Shaw's - Boston, MA (East Boston)

Shaw's
Opened: 1997

Owner: Albertsons Companies

Previous Tenants: none

Cooperative: none

Location: 246 Border St, Boston, MA

Photographed: July 22, 2019

There are only two Shaw's stores within the city of Boston these days, this one and the Hyde Park location. (Other locations that have been here over time have converted to Star Market.) Both Hyde Park and East Boston are neighborhoods rather separated from the dense, urban city center, and so it makes sense that they'd have the more suburban-style Shaw's locations. Plus, both are generally blue-collar areas, and Star Market these days has a higher-end positioning.

The 50,000 square foot Shaw's on Border Street was constructed in 1997 and has a layout similar to certain other Shaw's of that era (see Shrewsbury, for example, or it's nearly identical to one in Nashua, NH). The grand aisle is on the left side, with floral and produce on the outside wall and prepared foods and deli in an island facing that. Meat and seafood are on the back wall, dairy and frozen are on the right side, and bakery is in the front-right corner. There's no pharmacy here, probably because there's a CVS in the strip mall.

When I visited, the store had been freshly remodeled from its previous decor package and was looking quite good.

The East Boston area, especially here around Maverick Square, has a large Latin American population, and although Albertsons Companies has never been great at international foods, here there's a selection of Latin produce, at least. There aren't really any Latin supermarkets in this part of Boston, but there are some smaller stores that we'll see soon!

Cold cuts transition into the meat department at the back of the grand aisle. It looks like these cases are older and painted. But they aren't even all that old since the store was only built in 1997.

Service meat and seafood on the back wall. Love the arrow sign next to the department!

The first grocery aisle is behind the deli island, hence the full wall here.

The flooring in the aisles is original to the store, but the flooring on the perimeter was replaced in the renovation.

I'm assuming some of the lighting quirks, such as what we see here, are left over from the prior decor package. I assume there was probably something there where there's now a dark spot (but an extra tube light on the ceiling).

It looks like the freezers are probably original and recently painted black. It wouldn't surprise me if they'd also refinished the floor throughout, given how nice and shiny it looked.

Looking back over to the grand aisle on the left side...

New flooring in the last aisle. Again, I assume there was previously a sign or decor element where you can see the different ceiling setup.

Bakery is in the front-right corner. As I mentioned, this is also typically where the pharmacy would be, but there isn't one here.

Here, I think the new decor actually fits well into the existing wall shape, although you can tell it's not made for this signage.

And a look across the front-end, with Supervalu-era lane markers still going strong!

Now that we're done with the Shaw's of East Boston, it's time to check out the independent grocers of the neighborhood. Come back tomorrow for an extensive look at several of them!