Hannaford Supermarkets

The local supermarket wars brought a facelift to this Central Avenue Hannaford. But it’s not the cleaner brighter look that keeps bringing me back week after week.
I come here for the Nature’s Place rotisserie chickens.
Some families have a tradition of Sunday suppers. We have shabbat dinner on Friday, and we have the same thing almost every week. Roast chicken, challah, and a vegetable (usually French string beans).
There may be better challah. There may be better chickens. But I’ve run around the Capital Region picking up items at separate stores for long enough. And now I’m tired. So, I’ll take these. Mostly because 9 out of 10 times, they’ll have them both in stock. And even though they may not be the very best, each one is really quite good.
That said, these golden days of convenience may soon be a thing of the past. My wife is starting to desire a higher standard of animal husbandry than the Nature’s Place chickens are able to achieve.
But I’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

The Hannaford pharmacy in Delmar is the best. The people are so nice and accommodating. It is a pleasure to deal with them.

We live right around the corner from this Hannaford and we love it. There is also a Shop-​Rite and Price Chopper close by, but we much prefer Hannaford.
Here’s why:
First, the prices at Hannaford are the lowest of all 3. Bar none, you’ll spend less on your grocery bill shopping at Hannaford.
Second, the selection is better than Price Chopper. There are many items you cannot find at PC but that H-​Ford has. I do think the selection is better at Shop-​Rite but not significantly so.
Third, I love the Nature’s Place brand. This is Hannaford’s house brand of all natural and organic foods. They all tend to be very good and the prices are very low. Only Trader Joe’s prices match Nature’s Place.
Lastly, the staff is always and I mean always, very friendly and helpful. I’ve been coming to this Hannaford for 7 years and have never had an issue with the staff. Not once.
One negative: The produce section could be better. It’s fine, but Price Chopper and Shop-​Rite produce sections are definitely better.

Pleasant surprise! I was beginning to wonder if there was a decent grocery store in Albany and I think I’ve found one! The produce was fresh and the people were friendly and the store was fairly clean!

This is my store. I love this Hannaford. The layout is nice, the people who work there are friendly and mostly helpful and it’s generally clean. In fact, when it comes to the staff — there doesn’t seem to be a lot of turnover here. I’ve seen a good number of the same people working here for years. I even had a favorite cashier/​bagger duo for a long time and I always used their line.
The deli counter has a respectable selection and their international cheeses are nice as well. I do try to be careful not to buy expired or opened items (usually happens in the dairy section most often), although the store has gotten better about that in the last few years.
I love that I can get in, get what I need and get out. They do carry a wide variety of specialty items, but that changes from time to time. I agree with the reviewer about the lack of a good Mexican section. I feel like it’s been shrinking. Their Asian section has grown nicely but could still use a little more variety. They were the first store in the area with a decent organic section.
Of course, there are a few staples of the Midwest I’m sure I’ll never seen in this store like King’s Hawaiian Bread or Palmero’s Biscuits and Gravy Pizza (trust me, it’s way better than it sounds). I would also like to see a better fish and meat department, but those have been slowly improving with time.
These guys carry a lot of locally made items which is great. They even have a pretty good bakery (that ‘best cream’ frosting is delicious on their cakes).
A good store with consistently lower prices than PC and you don’t have to shop the sales to spend less than you would across the street.

After trying to find other supermarkets in the area that stocked more than 20 or so odd items, I came across Hannaford’s. Not only is it a huge store and stocked well (think NJ/​NY Wegman’s or Stop and Shop) but it is also 24 hours/​7 days a week.
The staff are basically non-​existent but the store is pretty self explanatory and checkout moved very quickly even with an impending severe storm.
A manager even quickly came over to ask a morbidly obese woman with a cigar the size of a stick of dynamite hanging from her mouth to move away from the door. I merely thought she was security.
Prices were decent and they seemed to have a bunch of sales going on.
Parking lot on premises.

Hannaford is a great grocery store with adequately priced groceries. Everyone will tell you that it’s more expensive than its neighborly competitor across the street (which has a lovely logo of an axe), but I would disagree. If you’re the kind of grocery shopper who doesn’t really buy groceries, but is actually more interested in the prepared foods aisle, then yes, it is more expensive. But if you’re the kind of shopper who actually purchases raw ingredients and enjoys cooking, things are a lot cheaper. The aisles are huge and the staff is very friendly, even during the graveyard shift, this store also does not charge its customers for cashback services. Also, Hannaford does not participate in a discount-​gas program with a particular gas station because the prices are already low, so they don’t have to build in gas savings into prices of your groceries to pretend to save you money on gas.

