Again, the Capital District has gone into a tizzy and a topspin. And it all has to do with grocery stores.
- “Oh my God, we’re getting a second Shop Rite! Praise the Lord, we gotta get there on Opening Day, because if we don’t, the food won’t taste as good!”
- “Oh my God, Price Chopper changed is AdvantEDGE card program again, now we gotta spend $100 for 10 cents off of gasoline! Waah! Waaaah!!”
- “Oh my God, my best friend’s cousin’s neighbor’s mistress, who knows someone in Buffalo, claims that Wegmans might move into the old Ford plant on Green Island! Or maybe it was the old First Prize slaughterhouse off I-90! Or maybe both places!!”
Would you people PLEASE calm down?
Listen to me. They are GROCERY STORES, for crying out loud. You go there to buy bread and milk and meat and fish and toilet paper and garbage bags. You are not going there to get Justin Bieber’s autograph or a personal performance of A Prairie Home Companion.
Price Chopper is a grocery store. It is not a religion. You don’t receive baptism in Aisle 1, confirmation in Aisle 3, and a confessional in Aisle 6. It’s our local supermarket chain, it was once known as Central Markets – see vintage logotype at right – and they competed in our area with Saveway and A&P and Grand Union. Eventually A&P moved out, Grand Union folded, and I don’t know what happened to Saveway. But be that as it may, Price Chopper has been our local grocery store chain for as long as anyone can remember.
And it’s also taken a lot of heat from its customers. It’s the “Big Bad” of supermarkets in the area, people claim they shop there because they have no other choice. Oh, Hannaford’s going to come into the Capital District, they’ll take out Price Chopper in a heartbeat! Hasn’t happened, has it? Oh, Shop Rite will destroy Price Chopper in a heartbeat. Hmm… Shop Rite opened its first upstate store right in Price Chopper’s back yard and I don’t see the Golubs trembling in fear.
Listen. We have more grocery stores in the Capital District than we know what to do with. We have Price Chopper. We have Hannaford. You could count the discount stores like Aldi and Save-A-Lot. We have the mega-stores like Walmart and Target both selling groceries. And that’s not even counting the 6,000 Stewarts stores in the area, or the Trader Joe’s that’s on its way here. Pfft. A Trader Joe’s that can’t even sell Two Buck Chuck in New York State. Not impressed.
When I lived with my maternal grandparents for a few years in the early 1970’s, they always shopped at Grand Union. There were Grand Union stores all over the region. The pantry was filled with Grand Union-branded foods – canned vegetables and dry goods and the like. I think, to be totally honest, we shopped there because it was convenient at the time. We could have gone to Carnevale’s or Sleasman’s or a dozen other single-owner stores if we so chose. But Grand Union had everything we needed. There are still some Grand Union stores – mostly in the North Country as “Grand Union Family Markets” – but not in the Albany-Schenectady-Troy area. Bummer.
Now on weekends, when my parents would pick me up and I would spend the weekend with them in that rusted-out double-deep double-wide in the North Country, they shopped at the local Central Market. As I established before, that’s Price Chopper today. Both Central and Grand Union had the same foods – okay, Grand Union had the Triple S blue stamps which my maternal grandmother collected, and I think Price Chopper had S&H green stamps… but that was maybe the biggest difference between the two.
And of course there was Albany Public Market. They were all over the area; you could buy nearly anything you needed at an Albany Public. I think at one point in time they were located at 711 Central Avenue – right near where the newly-built Shop-Rite is today. Then they moved to Westgate Shopping Center – right where the current Price Chopper is today. Noticing a trend? Eventually Albany Public Markets were purchased by another store chain, Weis Supermarkets, and what was once a dominant force in the local supermarket culture – heck, open an old copy of the TU and there’s four full pages of Albany Public Market ads per issue – was gone.
I remember that Delmar had an A&P, which if I recall correctly was one of the first big grocery store chains in the Northeast. The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, I believe that was its original name. Probably couldn’t fit all of that on a single neon or backlit sign. The only thing I do remember about A&P was that they had Eight O’Clock Coffee, a coffee brand you could actually grind and pour in bags RIGHT AT THE STORE. I think one of my aunts used to make special trips to A&P just to buy the freshly-ground Eight O’Clock Coffee. I would go with them; the coolest thing about Eight O’Clock Coffee was that you could smell that roasted freshness as the coffee grinder crunched up the beans and poured the remains into those foil bags. You could never match that smell once the coffee came out of the percolator, however…
Here’s what I’m getting at, though. We hate when our local area is referred to by others as “Smallbany,” that the populace is a bunch of rubes and hicks and hayseeds in the hills. And yet the minute one of our grocery stores does anything out of the ordinary – moves into the area, moves out of the area, buys a church to build a new store on the land, claims to move into our area but doesn’t – we react with the same excitement and enthusiasm and shock as if Pearl Jam and Bruce Springsteen were going to play a double bill free concert at LarkFest.
