TOUR: 99 Ranch Market - Quincy, MA

99 Ranch Market
Opened: 2020

Owner: Roger Chen

Previous Tenants: Shaw's (late 1990s-ca. 2005) > Hannaford (ca. 2005-2016) > Big Y (2016-2019)

Cooperative: none

Location: 475 Hancock St, Quincy, MA

Photographed: May 6, 2023

From Shaw's to Hannaford to Big Y to 99 Ranch! This North Quincy supermarket has hosted a parade of different brands in the two and a half decades since it was built, and most recently, 99 Ranch -- an Asian supermarket chain based on the west coast -- has opened up, marking their fifth location on the east coast (following New Jersey stores in Hackensack, Jersey City, and Edison and one in Gaithersburg, MD). Subsequently, they've opened in Westbury, New York, and are preparing a new store in Queens.

The Quincy location opened shortly after Big Y closed, and over the course of several years, the space was renovated. When I visited in the spring of 2023, the renovation was still very much in progress.

The layout didn't significantly change, although the decor and setup of the produce department has. In an interesting layout that seems to be common for 99 Ranch, produce bins line an island in the middle of the department where clerks prepare, cut, and package produce on the sales floor.

Here you can see that setup. You can also see that, although the bones are the same, the store's general appearance has been freshened up and I think it's looking great.

The former cafe in the front was opened up and used for sale items when I visited. It looks like this is now a food court, and bakery and prepared foods are in the deli island.

Here's where the bakery department had been in the back, which was under construction for something else when I visited.

But the seafood department has increased in size by several times. Also notice the flooring has been removed throughout the store, switching instead to polished concrete.

So, finally, the store no longer really looks like a Shaw's or a Hannaford. And it's looking quite good these days!

The butcher counter hadn't yet been finished when I visited.

It's clear 99 Ranch was a little confused with what to do with the former natural foods department, as they've just put some nonfoods and part of the frozen department here. I don't know if this area has changed its setup.

Some new shelving with appliances in the grocery aisles, which are now numbered counting down so that the last aisle is aisle 1.

It's obvious the store wasn't done when I visited, but it was looking good. The Westbury one is just gorgeous and appears to be very high-volume (I've visited but not yet posted the pictures), and the New Jersey ones are a little older so they're not quite as impressive but still very nice and busy.

Although the decor was new here, it still needed some help! I do think everything I saw was temporary, though, as the renovation was obviously still ongoing in 2023.

And we now end with aisle 1 -- a little bit of a strange choice, and I don't know why they reversed the numbering.

The front corner now has home goods and kitchenwares.

And a look across the front-end, which (at the time of my visit) still had the Hannaford-era checkout lane markers.

I'll have to return to this store to see what the renovation looks like now that it's done. And although there is a large Asian American community here in Quincy, 99 Ranch still has their work cut out for them because there's another Asian supermarket practically next door. That'll be our next stop, on Monday!