The Market Report

And with that, we are done with Roslindale and West Roxbury and we're moving right along! If you didn't get to see all of the stores in this area, here's a map of the area and the stores we saw. Coming Up Next Perhaps the geographically largest Boston neighborhood is Dorchester, which tends to be a little more urban than the neighborhoods to its west. It has a lot of sub-communities, and small business districts that form their own neighborhoods like Ashmont, Neponset, Grove Hall, Upham's Corner, and others. But they together form Dorchester in the southeastern part of the city. Dorchester is one of the lower-income neighborhoods of Boston, and has several immigrant communities including from Vietnam, the Caribbean, and Latin America. As such, there's a lot of diversity in the supermarkets, and we'll see quite a few Asian supermarkets in the eastern part, Latin stores in the northwestern section, and an interesting mix of mainstream supermarkets throughout. W...

Village Market Opened: 1997 Owner:  Jim and Mike McInnis Previous Tenants:  none; Finast (1930s-late 1950s) > Stop & Shop (late 1950s-early 1960s) previously on this property Cooperative:  none Location:  30 Corinth St, Roslindale, MA Photographed:  June 8, 2019 Welcome to Roslindale Village, the downtown-type business district of the fairly suburban neighborhood of Roslindale. Small stores and restaurants line the streets, which feel more like a small town's downtown than a neighborhood of a big city. Right in the middle of Roslindale Village is the Village Market, occupying a roughly 10,000 square foot building. It was constructed from the ground up in 1997, but previously on the property was a smaller, older building originally occupied by Finast in the 1930s and later, by the 1950s, becoming a Stop & Shop that closed in the early 1960s. This store, like the neighborhood that surrounds it, feels like a small-town supermarket, not a big-city o...

Original Grocery Tenant: unknown Address: 133 Bourne St, Roslindale, MA Opened:  unknown Closed:  unknown Later Tenants:  house Photographed:  May 20, 2022 This building at the corner of Bourne and Catherine Streets in Roslindale brings to mind some of the former small corner grocers we saw in Worcester, especially given that it's conspicuously the only house on these streets built right up to the road like this. Prior to its exterior renovation around 2010, it looked even more like a former grocery store, right down to the awkwardly-covered-over corner door that I came to know and love while looking at the Worcester stores, or for instance this (confirmed) former grocery store in Elizabeth, New Jersey. I'll have to consult a Boston city directory the next time I can get my hands on one at a library. Tomorrow, we're headed into the main "downtown" business district of Roslindale for the independent grocer there!

Brother's Supermarket Opened:  2023 Owner:  Ambiris Fernandez Previous Tenants:  Baby Nat's Fruitland (1970s-2023) Cooperative:  none Location:  606 American Legion Hwy, Roslindale, MA Photographed:  July 6, 2024 In 2023, the owner of longtime produce market Baby Nat's Fruitland retired , selling her business to a local chain of small grocery stores called Brother's Supermarket. Brother's has three very small supermarkets in Dorchester (and briefly also owned a store in Randolph, a Boston suburb, that has since become an America's Food Basket). Brother's remodeled the store's interior -- the exterior seems still yet to receive the promised redo -- and turned the store into a full supermarket, rather than the mostly-produce slant of Baby Nat's. Brother's did a lot of work on the inside while, I believe, keeping the store open, including new flooring, fixtures, and lighting. It's still a very small store -- only around 7000 square feet -- but ...

Baby Nat's Fruitland Open: 1970s - 2023 Owner:  Darlene Etienne Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  none Location:  606 American Legion Hwy, Roslindale, MA Photographed:  July 28, 2019 and May 20, 2022 Happy Monday! Just across the street from where we saw the Roslindale Price Rite (formerly Save-A-Lot ) is this longtime independent produce market, called Baby Nat's Fruitland. It opened up shop in the 7100 square foot building in the 1970s, eventually going out of business when the owner retired in 2023. That article has a lot of great history on the store, including the origin of the name -- Darlene Natorelli, the owner's daughter (and later the owner), was nicknamed Baby Nat. The store was mostly produce, but there were also some groceries off to the left side of the building. Caribbean and Latin foods came to be a focus for the business, as demographics in the neighborhood shifted in that direction. And although Baby Nat's has closed, another ind...

Price Rite Marketplace Opened: 2020 Owner:  Todd Slawsby / Madison Foods Previous Tenants:  Save-A-Lot (converted 2020) Cooperative:  Wakefern Food Corp. Location:  650 American Legion Hwy, Roslindale, MA Photographed:  May 20, 2022 Beginning in 2020, Save-A-Lot underwent a reorganization. It switched the chain from a retailer with some locations franchised to exclusively a wholesaler with all stores franchised . During that transition, a lot of stores were closed or sold , leading to a much more significant variation in Save-A-Lot stores. Others left Save-A-Lot entirely but kept their stores, just under a new name. That's what happened with the Save-A-Lot stores here in Boston, all three of which transitioned to Price Rite in 2020. (We also saw that in Brockton , as all four stores share an owner.) Madison Foods joined the Wakefern Food cooperative in 2020, a cooperative best known for its ShopRite stores . (In the Save-A-Lot franchise model, independent own...