Stop & Shop to rebrand and reformat bfresh

[keithn]

According to the Boston Globe (paywall) Stop & Shop will be closing one bfresh store in Brighton and making as of yet unknown changes to its locations in Davis Square and Allston. The Globe describes the changes as a "new brand and format."

In addition, a planned bfresh expansion into locations in Philadelphia has been cancelled according to the Philadelphia Inquirer and use of the real estate secured for this purpose is being re-evaluated. The parent company of Stop & Shop (Ahold Delhaize) is also closing a similarly formatted grocery store that they had opened in Philadelphia in 2014 known as "Everything Fresh."

A small format store that was intended to be branded as bfresh will still open next year in Newton.

Comments

Rebranding as Stop & Shop?

[ron_newman]

from Supermarket News:

Ahold also said that its two Bfresh stores that remain open in Somerville and Austin [sic], Mass., and its Eastside Market store in Providence, R.I., would be integrated into Ahold’s Stop & Shop brand, based in Quincy, Mass.

Re: Rebranding as Stop & Shop?

[teko]

Honestly, not at all surprising; they haven't really pushed the bfresh 'brand' beyond using it as a name for their smaller stores. Once you're inside, there's no bfresh-specific merchandise (store brands are all Stop & Shop). I imagine there's a bit of confusion from people wondering what a 'bfresh' is while walking by. I'd been wondering if they would eventually make it clearer that it's a defacto mini-Stop & Shop.

Re: Rebranding as Stop & Shop?

[ron_newman]

It was supposed to be the beginning of a whole new chain, under the same corporate parent as Stop & Shop but separately run.

I've always found the private-label branding a bit odd, because there is no actual brand, just a logo. The products aren't branded as bfresh but they aren't branded as Stop & Shop either. The advertising flyers just call them "store brand".