Dorchester Food Co-Op
Opened: 2023
There's two sets of pictures here, and we're going to start way back in 2021 when the store (and the building housing it) was under construction. Signage announced the store was to open in 2022, but it actually opened the following year.
And just for clarity, since I talk a lot about cooperatives on this website: this is a member-owned buyers' cooperative, meaning that ownership is shared among employees and customers who each own an equal part of the company. That's the formula that "cooperative" typically refers to in similar stores, but in supermarkets there's also retailers' cooperatives. In that arrangement, multiple independent supermarkets (that aren't themselves cooperatively owned) are members of a cooperative organization that shares functions like buying, warehousing, distribution, and advertising. Examples of that you might be familiar with in supermarkets include IGA, Wakefern Food, or Key Food -- or, heck, America's Food Basket. The cooperative setup there means that each store owner co-owns the overall group, but in a cooperative like the Dorchester Food Co-Op, individual people co-own the store itself. Among the member-owners of this store is Boston mayor Michelle Wu.
Now that we've seen the store in progress, let's check out the completed inside after its opening! I visited last summer. The entrance and exit are on the left side of the building, facing the parking lot to the left. Produce and bulk foods are on the left side of the store, with refrigerated and dairy items on the back wall. Frozen foods are on the right side. There's a cafe in the front of the store, with prepared foods (don't miss the empanadas) and beverages, and a small seating area.
The store is around or just over 10,000 square feet. It's spacious and modern but colorful and fun inside. It's definitely a hybrid of a natural food store and a regular supermarket, and it's clear they've made an effort to stock both everyday food items people in the neighborhood need alongside more specialized items.
Plant-based (including vegan dairy and the like, which is all but impossible to find at other area supermarkets) is at the back of the first aisle.
The grocery aisles, if I remember correctly, are set at a slight angle and are divided in half. It makes navigating the store feel more like exploring a specialty market than getting around a regular supermarket.
Dairy and cheese/deli items at the back. There isn't a service deli here, but there is a kitchen and a selection of prepared foods available. Plus, as you can see in the first picture, the store's general manager was out on the sidewalk grilling up some salmon, corn, and a few other things available for free samples and for purchase.
Frozen foods are in the last aisle on the right side of the store with a selection of single-serve beverages at the front. Notice the Food Club items above. I didn't see a consistent storebrand throughout the store, but there were a handful of Food Club items and some natural storebrand items.
Above you can see the grocery aisles at an angle. Below is the cafe and prepared foods bar, with the seating area just out of frame to the left and the registers to the right.
Opened: 2023
Owner: cooperatively owned
You know you're in a big city when there are three supermarkets in just six blocks. The Dorchester Food Co-Op is in the middle, at Bowdoin and Topliff Streets, with one America's Food Basket a block and a half north and another about four blocks south. Still, there's a big difference between America's Food Basket and the Dorchester Food Co-Op, Boston's only (but not first) cooperatively owned food store.Previous Tenants: none
Cooperative: none
Location: 191-195 Bowdoin St, Dorchester, MA
Photographed: November 13, 2021 and July 6, 2024
There's two sets of pictures here, and we're going to start way back in 2021 when the store (and the building housing it) was under construction. Signage announced the store was to open in 2022, but it actually opened the following year.
And just for clarity, since I talk a lot about cooperatives on this website: this is a member-owned buyers' cooperative, meaning that ownership is shared among employees and customers who each own an equal part of the company. That's the formula that "cooperative" typically refers to in similar stores, but in supermarkets there's also retailers' cooperatives. In that arrangement, multiple independent supermarkets (that aren't themselves cooperatively owned) are members of a cooperative organization that shares functions like buying, warehousing, distribution, and advertising. Examples of that you might be familiar with in supermarkets include IGA, Wakefern Food, or Key Food -- or, heck, America's Food Basket. The cooperative setup there means that each store owner co-owns the overall group, but in a cooperative like the Dorchester Food Co-Op, individual people co-own the store itself. Among the member-owners of this store is Boston mayor Michelle Wu.
Now that we've seen the store in progress, let's check out the completed inside after its opening! I visited last summer. The entrance and exit are on the left side of the building, facing the parking lot to the left. Produce and bulk foods are on the left side of the store, with refrigerated and dairy items on the back wall. Frozen foods are on the right side. There's a cafe in the front of the store, with prepared foods (don't miss the empanadas) and beverages, and a small seating area.
The store is around or just over 10,000 square feet. It's spacious and modern but colorful and fun inside. It's definitely a hybrid of a natural food store and a regular supermarket, and it's clear they've made an effort to stock both everyday food items people in the neighborhood need alongside more specialized items.
Plant-based (including vegan dairy and the like, which is all but impossible to find at other area supermarkets) is at the back of the first aisle.
The grocery aisles, if I remember correctly, are set at a slight angle and are divided in half. It makes navigating the store feel more like exploring a specialty market than getting around a regular supermarket.
Dairy and cheese/deli items at the back. There isn't a service deli here, but there is a kitchen and a selection of prepared foods available. Plus, as you can see in the first picture, the store's general manager was out on the sidewalk grilling up some salmon, corn, and a few other things available for free samples and for purchase.
Frozen foods are in the last aisle on the right side of the store with a selection of single-serve beverages at the front. Notice the Food Club items above. I didn't see a consistent storebrand throughout the store, but there were a handful of Food Club items and some natural storebrand items.
Above you can see the grocery aisles at an angle. Below is the cafe and prepared foods bar, with the seating area just out of frame to the left and the registers to the right.
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