Whole Foods Market - Cambridge, MA (Central Square)

Whole Foods Market

Opened: 2003

Owner: Amazon

Previous Tenants: First National Stores (opened by early 1950s, closed 1974) > The Globe Discount Center (closed 1976) > Bread & Circus (open by 1986, converted to Whole Foods 2003)

Cooperative: none

Location: 115 Prospect St, Cambridge, MA

Photographed: July 21, 2019

Welcome to the final week of Cambridge! We're here in Central Square where, on Friday, we saw three stores. The final store near Central Square is a couple blocks north, and it's this Whole Foods with a long history as a supermarket. As you might be able to tell from the outside, it was built way back in the early 1950s as a First National Stores (Finast), then closed no later than 1974. It became The Globe Discount Center, which was closed by 1976, then by 1986 it had become a Bread & Circus natural food store. That chain was acquired by Whole Foods in 1992 but kept its name until 2003, when its stores in the Boston area were converted to Whole Foods.

This is a very small Whole Foods store, measuring just 10,500 square feet at ground level (there is probably a basement, but I'm not certain of that). For an idea of what this store would've looked like originally, check out this former Finast in the South End.

Produce is on the right side of the store at the front, with cheese and dairy behind that in the first aisle. Meat and a butcher counter are on the back wall, with a service seafood counter in the back-left corner. Deli and bakery are on the left side in the last aisle, although I'm not sure there's an in-store bakery here.

This is an attractive store, but many of these legacy Bread & Circus locations look rather different from purpose-built Whole Foods. Also, many of them haven't been renovated since they switched from Bread & Circus, which may be the case here.

Here's a look at butcher and seafood on the back wall...

Frozen foods in the second-to-last grocery aisle, I believe. Looking very tidy, even though it's a small store!

Seafood and butcher in the back-left corner. You can see for sure it's a small store, but Whole Foods has managed to include a full line of services here.

Including prepared foods and deli, which are in the back part of the last aisle.

Baked goods in the front of the last aisle along with self-service coffee and beverages. No service bakery counter.

And a look across the front-end from the produce department...

These pictures come from 2019, not long after Amazon acquired Whole Foods, so you can see lots of Amazon Prime signage. And if you like this Whole Foods, good news! There's another Whole Foods not far from here, just under a mile southwest on the edge of Cambridge. We'll check it out tomorrow!