New Saugus, MA Big Y Opens Aug. 27

Big Y is finally opening its doors in Saugus, and honestly, this is kind of a crazy story.

The new store sits at 357 Broadway in the Saugus Plaza Shopping Center, and if that address sounds familiar, it should. Big Y actually operated there before, in a building that started life as a Hannaford. Big Y picked up that Hannaford location back in 2016. But then Amazon came calling, bought the site, and had big plans of its own.

Back in 2022, Amazon announced it would turn the spot into an Amazon Fresh, its first store of that kind in New England. The pitch was a futuristic "Just Walk Out" experience, where shoppers could grab what they needed and leave without ever standing in a checkout line. People were curious, some were skeptical, but everyone expected it to open eventually.

It never did. A "Coming Soon" banner hung in the window for years, and it became something of a running joke for Saugus residents. By 2023, word got out that the holdup was technology. The grab-and-go system just wasn't ready. Amazon eventually walked away from the project entirely, leaving the 46,000-square-foot building empty!

Now Big Y is stepping back into its old spot, and the timing lines up with something bigger. This spring, Big Y celebrated its 90th anniversary with an event right at the future Saugus site, joined by Governor Maura Healey. The company used the moment to announce six new stores across Massachusetts, including Saugus, Pembroke, Fairhaven, and North Dartmouth, a push expected to bring hundreds of new jobs to the state. -wwlp.com