Back in Time, Day 1

 

Continuing the celebration of The Market Report's 10th year!

Each month of 2026, I'll be posting a different special feature to celebrate my 10th year of writing this blog. Last month, we took a look at my favorite posts of 2016-2020, and in January, we investigated the history of A&P and its other brands. This month, let's spend some more time on the past with a look at some historical photos today and memorabilia tomorrow from my own collection!

Thanks to a framed picture hanging in Caldwell, NJ's wonderful Cloverleaf Tavern, we can get a look at Bloomfield Avenue in Montclair, NJ, where a streetcar rolls up the hill by a gorgeous 1950s Food Fair. It's still a supermarket, and it's a fairly small but pleasant Whole Foods. Compare the above picture to this one I took in 2016...

In my travels, I've come across plenty of other historical photos posted in stores I've visited, such as the Collingswood, NJ ACME...

...as seen in the Westmont ACME. More recently, we've seen this fascinating progression of what I believe to all be the same store, at 597 Centre St in Brockton. The first two images were posted in the Shaw's in Shrewsbury, MA until recently.

Another picture posted in a store -- this image of the Foodie's Markets in Boston's South End when it was a Finast.

Compared to today...

Among my recent acquisitions are these photos of two delivery trucks, somewhere near the Main Line of Pennsylvania ca. 1910s or 1920s. I'm not sure whether this White Rose was related to the food distributor based in Carteret that went bankrupt in 2014. It's particularly interesting that you can see the McIntyre truck behind the White Rose truck, so these were taken at the same time.

And I always have my eyes out for other historical photos, so stay tuned! Tomorrow, we'll take a look at some memorabilia I've collected.