The Market Report

Remember the Lowell area (also see here )? Now, it's time to return to that general area -- though this time, we're across the border on the New Hampshire side. It's time to visit Nashua and a few of its suburbs, including Merrimack, Milford, and Hudson. We'll see only a few stores over the next couple weeks -- I haven't spent a lot of time in this area -- but some good news here: recently (like, earlier this month), I got to return to Nashua for the first time in about five years and significantly expanded my collection. So you'll see some late-breaking additions to this group of stores. Over the course of this group, we'll travel from north to south, from Merrimack near Manchester down through Milford, Nashua, and Hudson. After Nashua, we're all done with New Hampshire and we move west to Vermont! FYI...  July's 10th year feature has sadly been delayed because of adding stuff to Nashua, so keep an eye out for two coming in August!

  The Market Report is moving into southern-central New Hampshire, with a look at the areas surrounding Manchester, Hillsborough, and Keene! Once again, this isn't an area I have a lot of coverage of, so it'll be rather brief. We begin in Hooksett, just north of Manchester, then make stops in Manchester and Bedford. From there, we'll head west via Hillsborough to Keene. Come back on Monday for a look at our first store!

  Welcome back from summer break! The Market Report now comes to New Hampshire (or, technically, returns ) with a look at the kind of middle of the state. We'll visit a couple stores in Northwood, about 20 miles inland from Portsmouth, then pass through the city of Concord and then turn north towards Laconia. While we're in this area, we'll also take a stop by West Lebanon, which is right on the border of Vermont. This is a short group -- New Hampshire has not that many supermarkets, of course, because it's generally a small and rural/wilderness state -- and I simply haven't spent that much time here. So come back tomorrow for a look at a small-town Hannaford! Plus, during summer break... Here's what you may have missed: New posts! Patel Brothers and Shaw's each remodel Massachusetts locations Check on work wrapping up at SuperFresh and Food Universe stores H Mart reopens a New Jersey store Visit a brand-new South Jersey ShopRite See two new locations of a...

  We are coming to the end of The Market Report's time in Maine, and it's time to circle back inland after spending some time along the coast (see here and here )! As you can see on this map, this is only a fraction of the geographic area of the state, but it's all I have, at least for now. This time, we start with a few stores in the Bangor area, then proceed west via Waterville and Oakland, and finally end up in Augusta and Gardiner which are about 20 miles north of Wiscasset . See you on Monday for our first stop outside of Bangor!

  The Market Report is moving farther north along the Maine coast! Now, we're making stops in several of the small towns along the water here, which are along the craggy coastline so it's not a straight line from the western ones to the eastern ones. Ellsworth is the largest town here, with a population of 8300, so it's not exactly a large city. We're south of Bangor here, and Mount Desert Island is home to Acadia National Park. Bar Harbor, at the entrance to the park, is about 70 miles to the Canada border. North and east of here is rather remote, so we're not going any farther than Bar Harbor, but after this we will circle back inland via Bangor and Augusta. For now, we'll make a stop in the tiny town of Castine tomorrow!

  The Market Report arrives in Maine! It's exciting to be in this area, as this is where we're definitively no longer in the Boston area anymore (you could make an argument that southern New Hampshire is still roughly in the Boston area -- I even know of people who commute from Nashua to Boston). Instead, we're all the way up in Maine, where The Market Report has never posted stores before. Because this isn't an area I've ever lived in, my coverage starts to get much thinner here, so we'll only be seeing a handful of stores in each of these farther-north New England groups. Still, there's a lot of fun places to see, and we're going to start right where Maine borders New Hampshire along the coast and then travel along the coast (plus some small detours inland) for the next month or so. For now, enjoy the weekend, and I'll see you on Monday in Kittery!

It's time for The Market Report's spring break! I was originally planning to take some time off in January but the timing didn't line up, so now we're now going to take two weeks off from posting. I'll see you on April 3rd for a look at our next group which will be along the coast of Maine! Also... I'm working on updating some of the blog's oldest posts with new info, updated formatting, and in some cases, even new photos! Stay tuned for more.

