Hartford and New Haven supermarkets are big on service and specialty departments. Seventy percent of stores in the area have prepared-food departments, a nod to consumers’ growing demand for meal solutions. Only 45 percent of stores have salad bars and 60 percent have bakeries. Most stores have large service delis and seafood departments.
Stores in these Connecticut markets are just plain big, too: Supermarkets are 9 percent bigger than the national average, with 37 percent more all-commodity volume. Checkout areas are 24 percent larger than the national average.
Shaw’s moved into the market recently, taking over some Finast locations; Stop & Shop took other locations as Finast shuttered operations here. Stop & Shop continues to dominate the marketplace.
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