Great American Stores - New York

[BillyGr]

Got a better picture of the Prattsville location's exterior. It's kind of strange this, as a smaller almost non-chain store got restored after Hurricane Irene yet the Grand Union in Middleburgh got destroyed and is still abandoned to this day.

Most likely it is due to the ownership.

The Great American being independently owned, that owner had the incentive to rebuild and reopen the store to keep his business going, as that is likely his major source of income.

The Grand Union, which was then still run by the wholesaler C&S didn't.  They had already closed stores, willing to leave them vacant rather than try to compete with other chains (and willing to lose the volume they had through them, as it was likely a tiny amount compared to what they were doing in the wholesale end), so they took this in that same vein (overall minor loss in volume, offset by the savings in not restoring it and the savings of not having to staff the store).

Likely, had someone in that area gone to them and offered to take the property off their hands for a minimal payment they would have taken it, but apparently no one has (as there was fairly recently a store opened in that area, but I believe it is across the street from the old GU).

[Retail Regents]

True. The exterior looks nicer than it did before.

I wonder if they got the Cairo location's carts? They have some Slater's Marketplace carts in addition to their red 2004 Technibilt carts.

http://amesfanclub.com/forum/index.php?topic=5631.msg74484#new

[BillyGr]

True. The exterior looks nicer than it did before.

I wonder if they got the Cairo location's carts? They have some Slater's Marketplace carts in addition to their red 2004 Technibilt carts.

http://amesfanclub.com/forum/index.php?topic=5631.msg74484#new

Not to say that there isn't (or wasn't) another store by that name, but since the Cairo one was, is no longer there (now a Hannaford on the site) and isn't all that far away, I'd say the chances are 99.99999999999999% that's where they came from.

[Retail Regents]

That might be a possibility. It is also possible another store had the Slater's name elsewhere since the Real Deals Dollar Store up in Watertown uses Slater's Marketplace carts (from 2009, the Prattsville ones are from 2007), but the Great American is a Lockwood-owned location with Commissary carts from 2008.

[JimSawhill]

And continuing to read through the old Independents, in the March 4, 1996 issue is this arcticle:

Grand Union comes to Millerton
Long circulated rumors that Grand Union would take over the Great American store on Route 44 became a reality last Tuesday (February 27th, since there is a 29th in 1996) when a new Grand Union officially opened for business.

But Dan Vaillancourt, public relations director for the supermarket chain, says even Grand Union did not know it would be acquiring the 27,500 square foot store until four days before it's official opening.

Mr. V says GU became interested in the property several months ago after Victory Markets, parent company to Great American, went bankrupt.

He says GU looed at the store and the location and "thought it would be a good fit."

"We put in a bid in bankruptcy court," adds Mr. V, 'but we did not receive an official court order that the property as ours until last Friday, February 23."

Due to the short turn around, no major changes were made, but they will be once there is time to look at the store and see what is in the budget.
Interesting point - none of the Great American employees were hired, but about half of the 35 employees were forer GU employees that had been laid off or put on reduced schedules after GU itself closed 24 stores the prior year during it's bankruptcy, most in the Capital Region and Mid Hudson Valley.
Most of the former employees came from either closed Kingston or Poughkeepsie locations (I'd guess the Poughkeepsie was the downtown one that became RiteAid/Davis Furniture, not sure where in Kingston there was one, since the only one I know of in the plaza with Walgreens (just off 587 and the thruway) stayed until the final bankruptcy, I believe?

The Millerton Grand Union closed February 28, 2017 due to the lease not being renewed. It was quickly replaced with Millerton Fresh Market.

Millerton Fresh Market is owned by the Trotta family, the same family that had sold their Millerton supermarket with little warning to Great American in 1993. This brought everything full circle.

I lived in Millerton during this period and Great American was never given a good fit for there between how far it was from other locations to that the bar was set very, very high as Trotta's. Grand Union actually invested quite a bit in the store and it was fully converted to their latest decor package by the start of that summer. Given the lack of markets in southeast Columbia County and northwest Litchfield County, it takes from a much larger are as one would think even before Millerton became a "destination".

Is it still open? I'm thinking of vacationing and visit abandoned stores...

They quietly vacated their store.

Anything in it now? Or it it still vacant? I wonder if C&S would let someone buy the Grand Union name...

[BillyGr]

Millerton Fresh Market is owned by the Trotta family, the same family that had sold their Millerton supermarket with little warning to Great American in 1993. This brought everything full circle.

I lived in Millerton during this period and Great American was never given a good fit for there between how far it was from other locations to that the bar was set very, very high as Trotta's. Grand Union actually invested quite a bit in the store and it was fully converted to their latest decor package by the start of that summer. Given the lack of markets in southeast Columbia County and northwest Litchfield County, it takes from a much larger are as one would think even before Millerton became a "destination".

Is it still open? I'm thinking of vacationing and visit abandoned stores...

They quietly vacated their store.

Anything in it now? Or it it still vacant? I wonder if C&S would let someone buy the Grand Union name...

Surprising Hannaford hasn't popped up again - I know they wanted to build in the area and the town/people weren't happy, but now that there is no store in town they might be more receptive.  Even if they started out by taking over the existing space (wouldn't be the first smaller Hannaford), then they could apply to rebuild or add on.