As long as whatever store that moves into our area sells milk and meats and my basic essentials, and it’s at a price that I can afford, then all is well for me. Trust me.
Now if we get a Kroger or a Food Lion or a Piggly Wiggly… look out, folks… 🙂
Oh, and one more thing. Regarding Price Chopper changing the rules for their AdvantEDGE card so that you have to spend $100 to get 10c off your gas? Listen carefully to what I have to say. Go to your local Sunoco station that has an A-Plus mini mart. Get their rewards card. Then get their flyer – you can receive gas discounts by purchasing various individual items. Example – this month, if you buy a 20 ounce bottle of Sun Drop soda or a can of Rockstar energy drink, you save 10c/gallon on your gas.
Hmm… $100 to save 10c versus a bottle of soda to save 10c. I don’t even have to play the Jeopardy! theme to figure this one out.
Chuck The Writer 
Safeway, basically a Schenectady chain (not to be confused with the national Safeway chain), was bought out by P&C Markets (who are now in trouble.
Remember Grand Cash Markets (Albany & Schdy) and Star Markets (not the Star/Shaw Markets in New England)?
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I do remember Star Markets, they had a branch on Central Avenue at I believe where Central and Clinton merge together.
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Oh, I love Piggly Wiggly! That said, I agree with you about all the hyped up people acting like ShopRite and Wegmens arriving is akin to the second coming of Jesus. It’s just a grocery store!!!!
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@LR:P&C foods last store closed this past January.
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As I’m thinking more about this topic, the Schenectady chain was Saveway.
Other oldies but goodies:
Loblaw’s (which still operates in Canada). They had stores on State Street and Guilderland Ave. in Schdy.
Thriftway had stores in Scotia and Burnt Hills.
Trading Port had markets in Albany.
For a blast from the past, check out Greulich’s in Carman (with the cow on the roof). Like an small market from the 50s with a great butcher shop and deli. There used to be a million places like this around.
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This was a great blog post…thanks for making me laugh. I also think it’s pathetic that people get this excited over a new grocery store.
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Price Chopper’s AdvantEDGE card is such a scam. Sure, you can save money on gas, but they jacked their prices up in the store. So, how much are you really saving?
I cleaned out my great-grandmother’s house over the summer and found a box of unopened Grand Union mac & cheese. I do miss that store.
I went to a massive Wegman’s in Syracuse. They did make an amazing chicken finger wrap, I have to admit it.
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There will never be another store like Delson’s.
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Having spent time recently in Bentonville,AR,home of all things WalMart,I was thrilled to come back to the wealth of food opportunity that exists here. In Bville,there is the Super WM,the smaller cozier food only WM or Harp’s. Target has some foods but,seriously,Target for major food shopping? No,we are very lucky indeed. And,let us check out the smaller places like Nisky COOP,Gabriel’s,Greulich’s and the many other mom and pop butchers and bakeries,etc. We live in a pretty good food place after all.
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When we first moved to the area 15 years ago, the local Grand Union didn’t even have scanners. The cashiers had to enter the prices and if there was no price on the item, they locked the register and went looking. And it was a decent sized and also overpriced store. It’s been replaced as well.
We also lived in Central NY and Wegman’s isn’t all that. I didn’t find them so amazing.
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It’s funny.. our first day here, we were like, “where are the grocery stores?” So we just ran to Target on Route 4 and picked up a frozen pizza, deciding to “search” for a grocery store the next day.
Well. We had no idea WTF a “Price Chopper” or “Hannafords” was, so we were looking up Krogers on Google places, which obvi did not work out. I refused to buy my first bunch of groceries for our new place at Walmart Supercenter (I didn’t want to taint my cabinets right off the bat, gotta wait a while for that one.) Eventually, someone informed us that PC and Hannafords were both great. We went to Price Chopper. I took a photo of it, I was so impressed by the huge ax storefront. I texted it to all the fam, and they were equally amazed. We ain’t got nothin’ like that in West Virginy! But we do gots a Food Lion.
