LaBonne’s unveils expansion plans with new blueprints

SALISBURY – Expansion may be on the horizon for LaBonne’s Market, Salisbury’s only grocery store, as preliminary plans call for a 4,700-square-foot addition that would create more retail space, add employee facilities and reconfigure parking around the downtown property to add more spots.

During a meeting with the Economic Development Committee on May 21, Robert LaBonne Jr., the current president and CEO of the four LaBonne’s Markets locations across the state, outlined conceptual plans for an addition on the east side of the building.

According to a blueprint he shared with the group, the registers would be relocated to the new addition, creating room for longer grocery aisles within the existing store. The plans also include an expanded produce section, a café space, a second-floor area for staff facilities and a loading and storage area on the north side of the expansion.

LaBonne Jr. said the store has simply outgrown its current footprint of just over 43,000-square-feet. “It’s the smallest sales space of the four,” he said, the others being located in Watertown, Woodbury and Prospect, “and in the summer it does the most business.”

In order for the expansion to move forward, the Academy Street corridor would be overhauled. Currently, Academy Street is a small street that provides access to the grocery store, the used bookstore Johnnycake Books, a guest house, and several private residences.

As presented in the expansion plans, the street would essentially be the center of a parking lot comprised of the current LaBonne’s parking on the west side of Academy Street, another plot on the east side and a third area to the north of the building, with auxiliary spaces on another parcel at the end of the street that are currently used as overflow for the store.

The conceptual plans, developed by SLR Consulting of Cheshire, Connecticut, would create a total of about 90 parking spaces across a series of plots owned by the Market Place of Salisbury, a decades-old private shareholder group that LaBonne’s leases the land from. While most of the land is already owned by the Market Place, some of the proposed parking area lies on land currently owned by the town. One parcel currently houses an occupied affordable home rental, which LaBonne noted would have to be replaced elsewhere if it is removed as the plan proposes.

LaBonne Jr. noted that the plans come after years of deliberation with the town on how to proceed, and remain highly preliminary, pending review from both the town and from the Market Place of Salisbury.

As of early June, LaBonne’s leadership did not comment directly on the project when asked, stating that the effort remains in early stages.

During the meeting, though, LaBonne Jr. spoke about the advantages of expanding parking options in town.

Referencing other municipalities with vibrant downtowns such as Litchfield and Middletown, he said that ample parking and thoughtful planning can play a big role in vitalizing Main Street activity.

“If you don’t provide parking for capacity, you will chase people out of town,” he said.