VOORHEESVILLE — After less than a year at the helm, Kevin Smith is selling Nichols’ Shop ’N Save to Hannaford Supermarkets.
"Kevin is an independent store owner, as I am, but he also has the strength of the chain," Elaine Nichols said when she announced the sale of her family’s grocery store last year. She added, "I believe I am giving the store longevity."

Nichols’ was the latest acquisition in the four-store chain that Smith kept stocked with Hannaford goods. Last week, he announced the sale of two of those stores to the Hannaford company, which is based in Maine and owned by the Belgian company, Delhaize Group.
Smith chose to sell the Voorheesville and West Sand Lake stores because they each required a pharmacy, which was hard for a small businessman to run, he said. "Larger companies can deal with the insurance companies," he explained. He is keeping the stores in Ravena and Hoosic Valley.

When the store changes hands, which will happen by the end of the year, Hannaford will maintain the pharmacy in Voorheesville, said Ben Arato, a spokesman for the company. He said that there would be changes at the store, but said that it’s too soon to know what they might be.

The name will change to Hannaford, he said, and the company plans to keep it open as a grocery store. It is only one in the village, located in the shopping plaza on Route 85A.

Neither Smith nor Arato would give the selling price.