Hannaford to Expand Waldoboro Store

Hannaford Supermarkets has announced plans to expand its Waldoboro location by over 50 percent and aims to start construction by next winter, according to a March 25 press

release from the company.

“This expansion will nearly double the selling space we have and allow us to carry a much wider variety of items across the supermarket,” Store Manager Rick

Purinton said in the release. “Our customers will especially appreciate the new fresh offerings.”

According to Waldoboro Town Planner Emily Reinholt, the expansion is something Hannaford has been considering for years. Reinholt met with representatives from

Hannaford on March 24, she said.

“They did say it’s something they’ve been looking at and planning for close to a decade now, they’ve just kind of been waiting for … enough population to

support a larger store, and they feel like now is definitely the time to move forward with it,” Reinholt said.

Eric Blom, a spokesman for Hannaford, said he couldn’t put a time frame on how long the company has considered expanding its Waldoboro store, but confirmed

customers have been asking for more variety and the company has been looking at ways to make the store more valuable to area residents.

Blom believes the Waldoboro location is the company’s smallest store, and even with the expansion it would remain among the smaller of Hannaford’s stores.

A preliminary site plan for the expansion shows

an expansion to 19,000 square feet, a new parking lot behind the commercial building where CarQuest is currently located, and a new right-turn entrance and right-turn exit onto

Route 1, through the current location of the Waldoboro Cigaret Shopper.

When rumors about the planned Hannaford expansion started circulating in Waldoboro earlier this year, resident Lincoln Davis confirmed he was made an offer

through the real estate brokerage the Dunham Group on his property bordering the supermarket.

The property includes the building where the Waldoboro Cigaret Shopper is located, as well as some land up behind CarQuest.

“They have made me an offer which I accepted and they pay me so much every six months to keep it off the market,” Davis told The Lincoln County News

in mid-February.

“We’ve agreed to a price, and it has stipulations. I guess they’ve got to check the groundwater and that kind of thing, which has been done in the past but

they want to do it again. There are things that could kill the deal,” Davis said.

It isn’t yet clear whether a sale has since gone through. Davis could not immediately be reached for comment.

“I can’t confirm or deny that there were any real estate discussions taking place,” said Blom. “If there were, that would be a discussion between a property

owner and us and we wouldn’t publicly discuss it.”

According to Reinholt, the store expansion would include a deli area but not a pharmacy. The pharmacy was a concern to Reinholt, she said, “because I didn’t

want to see anything causing too much competition to the Community Pharmacy since it has been such an asset to the community.”

Blom, however, said specifics on what departments would be included in the expanded store have not yet been finalized.

“We’re not ready to put out those kind of details. We’re looking at what would be the best of use of that space that would be available,” Blom said.

Along those lines, Blom said any staffing changes are also yet to be determined but the number of employees usually goes up.

“When we expand the size of the store, there generally is an increase in the number of associates. There are more shelves to stock, and often we do add

departments,” he said.

According to the press release, Hannaford plans to secure state and local permits to allow construction to start next winter.

An updated appearance and new equipment to reduce energy and water consumption are also planned as part of the project, according to the release.

According to Reinholt, the project is being planned in such a way the existing store will not need to close at all.

Reinholt said the store is within the town’s shoreland zone and she has concerns about the project introducing new runoff to the Medomak River.

“They feel that they’re going to be reducing the amount of impervious surface that exists already, which in some ways they will be, but they’re also

planning on adding some employee parking,” Reinholt said. She said she plans to talk with Hannaford about using a permeable surface to avoid increasing runoff.

Hannaford is planning to discuss the project with the Waldoboro Planning Board at the board’s April 8 meeting, Reinholt said.

“I’m going to be promoting, publicizing that, in hopes of getting some public attendance because I would really like the public to have some input on this

expansion and how it takes place,” Reinholt said. “I know the community in general is pretty excited about it, but I’d like to ensure that it’s done in a way that’s

best for the town.”