The Market Report

Whole Foods Market Opened: January 2015 Owner:  Amazon Previous Tenants:  none Cooperative:  none Location:  348 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA Photographed:  July 27, 2019 Welcome to... the South End? Technically, yes, this is still part of the South End, but it's on the border of Chinatown. This Whole Foods was built in 2014 and opened in early 2015 as part of a new mixed-use development on the site of the former Boston Herald offices, which moved out of the city to Braintree. It's one of the largest supermarkets in the downtown Boston area, clocking in at just about 50,000 square feet. The layout is a little bit different from most Whole Foods stores, but a similar setup. If you enter on the left side, you find yourself in the liquor store and cheese department, with meat and seafood on the back wall. Dairy and frozen are also on the left side, while the grand aisle is on the right side. Deli/prepared foods, bakery, produce, and a coffee shop are all on the right...

Ming's Supermarket  /  New York Marts Open: 1990-2023 Owner:  Ming Lee Previous Tenants:  unknown Later Tenants:  Go Fresh 365 Cooperative:  none Location:  1102 Washington St, Boston, MA Photographed:  July 27, 2019 Welcome to Chinatown! Boston's Chinatown is a busy, vibrant neighborhood, and it's just south of downtown Boston. The first Chinese supermarket we'll see in this neighborhood is Ming's Supermarket, also branded New York Marts (at the time of my visit, the Ming's Supermarket sign was a small poster literally taped to the front wall). I don't completely know why the signage was like that -- Ming's still appears to be owned by New York Marts's parent company Go Fresh 365 -- but more recently, the New York Marts signage had been covered with Ming's signs as it's now listed on Google Maps as New Ming. At some point in 2023 or 2024, the store rebranded (apparently under the same ownership) as Go Fresh 365 . I'm not aware of any ...

South End Food Emporium Opened: 1989 Owner:  unknown Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  none Location:  469 Columbus Ave, Boston, MA Photographed:  May 6, 2023 Many of us are probably familiar with The Food Emporium , a New York City-area brand originally owned by Shopwell, acquired by A&P in the 1980s, and then by Key Food in 2015. Well, The Food Emporium was never here in Boston, but in the late 1980s, an independent called the South End Food Emporium opened a small specialty grocery store here at Columbus and Newton. The store is very small -- my best estimate is around 3000 square feet -- but somewhere between a convenience store and a full supermarket. The centerpiece is a deli and prepared foods island, literally in the center of the store, with produce and packaged meats in front of it, and grocery aisles to the left. Dairy and frozen line the back and right-side walls of the store. The interior of the store is attractive and modern, and upscal...