Though the film was originally meant to serve as a warning to the residents of Ellington that the Supermarket would close and the once-rural town would face severe consequences if the big box store opened, by the time production started up again in the summer of 2006 it was too late. The big box store's construction was well under way and it was known that the Ellington Supermarket would be closing its doors at an undetermined point in the summer. Thus the filmmakers devoted the entire first half of production solely to interior shooting, racing to complete all necessary scenes before the Supermarket closed, at many points hiding signs of emptying shelves.
Virtually all of the young adults in the cast and crew had either worked at the Ellington Supermarket or gone to Ellington High School. Producer and lead actor Matt Jenkins had worked continuously at the Supermarket since he was fifteen years old. Director Timothy Norman was fired from the Supermarket while he was a senior in high school.
Timothy Norman, Matt Jenkins, Dave Therrien, Pat Tanner, and Brian Madore first began discussing making a film about Ellington Supermarket in 2004, originally only intending to make a basic comedy re-enacting the countless anecdotes and exploits they all had from their years at the store. But, mirroring the plot of the film, the issue of suburban sprawl burst upon the town shortly thereafter as a big box chain store threatened to build on a farm beside the Ellington Supermarket. As debate raged throughout town and longtime residents began to fear for the future of the Ellington, the filmmakers decided to make their movie a rallying cry, a message to the people of the town to stand against the overdevelopment.
The script was written in the summer of 2005, and the filmmakers intended to shoot the exterior scenes during August and early September. Timothy Norman would then return to Emerson College in Boston to complete shooting Beantown (2007), and Ellington Supermarket interior scenes were to be shot during Christmas break. As Norman learned that Carolyne Burgess had already left for her freshman year at NYU, Nicki LaPorte was cast as Deirdre, and Dave Therrien would play the part that Bob Ondek later filled as the fourth friend. Unfortunately the first attempt at shooting exteriors that August and September ended in disaster and all the footage was scrapped. The filmmakers resolved to start from scratch on June 1st, 2006, and spent the time in between completing Beantown (2007) and working on preproduction for The Supermarket.
In addition to Nicki LaPorte originally playing the character of Deirdre, Timothy Norman originally played himself as Timmy, Brian Therrien was intended to play the grocery manager Bill, and before Bob Ondek was brought on as the fourth friend Sean Fowler was going to be the replacement.