We've finally come to the end of Massachusetts here on The Market Report! Obviously, we've only seen a very small portion of the state's many supermarkets, but we've covered some good geographic ground and we're now all the way up in the northeastern corner of the state. This is around where the North Shore stops being just a place where people live and becomes more of a tourist destination (though, of course, those areas are mixed all along the coast of New England). We'll see a few stores along the coast from Gloucester, MA to Portsmouth, NH, which is just south of the Maine border. Yes, New Hampshire does have a tiny section of coastline, although only about 15 miles from Seabrook to Portsmouth. We'll start in Gloucester, then make stops in the small towns of Ipswich and Newbury before a look at Newburyport, the larger town right on the NH border, and West Newbury. Then it's off to New Hampshire for a few stores in Seabrook, one inland a bit in Exete...

Our next stop is a little inland of the places we've been, so let's head out to Lawrence and Haverhill! We're back towards the direction of Lowell , which is about 10 miles west of Lawrence. This is not an area I've spent a lot of time in, so our coverage will be very quick. In fact, we'll only be spending this week here. Tomorrow is our first store tour in the southern part of Lawrence, so come back to check it out! Plus, see the latest 10th year special feature here!

Thanks for touring Lynn, Massachusetts with me! There aren't that many supermarkets here, but if you missed any or just want to see where they're located, check out the map below. As usual, red markers indicate a store tour, blue markers are a snapshot, and yellow markers are a look inside. Coming Up Next We're continuing north along the north shore to the Salem area! You're probably familiar with Salem because of its Shaw's and Market Basket, but did you know there's also important American history there? Joking aside, the Salem Witch Trials may have given Salem notoriety (and throngs of tourists on witch walking tours through the downtown), but the city of 45,000 is also a scenic New England coastal city in its own right. Just to the southeast is the gorgeous peninsula of Marblehead, one of the first towns to be settled in this area. In fact, many houses in the historic district have signs with their year of construction, the original owner's name, and ...

We're back to the north shore of Massachusetts, where we're going to do a deep dive into the supermarkets of Lynn, Massachusetts. The city of 100,000 is located just north of Revere , abutting the Broad Sound with Nahant (a peninsula) and the Nahant Bay between Lynn and the Atlantic Ocean. We'll be taking a look at all the supermarkets of Lynn -- the only thing we'll be skipping is several small corner grocers. We begin in the southwestern corner of the city, then pass through all the way to the northeastern corner of town. Come back Monday for a look at two independent grocers in the southwestern part of Lynn! Plus...  don't miss the very special feature, Remembering A&P !

Our next stops are a couple of the northeastern suburbs of Boston! Now that we're out of the immediate Boston area, my coverage becomes much less dense, so the standard disclaimer here that we won't be seeing every supermarket in all these areas, but we'll stop by a couple of towns. The first stop will be in Malden, a city basically straight north from Boston, then we'll head a bit southeast to Chelsea, a waterfront city facing the Mystic River and Chelsea Creek opposite Charlestown and East Boston . We'll wrap up with a look at Winthrop and Revere on the coast. This will be a relatively short group, as I only have a couple of stores in each town to show you. There are plenty of others in this area I simply haven't been to yet. Look out for posts in these towns for the next week and a half or so, and then it'll be time for a very special feature!

  It's time to return to the city of Lowell and its environs (see previous coverage here )! The city is notable in the supermarket world for being the birthplace of Market Basket, so the fact that The Market Report's coverage the first time around was only a very quick look at one of the four Market Baskets in town seems unconscionable. In late August, I got the chance to return to the city, so we'll be seeing all four Market Baskets in town along with a couple other stores, plus one just outside the city in Dracut. For now, enjoy the weekend, and I'll see you on Monday for a look at two Market Baskets!

