Original Grocery Tenant: Ralph's Wonder Market Address: 95 Lincoln St, Lincoln Square, Worcester, MA Opened: 1950 Closed: bet. 1962 and 1969 Later Tenants: Mr. Ralph's Discount Foods > Big Discount Supermarket Photographed: October 21, 2022 This building of just under 20,000 square feet was built in 1950 housing Ralph's Wonder Market. We've discussed Wonder Market before ; it's a group I don't really have any information on (is it possible that it was once related to Kilroy's Wonder Market in Glen Rock, NJ?) but regardless, by the late 1960s, this building was home instead to Mr. Ralph's Discount Foods (I can only assume ownership didn't change), then Big Discount in 1973 -- which appears to be the same as Big D . The store closed between 1979 and 1985. Up at Brittan Square a couple blocks north, another longtime grocery store recently closed. We'll be checking that out on Monday!
D'Errico's Market Open: ca. 1990s in this location; 1947 previously; closed 2024 Owner: Rodrigo De Oliveira Previous Tenants: Argento's Market Later Tenants: Vitoria Meat Market Cooperative: none Location: 141 E Central St, Shrewsbury Street, Worcester, MA Photographed: November 10, 2018; April 12, 2022; and January 21, 2023 Shrewsbury Street once was (and still, to a certain extent, is) the center of the Italian community of Worcester, so it's only logical that the street once had many Italian markets. None are left, though, but the last one standing is (was?) D'Errico's Market, just off Shrewsbury on Central Street. We can trace a grocer with the last name D'Errico way back to Peter D'Errico at 173 Shrewsbury Street in 1922, then Vincenzo D'Errico at 177 Shrewsbury Street (both now a parking lot) in 1927, then Peter D'Errico again at 151 Shrewsbury from 1931 to 1952. By 1957, D'Errico's was at 143 E Central, the large brick buil