The Market Report

  I hope you've enjoyed the last couple weeks here in Dorchester. There was a lot we saw, so if you missed anything, you can see all the stores on this map. Coming Up Next Just to the west of Dorchester and to the north of Roslindale is the neighborhood of Jamaica Plain. Once the center of Cuban and Central American population in the city, over the last 20 years or so the neighborhood has gentrified -- exemplified in no way better than the stalwart Hi-Lo Foods , which became the source for all Latin foods in Boston. In 2011, the store closed and was replaced by a Whole Foods. We'll tour that store and visit plenty more -- representing both the gentrification and the remaining neighborhoods with Latin communities. Tomorrow, we're going to check out two former grocers at Forest Hills in the southern part of Jamaica Plain!

Now that we've toured all of the larger stores of Dorchester -- and taken a look at some former supermarkets , too -- it's time to check out some of the small independent stores around the neighborhood! A big caveat here: this is nowhere near a look at every independent grocery store and corner store in Dorchester, but it should give us a good overview. Ashmont Phú Thinh Market Opened:  ca. 2013 Owner:  unknown Previous Tenants:  Economy Food Stores (1930s) Cooperative:  none Location:  1826 Dorchester Ave, Dorchester, MA Photographed:  July 27, 2019 We start in Ashmont, in southern Dorchester, for Phú Thinh Market, a small Vietnamese grocery store. It opened around 2013, and previously, the Viet-Huong Market occupied part of the space (as you can see above, the store is two storefronts combined, and they've since been painted the same color). I don't know what was here before Viet-Huong, but way back in the 1930s, a location of the local chain Economy Foo...

Brother's Supermarket Opened: 2020 Owner:  Ambiris Fernandez Previous Tenants:  Finast (early 1940s - late 1960s) > ?? > Rosa Supermarket (opened before 2007, closed 2020) Cooperative:  none Location:  430 Geneva Ave, Dorchester, MA Photographed:  November 13, 2021 Time for another Brother's Supermarket! The chain started in the Grove Hall area of Dorchester around the early 00s and later opened a second location at Upham's Corner around 2008. In 2017, they opened a third -- and much larger -- location near Brockton in Randolph , which just a couple months later they sold to America's Food Basket. In 2020, they took over this small corner supermarket which was previously Rosa Supermarket but dates back to the 40s when it was a First National Stores (or Finast). And in 2023, they took over an independent grocer in Roslindale . Geneva Avenue is diagonal, and each of the corners is built with a rounded retail or residential building for several blocks. Most...

Price Rite Marketplace Opened:  2020 Owner:  Madison Foods / Todd Slawsby Previous Tenants:  Supreme Markets (late 1960s-late 1970s) > Purity Supreme (opened ca. late 1970s) > Capitol Supermarket (closed 2006) > America's Food Basket (2006-2020) Cooperative:  Wakefern Food Corp. Location:  500 Geneva Ave, Dorchester, MA Photographed:  November 13, 2021 The Price Rite of Dorchester, at Fields Corner, is one of four Price Rites in the city of Boston. Two of them -- Roxbury and Roslindale -- are owned by the Slawsby family and were previously Save-A-Lots, while the Hyde Park location is corporately owned. This Dorchester location is also owned by the Slawsbys, but was never a Save-A-Lot. It opened in 2020 shortly after the Slawsbys' company, Madison Foods, left Save-A-Lot to join Price Rite. This is actually the second supermarket the Slawsbys have operated at this location, as they also owned a Capitol Supermarket here from the mid-1990s or so thro...

America's Food Basket Open: 2006-2020 Owner:  Edwin Polanco Previous Tenants:  Supreme Markets (late 1960s-late 1970s) > Purity Supreme (opened ca. late 1970s) > Capitol Supermarket (closed 2006) Later Tenants:  Price Rite Marketplace (2020- ) Cooperative:  America's Food Basket Location:  500 Geneva Ave, Dorchester, MA Photographed:  June 15, 2019 Well, you can tell something's up with this store just from that exterior picture. What's going on with the temporary banner for a store that had been open for 13 years when I visited? Well, this store's history is actually quite interesting. It was constructed with the rest of this strip mall at Fields Corner in the late 1960s as a Surpeme Market, a local chain owned by the Cifrino family. Supreme merged with Purity Food Stores, becoming Purity Supreme by the late 1970s. Purity Supreme was acquired by Pathmark owner Supermarkets General Corporation in 1984, and SGC later sold the chain to Stop & Shop ...