I live here, people still call it Butsons. Does not seem odd at all that an employee would refer to it as Butsons just a few months after the conversion. There was a closed Ames store here when I moved here in 05', it has been an Ocean State Job Lots for about 8 years. Most people that were here when it was Ames, still refer to it as Ames. Since the story appears to be true, by admission of the family, what this person calls the store is really a non-issue. IMO.Guys, I want so badly to believe that there is some substance to this news + that it cracks this case wide open, I really do... but I just don't. And I've followed it since I was a freshman at UMass when Maura went missing (crazily enough: my roommate at the time had gone to her same high school). I remember that flier going up in my dorm in the middle of that February. It was 2004.
Based on Renner's recent posts: Maura + friends went to a supermarket called Butson's in Woodsville the evening of February 9th, 2004, around 5:45-6:00pm. It sounds like Butson's was one of a few outlets in a small supermarket chain that was locally owned + operated in that area of New Hampshire. However, a much larger (but still quite provincial) supermarket chain, Shaw's, bought them out + took over later.
Here's where things get thrown off for me: A quick search yields three different news stories archived such that Shaw's took over the Woodsvile Butson's in October 2003 - a few months before Maura's trip to Woodsville - and that the transition happened rather quickly. If that's the case, Butson's was not Butson's in Woodsville in February 2004 - it was already Shaw's. That seems like quite a big detail not to have correct. I am willing to be wrong, I really am, but I'm wondering if someone else has an answer for this that says otherwise.
Links here:
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Shaw'...r+Butson's+Associates+Hired+by...-a0109228256
http://www.nhbr.com/Archive-2003/Shaws-strategy-raises-competition-questions/
http://business.highbeam.com/4524/article-1G1-108718701/shaw-buys-butson-cs
Edit. There was a Butsons in Littleton as well and even though the location is now a bank and some retail stores, many long time residents still call the location "Butsons". I am a long time buffalo bills fan, even though their stadium has not been called "Rich Stadium" for many years, that's what I still call it. It's not unusual.