About Future Foods' History

The downtown area of Mechanic Falls, centered at Depot Square, has for many years been the location of a grocery store. For almost a generation, the Depot Square plaza anchor store was owned and operated by Warren Sawyer and John Wood. Their fathers had run the Sampson's Supermarket chain and had formed Future Foods as a corporate entity for their sons to control. The initial two stores were located in Mechanic Falls and in Gray, ME. Warren and John were able to expand the business and eventually had six stores. In July of 1995, they began their retirement process of selling or leasing their stores to their store managers. Steve Berry was the beneficiary of the Mechanic Falls store.

Steve had worked for Future Foods since 1975 in both their Gray and Mechanic Falls stores and after graduating from the University of Southern Maine in 1981, became a manager in Mechanic Falls. Steve formed United Supermarket, Inc. chose to retain the operating name of Future Foods for continuity of service and customer convenience. With the surrounding towns support, the store has undergone a series of improvements in the last seventeen years. The coffin-style freezer cases were replaced by upright freezer doors, new deli cases, produce cases, dairy cases and new lighting were also added. The renovation process culminated in November 2011 with the completed expansion into the former auto-parts location. The expansion included a new frozen walk-in cooler, "beer cave" and a new dairy walk-in cooler with expanded milk selection. The additional space also allowed the store to put in a full-serve deli!

Future plans are evolving and with our customer support, more changes are planned. With the management team currently in place, the addition of some key employees and the continued support from the communities, the store hopes to improve front-of-store appearance and service and add more to the customer-on-request format. Stay Tuned!