Skip to main content

Posts

Coming Soon!

We are almost in Boston! Before we get into the city, we're going to stop in the town of Quincy just south of the southernmost neighborhoods of Boston. Quincy borders the far-south neighborhoods of Neponset and Ashmont. Quincy, the birthplace of John Adams and John Quincy Adams (and named after John Quincy , after whom John Quincy Adams was also named), is a city of about 100,000 people near the coast. In my experience, by the way, the city's name is pronounced closer to "quin-zee" than "quin-see", which I can't explain. There's a large Asian community, including a lot of Chinese American immigrants, and of course the supermarkets to match. We'll be visiting the grocery stores of Quincy from south to north (plus one random stop in Braintree just to the south) and end up in far northern Quincy just a mile from the Boston border. Also here in Quincy: the headquarters of The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, located right in Quincy Center. Tomorr...
Recent posts

TOUR: Market Basket - Brockton, MA

Market Basket Opened: 2012 Owner:  DeMoulas family Previous Tenants:  none Cooperative:  none Location:  200 Westgate Dr, Brockton, MA Photographed:  July 6, 2019 Time for another Market Basket! It's been a while, so let's take an extensive tour of this store, built from the ground up in 2012. It's on the southern end of the Westgate Mall, not actually attached to the indoor mall, but on the same property. It replaced a department store anchor of the mall, which was demolished for this building. The 81,000 square foot store is typical of the newer and larger Market Baskets, and is exactly what we've come to expect from the local cult-favorite chain. Dairy is in the first aisle on the right side of the store, with deli, cheese, and seafood at the back. Meat lines the back wall, with produce and frozen foods on the left side. Bakery, prepared foods, and the cafe are in the front-left corner. Inside, of course, this store looks a whole lot like every other Market ...

TOUR: ALDI - Brockton, MA

ALDI Opened: 2017 Owner:  ALDI Sud Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  none Location:  544 Westgate Dr, Brockton, MA Photographed:  July 6, 2019 Happy Monday! Today's tour is a straightforward look around an ALDI in the northwestern part of Brockton. This store opened in 2017 and I visited two years later, in 2019. The approximately 20,000 square foot store was previously an AC Moore, and was probably originally part of a larger department store or supermarket (the remaining portion of which is now a Marshalls). Interestingly, this building is now an outparcel of the Westgate Mall, but it actually predates the mall, having been built in the late 1950s. The mall sprung up in the following decade. You enter in the front-right corner to baked goods lining the first aisle with produce in the back-right corner. Meat and cold cuts are on the back wall, and dairy and frozen are on the left side in the last aisle. Inside, even though the ALDI looks pretty good, yo...

Update: ShopRite!

ShopRite of Springfield Opened: 1975 Owner:  Village Super Market Previous Tenants:  Safeway (planned, never opened) > Finast (1962-1975) Cooperative:  Wakefern Food Corp. Location:  727 Morris Ave, Springfield, NJ Photographed:  April 19, 2025 Welcome back to the ShopRite of Springfield! This store, of course, was planned as a Marina-style Safeway but wasn't yet open when Safeway pulled out of the area. Their area stores went to Finast, and this one opened as a Finast in 1962. In fact, there's even still a Finast sign on the property . In 1975, local ShopRite operator Village Super Market moved into the spot. They've renovated the store several times over the years, expanding it to its present 40,000 square feet. Most recently, it received a minor renovation in late 2024. You can take a look at my post of the store prior to the renovation here . As we'll see, not much has changed, but it's looking pretty good. New decor in the grand aisle with some minor r...