Açougue do João Butcher & Grocery - Lowell, MA

Açougue do João Butcher & Grocery Store
Opened: 2018

Owner: João Assis

Previous Tenants: Alexander's Supermarket > Rent-A-Center

Cooperative: none

Location: 1653 Middlesex St, Lowell, MA

Photographed: August 23, 2025

We're going to see one more grocer in the far western part of Lowell, near the border of North Chelmsford. If you haven't seen my posts on the Wood Street Market Basket and Apna Bazar yet, make sure to check them out. Now we're off from India to Brazil. Get your boarding pass ready.

Okay, before we travel to Brazil (metaphorically, of course), let's focus on this building a bit. It sure looks like an old chain supermarket, doesn't it? That's because it is. The building was originally an Alexander's Supermarket, a New Hampshire-based chain that Hannaford eventually acquired. It looks like this store closed at some point before Hannaford acquired the chain, but they did get locations in Chelmsford and Dracut, which we'll be seeing soon. Chelmsford is under a mile from here, and Dracut is three miles northeast.

Inside Açougue do João, we enter on the left side to nonfoods in the first aisle. Meat, produce, baked goods, and deli are at the back of the compact 8000 square foot store, with dairy and frozen in the last aisle on the right side.

It looks like there isn't an in-store bakery, but there's plenty of baked goods from local Portuguese and Brazilian bakeries.

And the grocery aisles are well-appointed with items brought in from Brazil. This area, near the corner of Wood Street and Middlesex Street in Lowell, has become a mecca for international foods, with stores and restaurants nearby selling products from India, the Middle East, Brazil and Portugal, China, Vietnam, and multiple Latin American countries.

Beverages and frozen/dairy are in the last aisle.

If I get the chance to visit more of the international markets of Lowell, you can be sure I'll share them with you all! For now, The Market Report heads towards downtown Lowell tomorrow to see a store with a lot of history in the city. Stay tuned!