Price Chopper
Opened: 1997
Previous Tenants:Hodes Super Market (was open in 1975) > Big D Supermarkets (??-1995?) in neighboring building
Location:564 Southwest Cutoff, Quinsigamond Village, Worcester, MA
Photographed:October 12, 2019
It's time for our first official store tour here in Worcester this time around! We're starting in the far southeastern corner of the city, and you can get an idea on the map above -- this store is on route 20 below Quinsigamond Village. I don't know the store's history in too much detail, and that confusion is complicated by the fact that this store has had several addresses over the years. It's been listed as both Arnold Road in Auburn and Southwest Cutoff in Worcester, although it looks like the original supermarket in this location was constructed between 1960 and 1966 by Hodes, a local chain eventually acquired by Big D, at what's now 2 Washington Street in Auburn just next to this building. That building is roughly 18,000 square feet and has a pitched roof, along with some cool brick details that probably date back to its construction. At some point, Hodes became Big D, which Price Chopper acquired in 1995. Almost immediately, this store was constructed, and it was open in 1997.
The store totals around 53,000 square feet, although it feels a little on the small side because it's not set up to have a grand aisle. In fact, its similarity to other acquired Big D stores and distinct lack of layout similarity to new-build Price Choppers makes me think that Big D may have been planning or even begun construction of this store when Price Chopper acquired the chain.
We enter to the right side of the store with produce in the first aisle on the right side of the store. Seafood is in the back right corner of the store, with meats on the back wall. Frozen and dairy are on the right side of the store, and deli, prepared foods, and bakery are in the last aisle. That's such an atypical layout for Price Chopper that I have to assume Big D planned this store. Plus, Price Chopper didn't finalize its acquisition of Big D until very late 1995, and it would be an awfully fast timeline to begin from scratch to build a new store in late 1995 or early 1996, then have it fully up and running by 1997.
This store has not aged particularly well, although I believe it was renovated once since it opened. It's not in bad shape, but it's showing signs of age with some fixtures looking a bit dated but more obviously noticeable, several letters missing from the signs around the store.
But it's definitely a full-service store, and the service departments are all up and running here, something other MA Price Choppers seem to struggle with. There's no pharmacy here, as there's a Walgreens (formerly Brooks and Rite Aid) in the same strip mall next door.
A look across the back wall...
The grocery aisles are pretty typical for Price Chopper. They're clean and spacious, but not particularly exciting.
The freezer cases look pretty old, although they seem to be in good repair. I assume they date back to the store's 1997 opening.
Cold cuts transitions to dairy in the back left corner. I believe dairy continues down one of the grocery aisles at the end here, but I don't seem to have a picture of that.
The deli is on the side wall of the store, in the back left corner. Minor maintenance things like the one burnt out light here make the store look older and dingier than it is, too.
Sorry for the terrible picture, but a functional prepared foods and coffee bar area is up next on the side wall of the store, with a very pleasant cafe area in the middle.
This section extends out to the side wall of the store, and you can see the emergency exit in the back. This is a really well-designed area!
Then we move through some sale items to bakery on the front wall...
The bakery is on the front wall, and then we move into the front-end taking up the rest of the front wall...
We'll see a few small independent stores here in Quinsigamond Village, but for our next post we're headed up to South Worcester -- if you're looking at the map in my graphic, that'll be right where 290 and 146 intersect. Come back tomorrow to check it out!
