[UPDATE] Dutch Country Market and Valley Housewares

**This is an update to A Brief Tour of Dutch Country Market and Valley Housewares, originally published on July 15, 2022**

Returning to Fort Plain, some interesting developments have happened with these two businesses.

In regards to Dutch Country Market, they now occupy the entire space. You will see some changes inside.

Immediately we see the concrete flooring has been given epoxy to give it a terrazzo look.

The old Valley Housewares space has also been given the epoxy treatment to the floor. It has also been repurposed to house an expanded grocery section, with both food and nonfood items.

Cart Tax: A new set of carts were added in this update. A set of Versacart EXpress5050 carts (above) were added in alongside the Kmart Technibilt 5341 carts. The S-Series 160L carts shown below replaced the Kmart Technibilt 3440 and Peggs KNM400 for customer use.

Valley Housewares would have into the building next to Dutch Country Market.

Like the front portion of the Dutch Country Market, it has a corrugated metal ceiling. This store had a nicer concrete floor.

Cart Tax: The Ames Uniteds from 2000 made the move to the new building. All of them had the same 5-00 date of manufacture and odd MFG. info formatting.

The James St. Wegmans Revisited + Sabaton in Syracuse

Like Retail or Rammstein?, this post features both retail and concert photos from the previous day's trip. However the latter photos were not that great, so we will be seeing more of the retail photos.

With 45 minutes to spare before the concert started, my brother and I stopped into the James Street Wegmans. While I have visited this store numerous times before, none of the photos were posted here. In 2023, this store, along with basically every other store except DeWitt had the old block logo replaced with the current logo as shown here. A photo from November 2019 of this store with its old logo can be seen here.

Before we go inside the store, I would like to refer to Random Retail's post of this store before it got updated.

Apparently this store had been updated, and the layout had changed. The health and beauty items seen past the cheese section were moved to the left side of the store.

Take note of that beverage section past the registers - that was where the floral section used to be.

Aisle 1 is all water products, and is also the back corridor, which is lined with meat products.

While aisle 12 is uncategorized, it is primarily lined with snack foods.

This used to be a walkway splitting the horizontal A/B aisles into two sections. They were combined into one in this update.

Part of the dairy section, with various cheeses being housed here. Also take note of the 70s-style diagonal wood which has managed to survive throughout the years.

Health and beauty items line the front left corner of the store. That concludes the Tour de Wegmans. Now, off to the Empower Amphitheater.

Sabaton was the opener for Judas Priest here at Lakeview. We only stayed through a small part of Judas Priest's set to eat before leaving to avoid heavy traffic.

Where else but Sabaton can you find a guitar tech willing to dress in a pink rabbit suit?

To amuse the audience further, Joakim plays a pink Hello Kitty guitar during Resist and Bite. This was my favorite part of their performance.

While nothing can top a Rammstein performance, good times were had with The Tour To End All Tours. Also got a nice shirt there, which I will use to close out this post.

A Look Inside: Franklin Square Market

Previous Tenants: Price Chopper Limited (2012-2022), PDT Market (March-September 2023)

Location: 55 Railroad Place, Saratoga Springs, NY

Date Photographed: May 11, 2024

Today's post takes us back to the former Price Chopper Limited space, which we covered a few years back. This store became PDT Market in March 2023, a gourmet market with a cafe and bar owned by Chef Adam Foti. Foti stepped down in September 2023 to fully focus on PDT Catering. The store currently operates as Franklin Square Market.

The store's key service areas line the left side of the store. Produce is the center-rear of the store (pictured off to the right).

General grocery items are located in the center of the store. Non-food items, as well as the bar, are located along the front windows.

Beverages, as well as the creamery section are in the back right corner of the store.

[FLASHBACK] A Quick Look at Colonie's Energy-Efficient Price Chopper

Our next FLASH BACK post takes us to a replacement Price Chopper in a shopping center in Colonie. All photos were taken on November 17, 2017.

This store (#224, located at 1892 Central Ave.) opened on June 2, 2009, replacing the 1987-built #104 further up front in the plaza (currently Retro Fitness). This store is scheduled for replacement; they will be moving to the former ShopRite at 1730 Central Ave. UPDATE: The exact opening date for this store's replacement is June 14, 2024.

Inside the store, the flooring is concrete except for the main aisles (which are not shown in this set). Also of note is the presence of skylights. These, and a lighting control system allow for the lights to be dimmed whenever daylight is abundant. A gas fuel cell provides up to 60% of this store's power.

Looking from the back, we see the first aisles in front of the blur. As well as main areas of the store, even aisle ways are normally dimmed unless these sections are occupied.

On what appears to be the right-most portion of the store houses frozen foods and "the Kosher Store".

Where's the Sign? Walton Big M

Owner: Jim Groff

Previous Tenants: Great American

Cooperative: C&S Wholesale Grocers

Location: 204 Delaware Street, Walton, NY

Date Photographed: May 2, 2024

While Big M has been in town since at least 1975, they moved into this 23,000 sq.ft. store within the past 15 to 20 years. Around 2021, the Big M Supermarket sign was removed and was never replaced. And like many village stores, this one has a gas station (this one an older-model teal Valero).

This store also has a large variety of 2-tier express carts compared to the full-size carts. From top to bottom: a Unarco M48 dated 12-2011, a Technibilt dated 1 14, and an older grey one with black trim based on the style of the bumper caps.

It appears that most of the flooring and decor was left over from Great American. Also there is no Aisle 2; it appears most of it is produce. Perhaps these aisle markers are retrofits?

Aisle 3 here has nonfood items, such as HBC, stationery, and light hardware.

Front end with unique streetlamp-style register lane lights.

Deli department, which is placed up front and faces to the right.

Dairy lines the right-most wall. Also note the neon Milk sign; a cold beverages sign (not shown in this set) is also a neon sign.

The store's full size carts are these large, square-body United Steel & Wire carts. The ones with the round handle inserts (such as this one) are dated 3-03. There are older ones with smaller lettering, which are dated 4-92.

Cold cuts and meat line the back wall. Also note the themed flooring, which (again) seems to be a Great American leftover.

These containers of seasoning are sold exclusively through this store.

Frozen foods are in Aisle 4. Also note the distinct zig-zagged white tile on the ends. And that concludes our tour of this odd grocery store.