Stop and Shop comes downtown

More than a year after New Haven’s only downtown supermarket closed, the Stop and Shop Supermarket Company has announced plans to fill the space on Whalley Avenue with a new store this spring. The store will replace a Shaw’s supermarket that closed in March 2010.

The loss of Shaw’s created a “food desert” downtown, depriving residents of the Whalley Avenue area and Yale students of a full-service supermarket. The new store comes after efforts by Yale, the city of New Haven, and the Greater Dwight Community Investment Corporation—owner of the site—to fill the space. The store is expected to generate about 130 full- and part-time jobs. It will include seafood, deli, and floral departments; a cheese shop and bakery; ethnic specialty items; and an in-store branch of People’s United Bank.