The Market Report

Stop & Shop Opened:  1996 Owner:  Ahold Delhaize Previous Tenants:  Elm Farm Food Co. (late 1950s-late 1960s) > Finast (late 1960s-1996) Cooperative:  none Location:  545 Freeport St, Dorchester, MA Photographed:  July 27, 2019 We continue our streak of smaller-than-average and nicer-than-average Stop & Shops in the southern part of Boston, much like the stores we've already seen in Hyde Park and Roslindale . This Stop & Shop -- which is just a quarter mile from the water (although, to be fair, it's the Neponset River, which is separated from the Massachusetts Bay by a peninsula) -- is only 45,000 square feet. It was built in the 1950s, originally an Elm Farms Food, later becoming a Finast by the late 60s and then a Stop & Shop in 1996 when Ahold acquired the chain. Around 2005, the store got a major renovation and expansion to its present size and layout, but it doesn't look like the building was actually demolished and replaced. It was...

America's Food Basket Opened: 2011 Owner:  Edwin Polanco Previous Tenants:  Finast (1930s-1980s) > People's Tropical Food Supermarket (closed 2011) Cooperative:  America's Food Basket Location:  576 Washington St, Dorchester, MA Photographed:  June 15, 2019 The main intersection of Washington Street and Talbot Avenue forms the center of Codman Square, one of the sub-neighborhoods of Dorchester roughly in Dorchester Center. The main supermarket in this area is today an America's Food Basket, but goes back as far as the 1930s when First National Stores -- later Finast -- first opened shop at 576 Washington. The 8400 square foot store stayed a Finast all the way through the 1980s, and at some point after that the People's Tropical Food Supermarket opened. People's occupied the spot until 2011, when America's Food Basket moved in. Between 2013 and 2015, AFB overhauled the whole store, expanding into a neighboring storefront and redoing both the inside and th...

Daily Table Grocery Opened: 2015-2025 Owner:  nonprofit Previous Tenants:  assorted non-grocery tenants Cooperative:  none Location:  450 Washington St, Dorchester, MA Photographed:  June 15, 2019 and July 6, 2024 A couple weeks ago, I posted a look at the short-lived Daily Table Grocery in Mattapan . The nonprofit grocer didn't make it there, but here in Dorchester, the original store was in business for ten years before closing last month . The innovative nonprofit grocer format was developed in 2015 by Doug Rauch, the founder of Daily Table and former president of Trader Joe's. That was the year he opened this store , a roughly 9500 square foot supermarket selling donated and near-expiration food dirt-cheap. That's essential in a state and city where cost of living is famously high. Dorchester is one of the lower-income neighborhoods of Boston. The store didn't feel exactly like a typical discount grocery store, and that's partially because the assortment ...

Original Grocery Tenant: A&P Address: 451 Washington St, Dorchester, MA Opened:  early 1940s Closed:  early 1970s Later Tenants:  church > CVS Photographed:  June 15, 2019 We're checking out two stores here at the corner of Washington and Park near Dorchester Center. This 13,000 square foot CVS was originally an A&P, which opened around the early 1940s and closed by the 1970s. I don't know if it remained a supermarket after that, but by the mid-00s it had become a church, and CVS by early 2019. Across the street is the original location of Daily Table Grocery, the nonprofit grocer that now has several locations in and around Boston. Check that store out here , and tomorrow, we'll head a couple blocks south on Washington Street for our next supermarket!

Happy Supermarket Opened: unknown, before 2007 Owner:  unknown Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  none Location:  868 Blue Hill Ave, Dorchester, MA Photographed:  June 15, 2019 Time to get happy! Welcome to the small Happy Supermarket, an independent grocer of just 3300 square feet. Located on busy Blue Hill Avenue , the store has been in business since at least 2007 but probably for quite a long time before that. Side note: Blue Hill Avenue is a major thoroughfare and divided highway through a lot of southern Boston. When I lived in Boston, I didn't have a car, and Blue Hill Avenue was always a nightmare to walk on. I'm not the only one to have noticed this, and a redesign is coming . Happy Supermarket is definitely a local store for people walking, not driving, as it doesn't have a parking lot. Despite the small size, there's a full produce and meat/deli department here, along with a few short grocery aisles. It's a bit of a distance to a full supermark...