The Market Report

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

We are actually quite close to finishing up with Worcester, and we have just two more groups before we move along outside of the city. Today we're starting with the group of stores in the northeastern part of the city, but it actually covers a lot of the city including what's not listed above. We're going to see Shrewsbury Street, Bell Hill, Brittan Square, the area around Lincoln Plaza, and Great Brook Valley all the way up in the northeastern corner of the city. Let's start tomorrow with a longtime independent grocer on Shrewsbury Street!

Now it's on to the former grocery stores of Main Middle, Tatnuck, Newton Square, and the other neighborhoods around this area! We'll wander through some of the neighborhoods but spend a lot of time around Tatnuck Square on Pleasant Street, around Billings Square, and a bit in Main Middle -- although I have not photographed the multitudes of former grocers along Pleasant Street in Main Middle and a few other hotspots. So remember, this is not nearly a full listing. A note on historical sources:  To get past stores in each location, I've consulted Worcester city directories going back to the 1910s. Here in the city, I'm drawing from  1916, 1922, 1927, 1931, 1937, 1943, 1959, 1952, 1957, 1962, 1969, 1973, 1979, 1985, 1991, 2000, 2009, and 2017.  Also of note: this is far from an exhaustive listing of all grocery stores that have been in this area, although I'll probably eventually post the full thing, this is just what I've been able to photograph. Reading the cap

Happy Monday! Let's check out the small independent grocers across the neighborhoods we've been visiting. A note on historical sources:  To get "past stores" in each location, I've consulted Worcester city directories going back to the 1910s. Here in the city, I'm drawing from  1916, 1922, 1927, 1931, 1937, 1943, 1959, 1952, 1957, 1962, 1969, 1973, 1979, 1985, 1991, 2000, 2009, and 2017.  Also of note: this is far from an exhaustive listing of all grocery stores that have been in this area, although I'll probably eventually post the full thing, this is just what I've been able to photograph. Reading the captions:  A caption such as the following...          |  John Smith (1926-1937) > Joe Jones (1955-1982) ...means that John Smith appears in the directories in 1926 and 1937, and Joe Jones appears in all directories I consulted between 1955 and 1982. That doesn't mean that John Smith opened up shop in 1926 and closed in 1937, he might have starte

Food Bazaar Supermarket Opened: October 4, 2024 Owner:  Spencer An Previous Tenants:  Grand Union > Stop & Shop Cooperative:  none Location:  675 Paterson Ave, Carlstadt, NJ Photographed:  October 4, 2024 Today's third Stop & Shop post (along with Newton and Jackson ) is a store that's both already closed and already reopened with a new operator. For a little background, the 55,000 square foot Carlstadt Stop & Shop was built on the site of a demolished Grand Union warehouse, and the store briefly operated as a Grand Union before that chain went under and it became a Stop & Shop. It was among the 32 stores Stop & Shop is closing this fall, and along with three others was taken over immediately by Queens-based Food Bazaar, marking their 6th store in New Jersey and 36th overall. Food Bazaar is converting one store every two weeks, with Coney Island being their first on September 6, Hempstead on September 20, Carlstadt on October 4, and Piscataway up n