Steve's Quality Market
Opened: 1932
One look at that sign tells you this store has been around for a while! In fact, it dates back to the early 1930s, when Steve's Quality Market first opened at the corner of Margin and Gedney here in downtown Salem. The store was expanded and remodeled in the 1960s, which is also likely when the sign went up.
Today, Steve's is 4000 square feet -- a small store, but definitely a supermarket, not a convenience store. Its decades-old neon sign has garnered it some attention (you can even buy a print of a photograph of this store from Bed Bath & Beyond! Or from here) but glimpses inside the classic supermarket are limited online. So let's check it out here on The Market Report!
The nighttime pictures you can see online are really spectacular. The effect is less cool during daytime hours, but still, the sign is a great -- and beautifully-preserved -- remnant from another time.
You enter to the produce department in the first aisle (below I'm standing about halfway down the first aisle, looking back towards the entrance, which you can see behind the woman with the basket). Deli-bakery are at the end of the first aisle, with meats on the back wall and frozen/dairy in the last aisle.
Because the store was renovated most recently in 2002, according to that link from the Salem Public Library, the interior doesn't have the same historical excitement that the exterior does. Still, Steve's is the only full-service supermarket in downtown Salem, although there are several other small grocers.
The interior, while not exactly modern, is far from neglected. It's been kept up very nicely.
Below, you can see dairy and frozen lining the outside of the last aisle. Because of the setup of the store, the back wall is diagonal and the last aisle is very short.
As far as I could tell, Steve's isn't a member of any cooperative, but they sell Best Yet products from C&S.
A very old-school front end, with a few registers and these cigarette and lottery units hanging over the registers.
Owner: unknown
Previous Tenants: unknown
Cooperative: none
Location: 36 Margin St, Salem, MA
Photographed: May 14, 2022
Packaged meats on the back wall. It looks like these cases were not replaced in the 2002 remodel, but the one on the left might have been painted more recently. There are a few grocery aisles in the middle of the store.
Steve's is certainly worth a stop for the sign alone, but it's nice to see it's been kept up as a functional supermarket and is in good condition throughout. That's all for today, but tomorrow The Market Report is headed a couple blocks southeast for two smaller grocers in town!
Comments
Post a Comment