The best
supermarket in
Portland, ME. Compared to their nearest competitor,
Shaw's, Hannaford's has unbelievably superior
produce (among other things), with an emphasis on locally grown and locally consumed items.
The store nearest to downtown Portland, which is home to many African and Southeast Asian immigrants, has an astonishing selection of foods that you don't see in most regular supermarkets. In the produce section, you will find yu choy, on choy, bitter melon, Chinese broccoli, Thai eggplant, long beans, fuzzy melon, lemon grass, green papaya, Shanghai (baby) bok choy, tiny Thai hot peppers, cubanelle and anaheim peppers, and okra. There is a special Thai section which sells stuff like rice paper (spring roll wrappers), fish sauce, canned jackfruit, crisp-fried garlic, and dry tofu (yuba) sticks. The meat department sells all kinds of funky stuff like chicken feet, pork stomach, and many other animal parts that are normally hidden from view. In frozen foods, you can find seeded durian, halal meats, and steamed rice and red bean dumplings wrapped in banana leaves. This is all just stocked alongside the Oscar Meyer wieners, the fudgesicles, the baked beans, and the Wonder Bread.
Hannaford Bros. Co. began as a small produce business in Portland, Maine in 1883.
In the past two years, all the Shop'n'Save stores in
Maine have been renamed
Hannaford's. Most of them, including my favorite location, described below, have undergone significant renovations, including the addition of bulk departments, in-store
brick oven bakeries, and
sushi counters. My home store received a fancy, high-ceilinged,
post-and-beam addition to house the new produce area.