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The Grocers of Jamaica Plain

And with that, we've finished Jamaica Plain. We toured three supermarkets and visited quite a few smaller stores and former grocery stores, so if you missed any, you can use the map below to navigate to that store's post. Coming Up Next From Jamaica Plain, we're headed east to Roxbury, which is as you can see the neighborhood pretty much right in the middle of Boston. Bounded on the south by Roslindale and Dorchester, Dorchester to the east also, Jamaica Plain on the west, and Longwood and the South End to the north, Roxbury is a green but urban neighborhood that's considered by the city to be "the heart of Black culture". Roughly half of the neighborhood's residents are Black, with an additional 30% or so from Latin America. And despite the name, we're several miles away from West Roxbury , a very different neighborhood. You'll see several unusual names throughout the city, such as the fact that South Boston could reasonably be described as...
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The Independent Edition: Jamaica Plain

Now that we've finished Jamaica Plain's main grocers, let's check out some of the small stores around the neighborhood! The majority of these are around Egleston Square on Washington Street, which is a bit of disputed territory (some might call it Jamaica Plain, others will call it Roxbury). To me, anything to the southwest of Columbus Avenue is Jamaica Plain, but the other side of the street is Roxbury. Anyway... Egleston Square Yessenia's Market Opened:  1992 Owner:  Rafael Pena Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  none Location:  3348 Washington St, Jamaica Plain, MA Photographed: November 13, 2021 This is the farthest-south independent grocer we're seeing on Washington Street, at the corner of Green Street where we saw Green Basket . A block north is Ruggiero's .

Stop & Shop - Jamaica Plain, MA

Stop & Shop Opened: ca. late 1990s Owner:  Ahold Delhaize Previous Tenants:  none Cooperative:  none Location:  301 Centre St, Jamaica Plain, MA Photographed:  June 15, 2019 and July 12, 2019 Jamaica Plain has two large supermarkets, the Whole Foods just west of here and this Stop & Shop. While the Whole Foods opened up in what had previously been a longtime independent grocer, this Stop & Shop appears to have been a new-build store around the late 1990s (after 1996), though it may have replaced another store nearby. At around 40,000 square feet, it's smaller than most Stop & Shops but larger than the other grocers in the immediate area. This store was one of the latest Stop & Shops in Boston to get the recent remodels, which were completed here last spring . So although the store has been cosmetically updated since these 2019 pictures, the bones appear to be exactly the same. It looks like the renovation was largely decor. You enter to the...

ShopRite - Watchung, NJ

ShopRite Opened:  April 9, 2025 Owner:  Village Super Market Previous Tenants:  assorted non-grocery tenants Cooperative:  Wakefern Food Corp. Location:  1701 US-22, Watchung, NJ Photographed:  July 23, 2025 We're back at the Watchung ShopRite to check out what the heck is going on. To recap: Village Super Market owns about 30 ShopRite stores, and about 10 more under the Fairway and Gourmet Garage brands in NYC. They brought the Fairway and Gourmet Garage brands into some of their other locations, with Fairway-branded coffee, cheese, and bakery departments, and Gourmet Garage-branded prepared foods. Then, at the end of May, Village very abruptly removed all of those branded items and departments. The Gourmet Garage-branded prepared foods are now packaged with labels devoid of any branding at all, and the Fairway and Gourmet Garage brands have been meticulously removed from all Village ShopRite stores. In Watchung , and possibly Old Bridge , signs reading "V...

Bravo Supermarkets - Bronx, NY

Bravo Supermarkets Opened: 2014-2022, reopened 2024 Owner:  Abel Baez Previous Tenants:  Murray Hardware > Pioneer Supermarkets (open by 1973, closed after 1993) > Met Foodmarkets (open by 2005, closed 2014) Cooperative:  Krasdale Foods Location:  1861 Archer St, Bronx, NY Photographed:  July 25, 2025 Another trip to the Bronx takes us to Parkchester, where the fire-damaged Bravo on Archer Street has reopened after an extensive renovation. See my previous post here . This is a much-delayed post, as I didn't realize the store had reopened about a year ago after getting a major overhaul. Here's a look at the exterior before the renovation. I really like this simple, straightforward exterior look. I never got the chance to visit before the fire and closure, so I don't know whether the interior layout changed during the renovation. Cosmetically, everything looks brand-new, though some of the fixtures are probably left over if they weren't damaged. Produce an...