[Scrabbleship]

Millerton Fresh Market is owned by the Trotta family, the same family that had sold their Millerton supermarket with little warning to Great American in 1993. This brought everything full circle.

I lived in Millerton during this period and Great American was never given a good fit for there between how far it was from other locations to that the bar was set very, very high as Trotta's. Grand Union actually invested quite a bit in the store and it was fully converted to their latest decor package by the start of that summer. Given the lack of markets in southeast Columbia County and northwest Litchfield County, it takes from a much larger are as one would think even before Millerton became a "destination".

Is it still open? I'm thinking of vacationing and visit abandoned stores...

They quietly vacated their store.

Anything in it now? Or it it still vacant? I wonder if C&S would let someone buy the Grand Union name...

Surprising Hannaford hasn't popped up again - I know they wanted to build in the area and the town/people weren't happy, but now that there is no store in town they might be more receptive.  Even if they started out by taking over the existing space (wouldn't be the first smaller Hannaford), then they could apply to rebuild or add on.

Not only no store in town, but no substantial store for some distance. It's about 10 miles from the Stop & Shop in North Canaan or the Freshtown in Amenia and the latter has some issues of its own though it's far better off than it's days as a sixties vintage Grand Union.

Beyond that and you don't hit any grocers outside of some small IGA-affiliated markets until around 25 miles away with Livingston/Hudson (ShopRite, Hannaford), Great Barrington (Big Y, Price Chopper), Rhinebeck/Red Hook (Tops, Hannaford), and some ways further Kingston (see Livingston/Hudson) or Torrington (Stop & Shop, Big Y, Market 32). The Millerton location always had a LOT of people coming from the Northwest Corner and southeast Columbia County as there just isn't that much there.

[buzz86us]

wow looks like the Canajoharie one is being used as a garage or something

[Retail Regents]

wow looks like the Canajoharie one is being used as a garage or something

It's been like that for well over a decade, possibly longer. It is still a storage building to this day.

[retailisking]

The Watertown and Star Lake stores are closing. From the photos I've seen of both stores, they have both seen much better days.
https://www.wwnytv.com/2019/11/05/great-american-grocery-stores-closing-watertown-star-lake/

Just to provide some context about the struggling economy in the area, the Freihofer's Bakery Outlet (referenced at the very end of the report) is also closing
https://www.wwnytv.com/2019/11/05/freihofers-bakery-outlet-closing/

[Retail Regents]

As of 2022, it appears that only Greene, Sidney, and Prattsville are still operating. And looking at Google streetview, it appears that the Prattsville store got another exterior facelift, with an even blander logo in black. One nice thing about it is they gave it a covered entryway.

[BillyGr]

Millerton Fresh Market is owned by the Trotta family, the same family that had sold their Millerton supermarket with little warning to Great American in 1993. This brought everything full circle.

I lived in Millerton during this period and Great American was never given a good fit for there between how far it was from other locations to that the bar was set very, very high as Trotta's. Grand Union actually invested quite a bit in the store and it was fully converted to their latest decor package by the start of that summer. Given the lack of markets in southeast Columbia County and northwest Litchfield County, it takes from a much larger are as one would think even before Millerton became a "destination".

Is it still open? I'm thinking of vacationing and visit abandoned stores...

They quietly vacated their store.

Anything in it now? Or it it still vacant? I wonder if C&S would let someone buy the Grand Union name...

Surprising Hannaford hasn't popped up again - I know they wanted to build in the area and the town/people weren't happy, but now that there is no store in town they might be more receptive.  Even if they started out by taking over the existing space (wouldn't be the first smaller Hannaford), then they could apply to rebuild or add on.

Not only no store in town, but no substantial store for some distance. It's about 10 miles from the Stop & Shop in North Canaan or the Freshtown in Amenia and the latter has some issues of its own though it's far better off than it's days as a sixties vintage Grand Union.

Beyond that and you don't hit any grocers outside of some small IGA-affiliated markets until around 25 miles away with Livingston/Hudson (ShopRite, Hannaford), Great Barrington (Big Y, Price Chopper), Rhinebeck/Red Hook (Tops, Hannaford), and some ways further Kingston (see Livingston/Hudson) or Torrington (Stop & Shop, Big Y, Market 32). The Millerton location always had a LOT of people coming from the Northwest Corner and southeast Columbia County as there just isn't that much there.

Just for update - apparently (per the Tri Corner News) nothing has occupied this supermarket since that Trotta owned store closed in 2019, and as of early 2022 the entire plaza (including freestanding buildings like McDonalds) is now vacant.
Also, there is a contract to sell the plaza and according to the Trotta that still owns it (there were several family members involved, between the building ownership, market and other storefronts in the plaza at one time) the party contracting for it wants to renovate and bring a supermarket back to the site.

No more information, though they could always try the Great American name again... ;) - but not likely Grand Union as recent developments have shown that C&S is not interested in selling it, since they are now using it again up in northern NY (though maybe they would allow it's use if the new owner wanted to get supplied by them?).

[Retail Regents]

It appears the Prattsville store is the final Great American store in operation - Sidney closed in November 2022 and Greene closed around March/April of this year.

[Retail Regents]

I hope the vacant one in Canajoharie is still there..hehe

It looks like it has been recently torn down or massively remodeled. I passed by it a couple weeks ago, and a large building under construction now occupies the site.