The Market Report

Northern Bay Market Opened: 1985 Owner:  Jamie MacNair Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  none Location:  177 Southern Bay Rd, Penobscot, ME Photographed:  June 11, 2022 and June 13, 2022 Despite the fact that we're starting to get pretty far north -- Penobscot is farther north than some parts of Canada, such as Toronto, and it's less than 100 miles from the Maine border with Canada -- this still isn't the extremely remote parts of Maine. We're only about 25 miles from Bangor here in Penobscot, a very small town where the Bagaduce River meets the Northern Bay on the Blue Hill Peninsula. The only grocer in town, though, is a small general store (and gas station) called the Northern Bay Market. Like T&C Market , some seriously old-school gas pumps here! Between the Keep Smiling chalkboard and the seafood one, yes, we're definitely in small-town New England! The Northern Bay Market has been open under its current ownership since 1985, but it's abundantly...

Original Grocery Tenant: Castine Variety Address: 3 Main St, Castine, ME Opened:  1920 Closed:  2011 Later Tenants:  The Breeze Photographed:  June 14, 2022 Just across the street from T&C Market -- you can see the proximity below -- sits a former general store, which for nearly a century was the Castine Variety store. This corner store is now more of a restaurant than a general store, as it's been taken over by The Breeze , a seafood restaurant. It also functions as a gift shop. It's time to depart from this incredibly scenic waterfront town, but up next The Market Report travels a bit north on the Blue Hill Peninsula for another small town general store!

T&C Market Open:  2014-2025 Owner:  Todd Tobey Previous Tenants:  unknown Later Tenants:  Auxford - The Market / Castine Market (2025- ) Cooperative:  Associated Grocers of New England Location:  12 Water St, Castine, ME Photographed:  June 14, 2022 We arrive at The Market Report's first stop on the Blue Hill Peninsula, Castine! It's a sleepy waterfront town of around 1300 people, and is served by one grocery store. Like several of the stores we've seen so far in Maine, it's not quite a full supermarket and is more of a general store. Also like several others, it doubles as a gas station. (In fact, it's the only gas station in town.) With some great old-fashioned pumps, no less! The roughly 3500 square foot grocer was T&C Market from 2014 to 2025, when it changed ownership and is now called Auxford - The Market (or Castine Market ). Not sure what it was prior to T&C. The interior is set up more like a convenience store than a supermarket, ...

  The Market Report is moving farther north along the Maine coast! Now, we're making stops in several of the small towns along the water here, which are along the craggy coastline so it's not a straight line from the western ones to the eastern ones. Ellsworth is the largest town here, with a population of 8300, so it's not exactly a large city. We're south of Bangor here, and Mount Desert Island is home to Acadia National Park. Bar Harbor, at the entrance to the park, is about 70 miles to the Canada border. North and east of here is rather remote, so we're not going any farther than Bar Harbor, but after this we will circle back inland via Bangor and Augusta. For now, we'll make a stop in the tiny town of Castine tomorrow!

  Continuing the celebration of The Market Report's 10th year! Each month of 2026, I'll be posting a different special feature to celebrate my 10th year of writing this blog. So far, we've looked at the history of A&P , seen some of my favorite early posts , and spent several days looking at some historical supermarket artifacts. Now, if you can't get enough of The Market Report, here's some other recommended reading for you! Breaking News Follow The Market Report's news feed here ! Need an intro to retail basics? Don't miss the Southern Ontario Retail Blog's glossary  here . More Blogs & Websites A collection of some other retail-focused websites. Thanks to Albertsons Florida Blog and the Mid-South Retail Blog (which just celebrated its 11th anniversary!) for this list! Many of these websites are defunct, but still worth visiting. And of course, this is not a complete or definitive list, but just some worth checking out. Special shoutout to...

Hannaford Opened: early 00s Owner:  Ahold Delhaize Previous Tenants:  Braun's Red & White (early 1960s) > Doug's Shop 'n Save (opened 1965) > Bucksport Shop 'n Save (converted to Hannaford early 00s) Cooperative:  none Location:  370 Main St, Bucksport, ME Photographed:  June 11, 2022 The small town of Bucksport -- population 5,000 -- is right at the northern end of the Penobscot Bay. It's where the bay and its islands meet the mainland, and where the Penobscot River meets the bay. If you're driving north on route 1 through this area, you actually have to briefly leave the mainland to enter Verona Island via the incredibly scenic Penobscot Narrows Bridge , then you reenter the mainland just next to this Hannaford. A supermarket of around 26,000 square feet, this Bucksport Hannaford appears to have been built in the early 1960s as a Red & White (though generally Red & White stores didn't build new, so it's possible there was another cha...

Tozier's Family Markets Opened: 1967 Owner:  Dale Tozier Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  none Location:  127 Main St, Bucksport, ME Photographed:  June 13, 2022 Bucksport is The Market Report's final stop in this region of Maine. The craggy coastline has numerous peninsulas and islands here, so almost 50 miles south of Bucksport, you'll still be finding small islands like Isle Au Haut and Vinalhaven. Our next stop along the coastline will be primarily focused on those islands and peninsulas. But first, let's check out the small grocer here in Bucksport! This is the last remaining Tozier's, whose other locations closed back in 2024. At just 2500 square feet, this store -- closer to a general store than a supermarket -- is a quarter of the size of the Searsport location. The store has a few grocery aisles that run side to side, along with beer and wine. There's also a small deli. Not a full supermarket, but definitely all the essentials. In addition to ...

Swan Lake Grocery Opened:  2022 under current ownership; 1977 previously Owner:  JP & Rhonda Wentworth Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  Associated Grocers of New England Location:  979 Swan Lake Ave, Swanville, ME Photographed:  June 16, 2022 We've seen plenty of stores that have undergone their fair share of expansions over the years, but that's definitely the case here at the Swan Lake Grocery, where it looks like an original general store building has been expanded to its present size of 10,000 square feet -- making it more of a supermarket. This store dates back to at least 1977 under its previous owners (and I would bet it's been a grocery store for much longer than that). In 2022, Wentworth Family Grocery took over the store. Wentworth is a member of Associated Grocers of New England, so this store sells Food Club and Full Circle brand items distributed by AGNE from Topco. Wentworth stores are full supermarkets, but AGNE also supplies con...

Tozier's Family Markets Open:  1964-2024 Owner:  Dale Tozier Previous Tenants:  unknown Later Tenants:  Edwards Brothers Supermarkets (2024- ) Cooperative:  none Location:  22 E Main St, Searsport, ME Photographed:  August 14, 2019 Tozier's Family Markets isn't exactly a household name, but the grocery store was previously a small chain in this region of Maine. This 11,000 square foot supermarket opened back in 1964 and was in business for 60 years, closing in the summer of 2024. I visited it while it was still open in the summer of 2019. After Tozier's closed, another local chain called Edwards Brothers Supermarkets reopened this location. They're supplied by Hannaford, as are several independents in the area. They lightly remodeled the former Tozier's prior to opening. Edwards Brothers doesn't seem to have changed the layout. Deli-bakery are in the front-right corner, with produce and meats in the rest of the first aisle. Beer is on the back wall, w...