…and the search for Mexican food continues.
Upon my first utterance of frustration concerning the lack of Mexican food around here, my one friend who lives here said that Hannaford has a solid ethnic-​foods section.
I…beg to differ, kthx.
There were about two or three quarter-​aisles of ethnic foods, which is great, but it was mostly Asian foods. There were some Mexican foods, but mostly an impressive array of Pace Picante salsa variations, or Tostidos-​brand cheese sauce. No joke.
One flavor of Jarritos (lime). I can live with that, but I wish there was more selection. Ditto on the hot sauce. And the tortillas. I mean, for the LOVE OF GOD, they DID have corn tortillas, but only white corn, and only in one or two brands. What’s up with everyone and lovin’ their wheat? Give me tortillas de maiz! Give them to me mesquite! Give them to me fresh! But, LORD! Take away the flour. I’m sick of seeing them.
That was pretty much the extent of their Mexican food. Oh, I got a Guadalupe santos candle out of the deal (not bad).
Everything also seemed to be on the overpriced side. Individual slices of cake for $ 3? I can get an entire pudding ring for $ 2! The salsa that looked halfway decent was $ 4! Hummus about the same!
Also, I really didn’t think this place was anything special with its supposed cleanliness, etc. It was relatively large, but definitely outdated… it reminds me of the old, old Thriftways back home. Time for a remodel maybe?
Not to hate on Hannaford; I suppose it’s a regular grocery store that is well-​loved here. Tomorrow I’m going to the Price Chopper across the street; I hear THEIR ethnic foods section is legit. Here’s hoping.

Hannaford vs Price Chopper! Ding, ding, ding!!!
For this review, I am comparing the Central Ave locations. Yes, Hannaford is more posh than PC. But this is what you get for the extra that you pay:
— Hannaford has better-​tasting produce. Although both places have grapes from Chile, Hannaford grapes are sweeter and taste more in season. The same goes for apples, tomatoes, oranges, strawberries, melons and fruit bowl mixes.
— Hannaford has its own line of deli meat. Mmmmm, Inspirations oven-​roasted turkey! PC doesn’t sell anything – anything– close.
— Hannaford has a bigger display of seafood, which means that fish is more spread out, and not cramped together like it is across the street.
— Hannaford has a bulk section for raisins, granola, quinoa, etc. They also have hard-​to-​find things, like this oatmeal I keep coming back for.
— I’ve never tried them, but Hannaford has a fresh salad bar and an olive bar.
— Generally speaking, I’ve found Hannaford customer service more accommodating.
Now for what I don’t like about Hannaford:
— they carry the lamest prepackaged salad mixes, and don’t have Dole European and Mediterranean Blend, which PC does.
— they don’t have self-​check out! Sometimes, you just don’t want to interact with anyone.
— there is no Hannaford rewards card.
Update: I’ve moved down South and now shop at Harris Teeter, but I miss Hannaford’s layout, how it sells pollock (yes, the fish), and how it sells obscure items that I can’t find anywhere here.

I was afraid that I wasn’t going to be able to find a good grocery store in Albany since their isn’t a Trader Joes (a place I love) nearby. But Hannaford is a great alternative.
First of all, there is a do-​it-​yourself recycling center right as you enter the store. How convenient! Unfortunately, I drink a lot of water and while they will recycle the empty bottles, there isn’t a refund for them (only in ME I guess). Which is fine-I’ll still be green.
They have a wide selection of everything organic, from fresh produce, dairy, and meat to your typical canned goods. In addition, they have an organic aisle that contains almost anything else you would want in organic form — cereal, nuts, chips, cookies, pasta, etc. Don’t worry, you can find all the good non-​organic stuff too. The typical Mexican and Asian aisles can also be found here, along with a Kosher section. There’s a bakery and a deli inside, it’s clean, open 24 hours, and the staff is generally friendly
Most things that I typically buy in CA I can find in Hannaford. However, I did find something in NY that I’m not sure they have in CA — Apple Cider! So good. Tastes like fresh squeezed apple juice, not that Treetop stuff. That’s one thing that I’ll miss about Albany. One thing.