Ming's Supermarket - Boston, MA

Ming's Supermarket  /  New York Marts
Open: 1990-2023

Owner: Ming Lee

Previous Tenants: unknown

Later Tenants: Go Fresh 365

Cooperative: none

Location: 1102 Washington St, Boston, MA

Photographed: July 27, 2019

Welcome to Chinatown! Boston's Chinatown is a busy, vibrant neighborhood, and it's just south of downtown Boston. The first Chinese supermarket we'll see in this neighborhood is Ming's Supermarket, also branded New York Marts (at the time of my visit, the Ming's Supermarket sign was a small poster literally taped to the front wall). I don't completely know why the signage was like that -- Ming's still appears to be owned by New York Marts's parent company Go Fresh 365 -- but more recently, the New York Marts signage had been covered with Ming's signs as it's now listed on Google Maps as New Ming. At some point in 2023 or 2024, the store rebranded (apparently under the same ownership) as Go Fresh 365. I'm not aware of any other stores they own operating under that name, though.

The supermarket appears to take up around 20,000 square feet of this building, and although I don't know what it was originally it seems pretty unlikely that it was constructed as a grocery store. The building dates back to at least the early 1950s.

When I visited, there were two entrance and exit doors; one in the main building and the other in this section set back from the road on the left side. As I recall, the one right on Washington Street -- visible under the NYM -- was the primary entrance, bringing us into the produce department at the front of the store. The other one brings you into a section for home goods and kitchenwares. It looks from Google Maps street views that the entrance above, which took customers into the produce department, is no longer in use.

Meat and seafood counters line the left side of the main supermarket, with the grocery aisles behind produce. To the right is the section for home goods and kitchenwares.

This store was very busy at the time of my visit, and it's one of several larger Asian supermarkets here in Chinatown. The closest is just two and a half blocks north on Washington Street, and we'll be there in two days.

There was previously another New York Marts in Quincy, which has closed.

It looks like the interior might have gotten some renovation since Ming's/New York Marts first opened in 1990. I don't believe this space was a supermarket before Ming's/New York Marts was here.

Certain parts like the produce tables and track lighting look quite a bit newer than the 1990s.

Behind produce is refrigerated and frozen foods.

I don't often see this setup, with a coffin case along a perimeter wall.

The grocery aisles are split between the left and right sides of the supermarket.

The registers are on the right side (if you're looking at the storefront from Washington Street), and the entrance/exit door visible here is the one under the NYM sign on the front wall.

This area has the remainder of the grocery aisles behind the registers. This flooring, too, looks to be in very good shape for 30-year-old floor tiles, so it wouldn't surprise me if that was redone at some point.

Nonfoods and home goods are on the right side of the store in the back.

The store appears to have been New York Marts from its opening in 1990 until shortly before my visit, probably in late 2018 or early 2019 when the Ming's Supermarket signage was added. By 2022, the store had been completely rebranded as Ming's, then by 2024 it became Go Fresh 365. The company has been in some financial trouble over the years, not to mention a fraud cause brought by the SEC in 2023, and I don't know if the rebranding has been related to the chain's various struggles.

Bulk foods, if I remember correctly, lined the back and right side walls of the supermarket.

And the aisles in the middle have kitchenwares...

That's all for Ming's, and tomorrow's post will be a store just a block east and two blocks north that's relatively new!