Bell's Market - Boston, MA

Bell's Market

Open: early 1900s-2022, new store coming soon

Owner: George Khoury

Previous Tenants: none

Cooperative: none

Location: 246 Dorchester St, Boston, MA

Photographed: June 29, 2019

South Boston -- Southie, as it's called -- is a famously historical, small-town-feeling neighborhood. One of the enduring independent grocers in Southie was Bell's Market, a store of roughly 5000 square feet that dates back to the "early 1900s," per Caught in Southie. (Check that page out for a picture of the store in 1939!) The store, known for its butcher shop -- and its gray corned beef -- closed in 2022 to clear space for an upcoming mixed-use development that will include a brand-new Bell's Market on the ground floor. When I visited in 2019, I was amused by this sign on the front, which not only advertised a brand of milk that no longer existed, but actually, I don't think Sur-Fine ever existed.

The Irish-American heritage of Southie is on proud display throughout the store, although the current owner is not Irish.

I don't remember the interior layout too well, but as I recall, dairy and frozen were on the left side. Butcher and deli were on the back wall, with produce and grocery aisles in the middle, and beer/wine on the right side.

Even though the store was old when I visited, it had clearly been kept up well. Even the old (maybe 1970s?) decor inside seemed newly painted and in good shape.

There were a few grocery aisles in the middle of the store and a few cases of produce.

So even though this is a small store, it had a little of everything. There's two other supermarkets here in Southie that we'll see shortly, too, but they're in other parts of the neighborhood.

And that's all for Bell's Market. I can't wait to check out the new one! Now we're headed several blocks northeast for a look at a former supermarket on Broadway.