Edwards/Finast/Super Finast

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nysw3636
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Re: Edwards/Finast/Super Finast

Post by nysw3636 »

maynesG wrote:Hi, The Finast in Millerton Ny near the Conn,. border was as far North as Finast went in the 60!s. ( In thr 1930!s First national had a store in Patterson Ny) Do you remember the original Finast/Safeway in Poukeepsie that the new store replaced ? A classice 1950!s white brick
Barrel roofed store with a tower.
Way before my time, sir!! As for Millerton, NY..I remember Trotta's Market (the current GU Family Market)..

BDK
TW-Upstate NY
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Re: Edwards/Finast/Super Finast

Post by TW-Upstate NY »

nysw3636 wrote:I remember Edwards in Poughkeepsie, NY before it was turned into a Stop and Shop around 2000. Stop and Shop eventually tore down the old Caldor and built a Super Stop and Shop. Was this Edwards most northern store in New York?
BDK
No I don't believe it was. I seem to recall an Edwards Food Warehouse in Latham very near Albany which opened I'm going to say mid-80's or so. It's long gone but I can't remember when it closed. (BillyGr: if you see this, please fill in some of the details here.)
maynesG
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Re: Edwards/Finast/Super Finast

Post by maynesG »

Hi, You migth be rigth . That was well after my time in that neck of the woods( as beautiful as that neck of the woods are). In my time, when Finast was First National Stores of Sommervile Mass and not First national Supermarkets of Winsor Locks a divison of Ahold , Finast went as far North As Millerton in New York State. But it dosen!t suprise me that Edwards was as far as Latham. But isn!t Latham close to Tops Markets now independent but
then part of Ahold? Did they close the store or did they just change banners?
Thanks!
Gerry
rich
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Re: Edwards/Finast/Super Finast

Post by rich »

Tops wasn't taken over by Ahold until 1991. Most likely, First National used the Edwards banner to enter a new market in the 80s. This is how they operated in their Ohio markets.
TW-Upstate NY
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Re: Edwards/Finast/Super Finast

Post by TW-Upstate NY »

maynesG wrote:Did they close the store or did they just change banners?
Nope-it closed. And the more I think about it, I believe it was located in the same building that once housed a GEX department store back in the '60's. The building has long been demolished and I think a medical office building is there now. Could never understand why this store was located here in the first place as the closest Ahold-owned stores were (and still are) a couple of Stop-N-Shops in Pittsfield and North Adams, Ma. Would've probably made much more sense to bring the Stop-N-Shop banner here. Chances are they'd still be around.
maynesG
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Re: Edwards/Finast/Super Finast

Post by maynesG »

Hi. Thanks! That was interesting and I learned something
Thanks again
Gerry
BillyGr
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Re: Edwards/Finast/Super Finast

Post by BillyGr »

TW-Upstate NY wrote:No I don't believe it was. I seem to recall an Edwards Food Warehouse in Latham very near Albany which opened I'm going to say mid-80's or so. It's long gone but I can't remember when it closed. (BillyGr: if you see this, please fill in some of the details here.)
The building has long been demolished and I think a medical office building is there now
I'm going to say you are right on all counts - actually there are 2 medical buildings (this is an odd story - they tore down the Edwards and built 1 med building, but the other store in the building (appliance place) wouldn't move out - so finally a few years later their lease expired then that part was torn down and the 2nd building built. I would guess Edwards closing to be in the later half of the 90's, but can't be really sure any more specific than that.
That did seem to be an odd store (always wondered if they had planned to expand in the area, and it just never happened?) - but there is a little bit of distant connection.
I had never heard that the S&S in Poughkeepsie was an Edwards before.
There is also one other link - Chatham (which is in Northern Columbia County, so between Dutchess and Albany) had a Finast store as well. This one was quite small and has been closed for quite some time (though it was still open at least at the beginning of the time that the Edwards in Latham was). After closing, it was a locally owned grocery, then was bought by Eckerd and is currently a Rite Aid (and even using the whole freestanding building is still smaller than most of the current drugstores being built!) - but the only drugstore in Chatham.
Chatham also had a (small also) A&P in the main street - that later became a Mini Chopper (showing how small it was - not even big enough to be a regular Price Chopper).

As you noted, the closest S&S stores to the area are on the MA side of the border (though Pittsfield (actually the southern store which is on the Pittsfield/Lenox border) is probably only about 20 min drive from the Chatham Finast site via 295, 41 and a couple back roads).
maynesG wrote: But isn!t Latham close to Tops Markets now independent but then part of Ahold? Did they close the store or did they just change banners?
On the Tops end, they have never been in the Albany area (that I know of) - they did take over a bunch of the Grand Unions in Northern NY (the closest one being Corinth, about 15 min outside of Saratoga) for a time after the GU bankruptcy, but those have since gone back to GU control.

It always did seem strange that S&S/Tops didn't take any GU stores in the Albany area - they expanded S&S a little north (from Poughkeepsie, added the relatively new but closed Shoprite in Hyde Park and the GU in Rhinebeck), expanded Tops to the North and basically surrounded the Albany area with the two chains (Tops in Western/Northern NY, S&S in Southern NY and MA) - especially given the fact that this area only has two chains (Hannaford and Price Chopper).
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