The Market Report

And that's a wrap on Downtown Boston, the South End, and Chinatown! Most of the time we spent here was in Chinatown , but we also made stops in the South End and at Downtown Boston's only supermarket. Here's a look at all of those stores on a map! Coming Up Next As we continue our journey to the northern part of Boston, we are making stops in the neighborhoods just north of downtown, in the West End and North End. Both are dense, urban neighborhoods, but very historic and also generally affluent. The North End is particularly known for its Italian community ( and its great food! ), and the West End has some government and private office buildings along with Mass General Hospital's expansive complex. Just south of the West End is historic Beacon Hill , where we'll be seeing just one store (so for the purposes of this blog, I'm considering Beacon Hill and the West End as one). For what it's worth, I also have non-supermarket photographs of lots of these neig...

Original Grocery Tenant: A&P Address:  400 Tremont St, Boston, MA Opened:  late 1960s Closed:  ca. 1980s Later Tenants:  Wollaston's Market (1994-2001) > CVS (closed ca. 2023) Photographed:  July 27, 2019 One final store on the border between the South End and Chinatown before we really get into the main part of Chinatown and downtown! This roughly 15,000 square foot CVS was constructed as an A&P in the late 1960s and closed around the 1980s, later becoming an independent called Wollaston's Market which opened in 1994 and closed in 2001. I don't know if there was another tenant here between CVS and Wollaston's. CVS closed around 2023. The store has an entrance in the back, facing the parking lot, and another facing the street in the front, which you can see below. There remain two Wollaston's Market locations, both actually on the campus of Northeastern University . As such, they're much more of the campus convenience store and deli than a supermark...

Whole Foods Market Opened: January 2015 Owner:  Amazon Previous Tenants:  none Cooperative:  none Location:  348 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA Photographed:  July 27, 2019 Welcome to... the South End? Technically, yes, this is still part of the South End, but it's on the border of Chinatown. This Whole Foods was built in 2014 and opened in early 2015 as part of a new mixed-use development on the site of the former Boston Herald offices, which moved out of the city to Braintree. It's one of the largest supermarkets in the downtown Boston area, clocking in at just about 50,000 square feet. The layout is a little bit different from most Whole Foods stores, but a similar setup. If you enter on the left side, you find yourself in the liquor store and cheese department, with meat and seafood on the back wall. Dairy and frozen are also on the left side, while the grand aisle is on the right side. Deli/prepared foods, bakery, produce, and a coffee shop are all on the right...

South End Food Emporium Opened: 1989 Owner:  unknown Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  none Location:  469 Columbus Ave, Boston, MA Photographed:  May 6, 2023 Many of us are probably familiar with The Food Emporium , a New York City-area brand originally owned by Shopwell, acquired by A&P in the 1980s, and then by Key Food in 2015. Well, The Food Emporium was never here in Boston, but in the late 1980s, an independent called the South End Food Emporium opened a small specialty grocery store here at Columbus and Newton. The store is very small -- my best estimate is around 3000 square feet -- but somewhere between a convenience store and a full supermarket. The centerpiece is a deli and prepared foods island, literally in the center of the store, with produce and packaged meats in front of it, and grocery aisles to the left. Dairy and frozen line the back and right-side walls of the store. The interior of the store is attractive and modern, and upscal...

Foodie's Urban Market Opened: 1998 Owner:  Vic Leon Previous Tenants:  First National Stores (ca. 1950-late 1970s) Cooperative:  none Location:  1421 Washington St, Boston, MA Photographed:  July 27, 2019 Welcome to the South End, and to our second Foodie's location! The other one is about a mile east in South Boston . They're right around the same size, both around 8000 square feet, and both look very similar. First National Stores (later Finast) built this store around 1950, staying put until the late 1970s. I'm not sure whether there was another supermarket here between Finast's closure and when Foodie's Markets opened in 1998. Produce is in the front-left corner, with meats and service butcher in the first aisle. Deli and prepared foods are in the back-left corner of the store, with dairy on the back wall and frozen in the last aisle on the right side of the store. The overall look of the store is similar to the Southie location, but you can tell certain ol...