Village Market - Roslindale, MA

Village Market

Opened: 1997

Owner: Jim and Mike McInnis

Previous Tenants: none; Finast (1930s-late 1950s) > Stop & Shop (late 1950s-early 1960s) previously on this property

Cooperative: none

Location: 30 Corinth St, Roslindale, MA

Photographed: June 8, 2019

Welcome to Roslindale Village, the downtown-type business district of the fairly suburban neighborhood of Roslindale. Small stores and restaurants line the streets, which feel more like a small town's downtown than a neighborhood of a big city. Right in the middle of Roslindale Village is the Village Market, occupying a roughly 10,000 square foot building. It was constructed from the ground up in 1997, but previously on the property was a smaller, older building originally occupied by Finast in the 1930s and later, by the 1950s, becoming a Stop & Shop that closed in the early 1960s.

This store, like the neighborhood that surrounds it, feels like a small-town supermarket, not a big-city one. In fact, there's another Village Market in Hull, MA, a small coastal town northeast of Quincy. A third is in Scituate, another coastal small town.

You enter to a grand aisle with the produce department at the front of the store, along with bakery, prepared foods, and cheeses. Deli, meat, and seafood line the right-side wall, with dairy and frozen at the back. Aisles run side-to-side, with the front-end on the left-side wall against the parking lot.

Although the store doesn't appear to have been renovated since it opened nearly 30 years ago, to me it didn't feel dated at all. The warm wood paneling, striped awnings, and big windows make it feel more timeless than outdated.

Olives and prepared foods are in the front-right corner. The store is oriented to face the small parking lot on the side, but big windows line the front wall facing the street, meaning there's a lot of natural light in the grand aisle.

Behind the grand aisle, we transition to the grocery aisles. Below, we're looking from the right side of the store to the left side, with the registers on that (blue) wall we see on the far side and the parking lot beyond it. The grand aisle is to my left below, and the remainder of the grocery aisles are to my right.

The deli and seafood counters line the right-side wall facing.

And behind them is the meat department. As you can see, maintenance has been excellent despite the store being on the older side.

Village Market, like so many independents in New England, is supplied by C&S Wholesale Grocers (based in Keene, NH, 75 miles northwest). They use Best Yet items and Full Circle natural/organic items from Topco.

And even though the store is very small, it's extremely well-appointed with a lot of selection. I would bet there's a basement here, because it looks to me like the sales floor really extends to all parts of the building's main floor.

Frozen foods line the back wall of the store, which you can see below in the last aisle.

And the front-end lines the left side wall of the store. Below, I'm about halfway back in the store, looking up towards the front wall.

Customer service between the entrance and exit in the front-left corner.

And one more shot across the first grocery aisle, with bulk coffee and other specialty items visible here. The customer service counter is directly behind me in the below picture, and you can see the seafood and deli counters straight ahead.

I thought the Village Market was a small but very pleasant and complete supermarket. And as you go west towards the suburbs, the general income level increases, meaning you have higher-end choices as far as supermarkets go. Tomorrow, we'll take a tour of one of those higher-end stores in West Roxbury!