Hannaford Grocery Store Under Fire for High Prices and Low Quality After a Change in Leadership

If you live outside of New England, chances are that you have never heard of Hannaford grocery stores. The regional chain got its start in Portland, Maine, according to the company, where a pair of brothers came together in 1883 to sell fresh produce to the local community.

Over the years, the store expanded, initially slowly and then rapidly, into the massive chain it is today, with more than 180 stores across the Northeast that claim to employ over 26,000 New Englanders.

And while the grocery store used to be beloved in the region, a campaign has been started by critics, who are asking, "What happened to Hannaford?"

According to them, the once locally owned chain has become a major disappointment, where shoppers continually face high prices, low quality, and questionable ethics, as describing the chain as "locally owned" is misleading at its best, and downright dishonest at its worst. Here's everything we know about the formerly fan-favorite chain.

That's what signs around New England ask those who pass, as a concerned group of patrons have come together to out the store for what they claim are dishonest practices.

The company's website boasts that the company is a "local grocer," and has been since 1883, but critics say that's hardly the case anymore. Instead, they note that the company was sold to Ahold Delhaize "years ago," and that the company is actually based thousands of miles from the towns where the stores are located.

As a result, people claim that the store has gone through an underwhelming transformation, which includes higher prices for items they say are of questionable quality.

According to the What Happened to Hannaford website, 51 percent of the people polled said they were less likely to shop at the store because of the number of product recalls. An additional 50 percent say they take issue with the fact that Hannover still refers to itself as a local grocer, given the buyout.

While people may be unhappy with what is happening inside the store, it seems that the issues outside the store may be the real driver of many people's concerns. That's because 86 percent of people polled said they don't feel comfortable using credit cards when they shop in stores.

Their reasoning? In November 2024, Ahold Delhaize experienced a data breach that allowed a third-party company to access some of the personal data of 2,242,521 people, according to WGME.

That's believed to include 95,463 people living in Maine, who likely had their data on file with Ahold Delhaize due to shopping or working for the grocery chain. A spokesperson for the company revealed that the hack accessed things like social security numbers, bank account info, dates of birth, and more.

So, what do the store's critics want? That their voices are heard, apparently, which is why they are asking people to reach out and share their complaints, either with them or directly with the company.

Whether that will be enough to prompt change remains to be seen. However, for now, it seems like enough New Englanders are mad enough that they are willing to try anything to get back to the Hannaford store they once knew and loved.