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The Golubs are scared…and they should be!
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In someways the area supermarket wars mirrors the presidential election:
Price Chopper = Obama
Every one criticizes how they do things and every one knows some things can be done better. However, when the dust clears they will make out just fine.
Shop Rite = Romney
Pretty much the same stuff as everyone else, just packaged differently.
Fresh Market/Trader Joes = Paul
Folksy. Small, but loyal following.
Wegmans = Christie
Big with a good reputation. Keeps circling the arena but refuses to join in the fray.
Walmart = Gingrich
Better liked in the South than the North. Pretty smart but people love to find their indiscretions.
Sorry. Just bored at lunch
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You are completely right, but at the same time I am excited about ShopRite. I grew up in ShopRite territory and shopping there instead of Price Chopper reminds me of my childhood and gives me an all around good feeling. Walking the aisles reminds me of jumping between the different colored floor tiles. That and the fact that the Price Chopper closest to me requires a security guard standing at the registers and 20 cashiers who dont acknowledge customers and are all standing around doing nothing, makes me want to only go to ShopRite.
Aside from that… when did Hannaford get an S to make it “Hannafords”, was that around the same time as “K-Marts” and “Wal-Marts”?
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Two Buck Chuck….I hear that’s you’re nickname at Brown’s when all you order are diet sodas. HA. I kid, I kid.
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I agree with 12. The Golubs are trembling with fear. Why do you think they’re making changes with their gas promotion? Their sales flyers are beginning to mimic Shoprite with 4-day midweek sales, a “pantry” sale the same week as Shoprite’s “can-can” sale, and implementation of a grocery delivery service.
Your argument is akin to saying “Trivia is trivia, no matter where you go or who is hosting”, when we both know that isn’t the case.
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But what if Publix came to town – oh my ! (yes, sarcasm)
I’ll go to Shoprite when they come to my neighborhood – not likely – we just have banks that keep popping up.
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What? ! NOW Price Chopper is changing their AdvantEDGE card program , WHY? It’s a very bad move, and , will effect me, especially when gas prices today are already way too high. Why would I buy twice as much groceries to get the same gas discount that I had already been receiving? Very disappointed in their actions.
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You know how disappointing it is when a place isn’t as great as you remember it? Or even worse, you told someone how amazing it was and then took them there and they scoffed? I have never had that problem with Wegmans. It is always even more majestic than I left it. Last time I went to one, I had lunch twice in an hour and for a good fifteen minutes failed to notice that I’d left my purse in a bathroom because I was gawking at the wine selection in their adjacent liquor store.
As it stands, I’m a Hannaford person. Way fewer mutants than PC and better lighting, plus I sometimes hear old Ivy songs on the overhead. Fresh Market is where I go to get my nerd on.
I grew up in the land of Great American and Bryant’s, in Greenville. The latter had giant singing robot dogs dressed as a country bumpkin and a sea captain. We didn’t have a GU immediately nearby but we got the commercials, and my sister was once the Red Dot Girl for Halloween.
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Why do you care so much about what other people get excited about? If they want to be excited then let them be. Too many people worry about the opinions of other people. With that being said – WAHOOOOOOOO TRADRER JOES! I can’t wait!!!
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C’mon down to Greenville Chuck, what was always Bryant’s Market is now Grand Union Family Market. We’ll make you feel right @ home, you’ll just have to spend a little more to shop with us :0
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“Price Chopper is a grocery store. It is not a religion. You don’t receive baptism in Aisle 1, confirmation in Aisle 3, and a confessional in Aisle 6.”
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the best idea I’ve heard yet about what to do with St. Patrick’s in Watervliet. 😀
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It’s amusing reading the comments of folks in the papers and blogs lamenting the change in the PC gas program. One woman said she had recently saved over two dollars a gallon and now those savings will be reduced. When PC prices are easily $0.25 to $1.50 more per item than some of the competition, you’re not saving overall on your budget if you do all your shopping (not just sale items) at PC. You don’t really think that PC was giving you a break on your gas out of the goodness of their heart, do you? The gas break had to be subsidized. The more regular priced items one bought at the store, the more one’s “gas savings” were reduced. Lower prices across the board will save you more, if PC actually does it.
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I live in Coxsackie and there is still a Grand Union. It is great if you want to pay $5.99 for a jar of Hellmanns. Shoprite has been in Hudson for years. What’s the big deal!
