Save-A-Lot Cart Graveyard

[Ameskid]

Welcome to the back streets of Kentucky. Just off the main drag of Bellevue, right across Riverboat Row from Cincinnati, lies a certain graveyard. They say it isn't wise to linger around this place too long after dark - call it the result of a heroin epidemic or concealed carry laws, but perhaps there's something a bit more...restless around here.

Welcome to the cart graveyard of Save-A-Lot.







There's a stranger in the house. Even though there are no Hannafords around these parts, a restless orphan has hidden itself away under the cover of the graveyard...





It's a sign, I tell you! A sign! Two signs, actually.



The spirits of the graveyard are restless at heart, and spread to the other stores in the plaza at will...

SEE! The unholy matrimony of an ex-Big/Odd Lots cart and another cart from parts unknown!



SEE! The ugly gray husks that are not truly of Goodwill, but from Kmart!



Most horrifying of all, it has spread to the rear of Big Lots. I fear it may grow exponentially if not controlled.



Stay safe.

[Hudsons81]

This must've come from either the store in Florence, Kentucky or the one in Cold Spring, Kentucky (Florence opened in 1996 as the first Meijer store in Kentucky, Cold Spring opened on August 3, 1999, thus both stores would've originally had that logo).

[Ameskid]

Everything you see here is gone now...including the Save-A-Lot store itself.  I believe I saw another Hannaford cart around the area, just can't remember exactly where...

[HannafordHearts]

That's really weird that you found a Hannaford cart in Kentucky.  ???

[BillyGr]

That's really weird that you found a Hannaford cart in Kentucky.  ???

They do sometimes get purchased and moved.  Of course, for a short time (before they were bought by Delhaize) they had opened stores in VA, and may have been in other areas as well.  Since the Delhaize group already had Food Lion there, they closed the Hannaford stores down.

So perhaps a group of carts from those stores got bought by some store in Kentucky, which would make sense as Kentucky is a lot closer to Virginia than to the rest of the Hannaford territories, and also that since the stores closed the equipment would more likely have been for sale.

[Ameskid]

That's really weird that you found a Hannaford cart in Kentucky.  ???

Stranger things have happened...like finding a Venture cart at a Big Lots outside of Cincinnati a few years ago.

I get the impression that there's some sort of cart wholesaler that buys the carts from closing chains or stores making major changes (Target, for example), then resells them to places like Big Lots, Ocean State Job Lot, and the like.

[ynkeesfn82]

I get the impression that there's some sort of cart wholesaler that buys the carts from closing chains or stores making major changes (Target, for example), then resells them to places like Big Lots, Ocean State Job Lot, and the like.

You're probably right. The Ocean State Job Lot here in Southington, CT was using the green AMES CARTS. Then when WALMART got all new carts after remodeling in '08 Ocean State Job Lot got all the old Grey Walmart Carts. Stop & Shop Supermarket on Wolcott Street in Waterbury and Farmington Ave in Bristol look like they're using old Walmart Carts too. In addition to their regular shopping carts I have seen Old Grey shopping carts in the stores. And in the case of the Wolcott Street store they got a sign that says "Plastic Carts Only" so the cart guy knows where to put the grey carts.

[Ameskid]

All of the Ollie's Bargain Outlets I've been to around here seem to use old Wal-Mart Carts - mostly the gray plastic ones, but also the metal ones with the blue child seat straps. Rather unusual for a store reusing carts, in that many of them do not have the Wal-Mart logo covered up at all.

I don't think there are any within close vicinity to a Wal-Mart, though, so I guess there's no chance of confusion as to which store the carts belong to.

[BillyGr]

I get the impression that there's some sort of cart wholesaler that buys the carts from closing chains or stores making major changes (Target, for example), then resells them to places like Big Lots, Ocean State Job Lot, and the like.

Except for the odd case (like our Ocean State) where the carts were former Grand Union ones - of course the store itself was a former Grand Union, so the carts came with the store.

[Retail Regents]

The Fort Plain, NY Save-a-Lot has a mini graveyard of its own in plain sight. Apart from some broken carts, there are a few random Wal-Mart carts (metal), and now, some grey Unarco PC41Us. One of them is a 2017 (no decal, white logo), which is rather odd since it's a grey one with red trim instead of having a red basket like they usually are. Here's three samples of the grey PC41Us (middle one is the 2017 unit):