The Market Report

Original Grocery Tenant: Big D Supermarkets (?) Address: 184 West Boylston St, West Boylston, MA Opened:  ca. late 1980s Closed:  1995 Later Tenants:  Price Chopper (1995 - mid-2000s) Photographed:  November 8, 2020 Here we are in West Boylston for another former supermarket. The small town just north of Worcester doesn't have any supermarkets today, but there were previously several. (I'd be fascinated to know exactly why that was; was there a large population drain? A major employer closing? Tax incentives to relocate into Worcester? Unfortunately, I can't find any more specific information.) This store was constructed around the late 1980s, around 40,000 square feet, and possibly originally a Big D or Wonder Market (given its similarity, at least externally, to this store ). By 1995, there was a Big D in West Boylston -- I assume here -- that became a Price Chopper. The store closed in the mid-00s, which I believe coincided with the opening of a new-build store ...

Original Grocery Tenant: Ralph's Wonder Market Address: 95 Lincoln St, Lincoln Square, Worcester, MA Opened:  1950 Closed:  bet. 1962 and 1969 Later Tenants:  Mr. Ralph's Discount Foods > Big Discount Supermarket Photographed:  October 21, 2022 This building of just under 20,000 square feet was built in 1950 housing Ralph's Wonder Market. We've discussed Wonder Market before ; it's a group I don't really have any information on (is it possible that it was once related to Kilroy's Wonder Market in Glen Rock, NJ?) but regardless, by the late 1960s, this building was home instead to Mr. Ralph's Discount Foods (I can only assume ownership didn't change), then Big Discount in 1973 -- which appears to be the same as Big D . The store closed between 1979 and 1985. Up at Brittan Square a couple blocks north, another longtime grocery store recently closed. We'll be checking that out on Monday!

Original Grocery Tenant: Whitman's Super Market Address: 393 Chandler St, Tatnuck, Worcester, MA Opened:  bet. 1957 and 1962 Closed:  bet. 1985 and 1991 Later Tenants:  Brooks Pharmacy > Rite Aid > Rocky's Ace Hardware Photographed:  April 14, 2019 and November 18, 2020 Just east of Billings Square between Main Middle and Tatnuck is this 15,000 square foot store, constructed around 1960 as Whitman's Supermarket. Worcester city directories list Whitman's up until the mid-1980s, when it becomes Whitman's Big D (I'm not totally sure how to interpret that; whether that means certain Big D locations were franchised or possibly the Big D chain took over Whitman's but kept the name). By the early 1990s, the store closed. It subsequently became a Brooks Pharmacy, then a Rite Aid in 2007 or 2008. Rite Aid closed in 2018, and Rocky's Ace Hardware (a local chain) moved from a smaller spot in Tatnuck into this space. (Next door, 411 Chandler , was home to an...

Price Chopper Opened:  1995 Previous Tenants:  Wonder Markets > Big D Supermarket Location:  29 Sunderland Rd, Grafton Hill, Worcester, MA Photographed: November 4, 2018 Even though Worcester doesn't have the chains it once did, like Big D or Iandoli's, there is actually a lot of mainstream supermarket choice in and immediately around the city. Big Y, Price Chopper /Market 32, Shaw's , Stop & Shop, Market Basket , and Hannaford all have a meaningful presence in and near the city. Plus, there are a few independents like Park 'n Shop . There are also a few supermarkets in and around Worcester that are a bit of a time capsule. The 32,000 square foot Price Chopper at Pozzessere Square (does anyone call it that?) where Sunderland and Massasoit Roads intersect is one of those time capsules. It was built between 1957 and 1962 as a Wonder Market ("Sunderland Wonder Market" in 1969 and 1973). It appears that Wonder Market was affiliated with Big D, so my assump...

Original Grocery Tenant: Big D Supermarket Address: 195 Mill St, Webster Square, Worcester, MA Opened:  1960s Closed:  1995 Later Tenants:  Price Chopper (1995-2001) Photographed:  October 28, 2018 and October 9, 2020 To most people in Worcester, the hulking 30,000 square foot carcass of the former Big D Supermarket on Mill Street near Coes Reservoir is nothing but an eyesore. I think it's a cool part of the city's supermarket history. This store was constructed by Big D at some point in the 1960s, and it was open by 1969. (Using Historic Aerials, we can narrow it down further: open by 1966 but nothing there in 1960.) As a side note, according to the city directories, it seems that Big D was short for Big Discount . They were also related, it seems, to several other chains including Wonder Market. I wonder (ha) if there was ever a relation to the Wonder Market in Glen Rock, NJ , such as a long-gone cooperative or something. At the same time, it's possible Wonder Ma...