Shaw’s

Not to take away from Sarah’s glowing review which was basically saying how much more awesome VT is than Philly (fair enough!) but when compared to other grocery options, Shaws in general and maybe this Shaws in particular ranks near the bottom. I love the people, no complaint there. Good souls going good work. But there is a unseen menace in this store referred to as «Corporate.»
Today after being unable to find Artichokes, sushi rice, pad Thai, or hair detangler, I tried to check out with Apple Pay, which I successfully did at this location last night. Today the word from Corporate is that the cashiers have to check your Apple Pay transaction against the last four digits of your card. Clearly someone at Corporate doesn’t understand Apple Pay.
When they attempt to match the last four digits it doesn’t match, and the transaction is denied.
This is because Apple Pay doesn’t give out your credit card number. By design. For security. They give out a one-​time transactional ID that authorizes the transaction. This way if Shaws gets hacked my card number isn’t in their database. Cool. Shaws corporate doesn’t get it.
As for the items I couldn’t find, I have been told before that this small town grocery doesn’t fit Corporate’s model of a store that needs to carry such unique items as sushi rice because, I guess, rural Vermonters don’t make sushi.
What corporate doesn’t know is these choices drive people like me to shop in Middlebury for the Hannafords and Coop, and in Burlington to Trader Joes and W… Uh… Healthy Living.
How about listening to what your shoppers want to buy?

We wanted to know why they do not sell Cucina Antica frozen pizzas. That company is local and from Vergennes, why not support local businesses. We love their Pizza.

On day two of my epic Vermont getaway, my grocery trip to Shaw’s in Vergennes was yet another vote for «I want to sell my house in Philly and move to Vermont where everyone is so friendly and earnest and happy and healthy and helpful all of the time and everything is so cheap and awesome and I want to live in Vermont!!!»
Realistically — this place is a pretty straightforward grocery store with nothing crazy or remarkable about it. My high rating comes from the fact that I couldn’t identify ANY shopping negatives in the place. The produce was all in good shape. The deli counter was well-​organized with speedy service and high quality VT cheeses and meats. The meat and seafood selections were solidly above average for a small-​town grocery store. They had a bangin’ beer selection with many local brews, and a reasonable selection of wines too. Also — the prices were great. We got two cases of (good) beer, plus 3 days worth of (really good — like steaks and shellfish, really good) breakfasts, lunches, dinners and fancy treats for four people for $ 180. The cashiers (and even the other shoppers) were SO nice even in the middle of a busy Saturday morning. Contrasted with some of center city Philly’s grocery stores, I felt like I had slipped through some sort of halcyon rabbit hole to a more pleasant shopping time.
So, yeah — I really love Vermont to the point that I was excited to Unilocal about going to the grocery store there.