DeLuca's Market - Boston, MA

DeLuca's Market

Opened: 1996

Owner: Caroline and Victoria Aiello

Previous Tenants: unknown

Cooperative: none

Location: 239 Newbury St, Boston, MA

Photographed: May 20, 2022

Newbury Street in Boston is well-known for its collection of high-end shops and restaurants, and the mile-long stretch between the Boston Common and Massachusetts Avenue is lined with beautifully-preserved historic houses and buildings. On the corner of Fairfield Street right near the middle of Newbury Street, gourmet grocer DeLuca's Market has stood since 1996.

DeLuca's original store on Charles Street goes back to 1905, and longtime owner Virgil Aiello retired in 2022, turning ownership over to his daughters. I haven't been to the Charles Street store, but you can still see some pictures on Google Maps. Both are small, specialty grocers, and my best guess is that this store is between 2000 and 3000 square feet.

It's been expanded out the front, and you can see in the exterior pictures how the front sloped roof area was just tacked onto the front of an existing building. Inside, that space is used to maximum advantage, and you can also see the original building's facade behind the shelves of chocolate.

There's a selection of produce, cheese, specialty groceries, deli items, and a little bit of meat, along with some beer. It's definitely not a full supermarket, but it's also much more than a convenience store.

As far as I know, there's no relation to the more famous but now-defunct Dean & DeLuca chain of stores that originated in New York City. You can see inside their former flagship store here, which is now a clothing store.

There's a deli counter at the back of the store, the only service department.

And as you can see, the aisles are extremely narrow to fit in as much as possible! I don't remember seeing any storebrand items here.

But there's a little bit of everything, and it feels like a very old-school gourmet shop. It's very fun to look around, and also a good resource for people living around here. It's definitely a good place to browse specialty (and expensive) food items, which is very much in the spirit of Newbury Street in general.

There are three other supermarkets that we'll stop by in the Back Bay area, so come back tomorrow to see the next two!