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The thing is, Wegmans really IS better. Think about it:
-MUCH cleaner stores
-MUCH more professional and helpful employees (Why? Because they actually like working at Wegmans)
-BETTER variety of bakery, meat, produce and prepared food items. Not even close.
-BETTER store management (I never wait in lines at Wegmans, but don’t get me started on Price Chopper)
I usually take Price Chopper’s Sale Ad to WalMart. They match the prices on specials, and have cheaper prices on everything else. Cleanliness, vareity and customer service are virtually the same.
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what an arrogant ass you are so i guess its okay to go gaga over pearl jam or lady gaga for that matter cuz why? oh you think thats more important and cooler than food….but i think people tend to think prices service and quality more directly affect thier lives than jermey biting the lunch ladies breast….you should be a politician cuz they too are out of touch with whats relevent to the success and happiness of the majority of the general puplic call me a rube but the triple digit ticket prices is money better spent on food than entertainment.
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Hopefully Whole Foods will come here so we can get some high end food in the area!
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I grocery shop EVERYWHERE. For basics I go to Aldi’s,better prices on the things I use most. I go to Hanniford in the AM for their discounted meat in the morning, Price Chopper for my Free Prescriptions, phone card and when I go to the latham store,Artisen bread on sale(each day it a different bread, why the other ones don’t do it is beyond me). Save a Lot is for some name brand items at Aldi’s prices. I don’t make it a point to go to these places, but I pass them at least once a week and stop when I do.
BTW Chuck, that Auto parts store in Watervliet used to be an A&P, and that candy warehouse in Green Island…The Original Price Chopper (useless trivia always comes in handy).
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price chopper and hannaford are terrible.
Wegmans would put Both out of business…….
Wegmans has great deals, very clean stores, very helpful staff. I miss wegmans since I moved back to Albany.
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hey chuck –
you forgot in your rant of past grocery stores, that shop rite was previously in the capitol region. granted, it was many moons ago. the stores then were nothing like the new stores they’re building.
and it’s very clear that you’ve never lived in an area that had crap for grocery stores. i do now that i moved out of the capitol region. there’s 8 – seriously 8 – grocery stores in the town i live in which has a population of 26K. only the kroger is a super center and it’s the pits compared to the super hannaford in latham and the massive price chopper in latham. why do i mention the latham stores? i used to live on the border of cohoes and latham.
man, how i miss hannaford’s muffins, meat, and produce! local produce is nothing to sneeze at. it doesn’t exist where i live now. yes, we’re the #2 peach producing state and surrounded by peach orchards. half the time the peaches are from out west! why???? none of the grocery stores here, including people’s precious publix, go out of their way to get and advertise local produce.
why would would i want cali peaches when i can drive 2 miles down the street and get peaches picked that morning? this is know is huge with hannaford and pc is into as well. i’d rather help a local farmer than some massive factory farm in cali!
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Was there ever a Victory market up here? According to Wikipedia, they were bought out by Hannaford.
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I don’t recall any Victory Markets in the Capital District, but there was a Victory Market, as well as a Great American, in Clinton during my undergrad years at Hamilton College.
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I think there was a Victory Market in Canajoharie, and maybe one in Fonda–but this was many, many years ago.
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Whole Foods would be a great addition . . . and hopefully would encourage the other stores to offer more organic and healthy choices
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We get all excited over a Wegmans because….well, have you been to one??? They blow all other grocery stores out of the water. I couldcare less about Shop Rite coming to town. I used to shop at the one in Hudson. Have you been to that place? Nasty. Price Chopper has outrageous prices. Hannaford is my store of choice because the one in Valatie is clean and the prices are competitive. But Wegmans is a beautiful place. You can’t beat the bakery, deli, coffee bar….you name it. Why should we settle for mediocrity? Its what we’re used to and its the only choice we have. I don’t think we should be ridiculed for wanting something better.
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So NOT looking forward to the Colonie Village store. Went to the Nisky store once, NOTHING special … whole lot of hype for absolutely nothing. What a shame.
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Aldi has my business for the past year. I did take advantage of PC gas, but on a smaller scale. BTW you can use PC gas points for CDTA. You failed to mention all the Local Farmer’s Markets and CSAs that are now part of our landscape. Maybe enough fodder for another blog.
