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PolarBlueberry t1_j2hy00x wrote

Cornucopia in Thornes is a nice little natural market, and State St Fruit Store is a small grocery store with most your needs, but very walkable from campus.

As other people have mentioned, Big Y and Stop & Shop are the major chains in Western Mass. Big Y is family owned based in Springfield, Stop & Shop is part of the Ahold Corporation, a Dutch company that also owns Hannafords, Giant, and Food Lion.

You shouldn’t need much if you’re living on campus, the two small down town stores should be able to get you all your essentials.

Make sure you get yourself some nice waterproof boots, a warm coat, and some mittens. Winters can be chilly, but the spring and fall in Northampton are gorgeous. You’ll have a great time just on campus and downtown Northampton. Be careful, those who come to the valley for college tend to never leave.

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pustak t1_j2i721b wrote

Non-confrontational counterpoint re: Stop and Shop vs Big Y-- you're correct about ownership, but S&S is unionized, while Big Y is aggressively anti-union. That factor alone keeps me going to S&S over Big Y.

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Ialnyien t1_j2j3rtu wrote

The family is also heavily involved and takes most of the profits from the company, they also have local news wrapped around their finger.

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UniWheel t1_j2lmyr4 wrote

>You shouldn’t need much if you’re living on campus, the two small down town stores should be able to get you all your essentials.... You’ll have a great time just on campus and downtown Northampton.

While that's true it's definitely worth exploring beyond downtown, not just because everything downtown is overpriced but because there's just so much more to the area.

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