One more day of South Boston! The neighborhood has a Foodie's Market and a Stop & Shop, along with several small grocers, but there used to be many more supermarkets in the neighborhood when supermarkets were far smaller. Thanks to Groceteria's amazing work, I identified and photographed these assorted former chain grocers across the neighborhood.
What was once a Stop & Shop at the far western part of Southie -- near the Dorchester/Roxbury border -- is now home to the very blue Rotary Variety. The right side of this building was the Stop & Shop, but it's possible the left side was once a store of some kind, too. Notice the rounded corner like we've seen before. The Stop & Shop building looks to be around 2000 square feet, though the building to the left with a church and a pizzeria is a bit larger.
A sign posted on the side of Rotary Variety left me very confused. Hace Ptamos (2 for $3) and EBT is not a particularly helpful message, and the best that I can guess is that "hace ptamos" is some kind of butchering of "aceptamos," the word in Spanish for "we accept," and that there was previously some other form of benefit that they accepted (WIC?) that was later covered by a 2 for $3 sticker when they stopped accepting it.
At least part of this building, which is actually triangular, was a First National Stores. Given the rather late apparent opening date -- early 1950s -- I would assume that it was the entire first floor, totalling around 4100 square feet and now occupied by a florist.
Groceteria's spreadsheet lists an A&P at this location in 1960, but I doubt that given the apparent industrial character of this building between Southie and the seaport. (It's currently occupied by a crane company.) This building was definitely here in 1960, so my best guess is that either the address was listed wrong in the directory, or A&P used this as a warehouse or office building at that time.
South Boston
Original Grocery Tenant: Stop & Shop
Address: 325 Old Colony Ave, Boston, MA
Opened: mid-1940s
Closed: early 1960s
Later Tenants: assorted other grocers
Photographed: June 29, 2019
Rotary Variety has been here since the mid-1980s, and the building has recently been renovated with a new facade.
Original Grocery Tenant: First National Stores
Address: 334 E 8th St, Boston, MA
Opened: late 1920s
Closed: late 1950s
Later Tenants: assorted other grocers
Photographed: June 29, 2019
The Family Market at E 8th and Old Harbor was a First National Stores (later simply Finast) from the 1920s through about the 1950s. The store has a new awning and facade since my 2019 picture.
Original Grocery Tenant: unknown
Address: 481 E 6th St, Boston, MA
Opened: unknown
Closed: unknown
Later Tenants: Frank's Market (late 1960s-late 1970s) > residential
Photographed: June 29, 2019
Groceteria has records for five Frank's Markets in Boston, in Southie and Dorchester. This appears to have been the longest-lived one, opening in the 1960s and closing by the end of the following decade. Although the space on the ground floor previously occupied by the grocer now appears to be an apartment, the angled corner doorway is a dead giveaway for a former grocer. Given the age of the building, I assume there was at least one other grocer here before Frank's, but I don't know who or for how long.
Original Grocery Tenant: John T Connor
Address: 781 E 5th St, Boston, MA
Opened: unknown
Closed: late 1920s
Later Tenants: First National Stores (late 1920s-late 1950s)
Photographed: June 29, 2019
John T Connor is a name we haven't heard since Worcester, and it seems they may have sold some or all of their locations to First National Stores around the late 1920s. Finast was here until around the late 1950s. Again, the now-removed angled door is an obvious clue of the building's past.
Original Grocery Tenant: Victory Market
Address: 661 E Broadway, Boston, MA
Opened: late 1950s
Closed: mid-1970s
Later Tenants: unknown
Photographed: June 29, 2019
This squat brick building on East Broadway, the main thoroughfare through Southie, was a Victory Market from the late 1950s through the mid 1970s. I don't know, but I doubt there's any relation to the northern MA chain acquired by Hannaford in 2004.
Original Grocery Tenant: First National Stores
Address: 635 E Broadway, Boston, MA
Opened: early 1950s
Closed: late 1950s
Later Tenants: unknown
Photographed: June 29, 2019
Original Grocery Tenant: Supreme Markets
Address: 470 W Broadway, Boston, MA
Opened: early 1960s
Closed: mid-1980s
Later Tenants: unknown
Photographed: June 29, 2019
Supreme Markets -- later merged with Purity to form Purity Supreme (which was later acquired by Pathmark and then Stop & Shop) -- was here on West Broadway for at least around 20 years in a space now occupied by a Goodwill store. Notice the "South Boston Market" lettering still remaining at the top of the building. Given its larger size -- around 12,000 square feet by footprint, and it appears there are two floors -- I wouldn't be surprised if the space was originally a public market like this. Supreme Markets came along in the 1960s, but the building dates back to at least the 1930s.
Original Grocery Tenant: Sunny Rose Super Market
Address: 413 W Broadway, Boston, MA
Opened: ca. 1950
Closed: late 1950s
Later Tenants: unknown
Photographed: June 29, 2019
Sunny Rose, an independent with three stores over time, was here in the next block west of that Supreme building. Each of the Sunny Rose locations appears to have been short-lived, with this one opening and closing within the 1950s. A Brighton location was operating around the same time, opening around the late 1940s and closing by 1955. And a Dorchester location, just a block north of what's now the America's Food Basket at Codman Square, opened in the late 1940s or so, and closed by the end of the 1950s.
Original Grocery Tenant: A&P (?)
Address: 346 D St, Boston, MA
Opened: late 1950s
Closed: early 1960s
Later Tenants: unknown
Photographed: June 29, 2019
And that, friends, wraps up South Boston! Tomorrow, come back for a roundup of everything we saw plus a preview of what's next.
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