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I saw a couple of people mention Food Lion. Guess what, we already have it. Hannaford (notice the lack of an s on the end) and Food Lion are both owned by the Belgian grocery giant Delhaize, which also owns Bloom, Bottom Dollar, Harveys and Sweetbay. They have over 1600 stores in the US. If they didn’t put Price Chopper (something like 120 stores) out of business, Shop Rite (roughly 230 stores) isn’t going to do it either.
The Golubs would even be able to weather Wegmans moving in, because as great as their stores are, there are only 75 of them, and Wegmans would focus their attention on the suburbs. The way the Golubs hold on is by running stores in urban and rural areas where they are the only alternative to convenience stores for people who don’t have reliable transportation, and then they charge higher prices to their poorest customers.
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No mentions of Stop and Shop??
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They are “just grocery stores”?! The columnist has obviously never been to a Wegmans. When I moved to Albany I couldn’t believe how inferior PC and Hannaford’s were. Neither comes close to the fresh produce, selection and customer service of Weggies.
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You’ve clearly have never been to Wegmans. That’s like people dismissing the iPhone as “just a cell phone” when it was launched.
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*You have.. (Bah, fell victim to my own pet-peeve.)
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A new store (any store) coming to town is always exciting. Especially for us people with boring lives. Yes, Wegman’s is an AWESOME supermarket and I would dance if they were coming to my area. I worked for Price Chopper for 7 years and I’ll tell you why there are no smiles….The Management are tyrants!!!! They are the most popular market in the Capital Region, but also THE most expensive. If I buy the same crap at PC that I get at Hannaford, my bill is 20 bucks more at PC. That is not a lie!!!!! Don’t ever expect a smile or God forbid a thank you from a PC cashier! They are there to check out your food and then smoke a cigarette and go home!!!
We need more supermarket competition in this area. Shop Rite coming back is great and I hope another big chain does the same!
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If you’re vegan and gluten free…wtf are you going to get at Price Chopper? NOTHING. That’s why my family needs Wegmans so desperately. That’s why Shoprite is more for my family than me. It’s disgusting at Price Chopper
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I am very happy and thankful for all other choices than Price Chopper in the area. Price Chopper has touted and used some marketing influence to lure shoppers but the reality is that they are overpriced and greedy to both customers and employees. I will go out of my way to shop at any store other than Price Chopper. They have been free reign for too long without competition in our area. I suggest any of the other food grocers will offer better pricing on your family weekly trip to the market. They need to be sent a message. The gimmick of discounted gas is a huge rip off!
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Last year Big Y opened a huge new store in Lee, just off Exit 2 of the MassPike. We found it to be delightful and much better than the dinky Price Chopper in Lee or their much larger one in Pittsfield.
But what this area REALLY needs is a Costco! Given the size of this
region I can’t understand why the nearest one is about 60 miles away in Newburgh. Everything I’ve read indicates that Costco is far superior to both BJ’s and Sam’s Club.
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I have been told that we will not get a Wegmans in this area due to an agreement the Golubs have with them to not compete in the same markets. If this is true it is sad. I would love a Wegmans and am waiting impatiently for Trader Joe’s grand opening!
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Mr. Chuck Miller, you are totally wrong when you say,” Listen. We have more grocery stores in the Capital District than we know what to do with.” I live in the Ballston Spa area and I have never lived in an area with virtually no grocery store competition, that’s why prices in this area are so high. Look at Price Chopper’s online ad and put in an out of the district store, like Scranton or Binghamton and you’ll see that they charge much less for the same items than what they do here. Those areas have about 8 rival grocery stores. We’re at their mercy in this area.
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Mr. Chuck Miller, congratulations on your new record for reader comments. I believe this topic has blown away both professional wrestling and breakfast cereals. An absolutely fascinating topic.
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OOOooo – Supermarket Wars!!! Fire my rocket, the stuff of interest in the Capital Region!
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The Honest Weight Food Coop has been the member-owned alternative for legitimately HIGH QUALITY groceries in the area for 3 decades. I hear people complain that it’s too expensive, not nice feeling inside, or whatever, but with almost 13,000 member owners, I think the business model speaks for itself. We are committed to local producers, truly “all-natural” products, and living wages for employees. It’s the best place to shop if you have a tricky food allergy like Celiac’s disease, or choose a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. It’s also creating a fantastic market for sustainable, local meat producers. Seriously, can’t be beat.
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Its actually spend 100 to get 5 cents off. Stupid article
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