Apna Bazar Farmers Market - Lowell, MA

Apna Bazar Farmers Market
Opened: 2023

Owner: Jaswinder Singh and Dipak Bhardwaj

Previous Tenants: CVS

Cooperative: none

Location: 1815 Middlesex St, Lowell, MA

Photographed: August 23, 2025

There's been so many stores we've seen that are drugstores converted to supermarkets, but most are in the New York metro area. Apna Bazar has made its home in a former CVS here in Lowell, though, taking up 10,000 square feet of space vacated when CVS moved into the Market Basket strip mall across the street. In a way, it makes sense though, because Indian grocer chain Apna Bazar originated in the New York City area. That's where most of their stores are, but three are here in Massachusetts, Woburn (opened 2022), Norwood (opened around 2017), and Lowell (opened 2023).

You enter on the left side of the store to a very well-stocked produce department in the first aisle. Bulk rice and grains are on the back wall, with dairy in the back half of the first aisle and frozen foods on the right side. There's also a food truck that seems to regularly park outside the store, though it's not part of the supermarket.

The store is cramped because it's very full of merchandise. It's not large, but it's the largest strictly Indian supermarket in the immediate area. Foodland International in downtown Lowell is a larger store with a big Indian selection but also many other cuisines represented. There is a significant Indian-American community in the greater Lowell area, though, and a number of smaller Indian grocers including one called Indian Basket just diagonally across the street.

Lots of rice here! These large selections are, of course, a staple of any South Asian grocer.

The grocery aisles are packed full of merchandise, too, especially items that might not be easily found at another store like Market Basket. Market Basket definitely makes an effort to have some Indian foods in certain locations, but it's not exactly a large selection.

It looks like many or most of the fixtures were new when Apna Bazar opened here.

The registers are on the front wall in a line rather than separate counters, and a row of sale items is in front of them.

This setup definitely feels like a converted drugstore, and it wouldn't surprise me if the rice section is where CVS had the pharmacy counter. But I don't know for sure.

Lowell has many interesting ethnic markets because of its very diverse population, and I definitely hope to visit more of them in the future. For now, I don't have many photographed, but I do have one more just a couple blocks east. Come back tomorrow to check it out!