is Bald Mountain in Vermont.

Various views from the south, which include from top to bottom: Little Equinox, with Spruce Peak and Grass Mountain behind it; Stratton Mountain and Mount Snow with New Hampshire in the distance toward the left. The last few photos are additional views of Little Equinox.

A NASTY LABELSCAR AND MORE ABSURD CARTS

Rutland

This store was the only Tops store outside of New York state to be divested. This store was originally Grand Union, however it did not go through "The Cycle", rather staying as GU before becoming Tops in 2013, with a gabled facade that cheapens the exterior. It became Grand Union for the second time in March 2022, leaving quite the nasty Tops labelscar.

Technibilt from 2013, now bearing the Grand Union name. The carts next to it are express Bemis units.

Smaller Instore unit, which had the Tops embossings covered up with black tape (well, not all of them).

A display of SmartWater under an umbrella. This store also got the unusual produce remodel with the black ceiling.

Another full-sized Bemis cart with the badly cut Grand Union logo. This is not the first time we have seen a store carry all-plastic Bemis shopping carts; we have previously seen these in the Cortland, New York location, which can be seen in Volume 8, Section 1 (photos 8.96 and 8.97).

Front actionway of the store. Note the accent lighting recessed above the ceiling above the registers.

THIRD TIME'S A CHARM

Rutland

This store bears the architecture of two former retailers - the metal awning and outer areas of the boxy facade of Hannaford, and the middle section of its successor, Hobby Lobby. Hannaford moved to the former Stop & Shop further down Route 4 while Hobby Lobby would close in February 2019. Ocean State Job Lot opened this store on July 13, 2019. And like many Job Lot stores, the shopping carts are diverse. See Vultures! The Worst of Ocean State Job Lot for the carts this store uses.

Even with yellow wall paint, the interior still resembles Hobby Lobby. Not shown was a section on the right side of the store which was converted to backroom space.

That wraps up this post - stay tuned for more retail around the Northeast!

- Retail Regents