Before we continue north along the coast of New England, it's time for a quick return to Worcester County. Why? Well, after I posted stores in the area of eastern Worcester County (see this area ), I actually got the chance to go back to the Hopkinton and Milford areas very recently -- in late August of this year, which obviously is much more recently than most of my Worcester-area coverage from ca. 2018-2023. So now we're going to interrupt the usual flow to return to this region, then a quick swing back up towards Lowell before we return to the north shore, to the north of Boston. We'll be taking a look at a store in Hopkinton, about 15 miles southeast of Worcester and ten miles southwest of Framingham. Then The Market Report visits all of the grocers of Milford, a midsize city between Worcester and Providence. This area is actually a hotspot for grocery activity, as we'll see a couple new stores or recently-changed stores in one way or another. Come back tomorrow for...

That brings us to the end of Cambridge and Somerville! It's been a lot of back-and-forth around these neighborhoods, so check out the stores on the map below to make sure you haven't missed any, and to get a better idea of where they all are in relation to each other. Coming Up Next We're going to spend just a couple days visiting a few of the northwestern Boston suburbs we either skipped or passed through only briefly on our first trip through. This isn't so much a cohesive group of towns or neighborhoods as much as a random collection of other stores I've photographed -- so we'll spend a day each in Belmont and Waltham right outside Boston, then head northwest to Bedford, Billerica, Concord, and Acton, then go back out towards Worcester for a day to wrap up with a store in Marlborough. This one won't be too long a group because my coverage is sparse, but before we continue to the north we're gonna see some last-minute additions back in the Worcester a...

Believe it or not, everybody, we've seen every supermarket in Boston except for one! I hope you've enjoyed our trip around the city, and of course, we're not yet done with the greater Boston area -- we have plenty of time still to spend in the northern suburbs and the north shore of MA -- but our last few days in Allston and Brighton have finished up our look at the city's grocery stores. Here's a look at our visits from these neighborhoods! Coming Up Next Cambridge and Somerville are the next two suburbs north of Boston, and they're really cities in their own right. Cambridge has a population near 120,000, and Somerville -- the more suburban one -- has over 80,000 people. And those people are densely packed into just over 10 square miles. Cambridge is home to both Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), while Tufts University's campus is partially in Somerville. You've probably heard the stereotypical Boston "pahk t...

These Boston suburbs have had a lot to see over the last couple weeks! We've seen all the stores in Chestnut Hill and Newton, but only one of the stores in Needham. The stores I haven't posted (or photographed) are in gray, and notice that the former Stop & Shop in Newton is also on the map. Take a look at all of them in the map below! Coming Up Next It's time for the final group of stores within Boston! We've now covered the whole city except for Allston and Brighton on the far northwestern side of the city. As I've mentioned, there are a couple neighborhoods of Boston that were annexed from other towns outside the city over the years, and Allston and Brighton are geographically separated from the rest of the city for that reason. We're just northwest of Brookline , and east of the Newton stores we saw more recently. We'll tour Brighton first, starting in the southwestern corner near the Brookline border, then up into Allston. The northern part of All...

That's a wrap on Brookline! It was a quick visit, no doubt -- I'd love to return and get more pictures of some of the stores, and visit the Maruichi -- but for now, it'll have to do. Navigate the area with the map below! Coming Up Next Just west of Brookline and Allston/Brighton are a few other suburbs. Newton is right along the Mass Pike west of Boston (which, in that area, runs alongside the Framingham Worcester MBTA rail line). Chestnut Hill is a small, green residential town next to Brookline and Needham is a bit west of that. I've visited many, but not all, of the supermarkets in this area (my coverage is spotty the farther out from Boston and the train line you get). We're going to start in Chestnut Hill right near the Brookline border, then a stop in Needham and then through the Newton Highlands area. We'll pass through Newton Centre and Waban in the central area of Newton, then to Auburndale to the northwest, and finally end up in Newtonville in the no...

We are coming down to the end of the city of Boston, now that we've finished Back Bay and Longwood! These northwestern neighborhoods are a gradient from the more dense urban and historical character of Back Bay to the more green, suburban Longwood to the west with hospitals and colleges. You can click on any of the points to visit that store's post. Coming Up Next Up next, it's actually time to move outside of the city of Boston and into the neighboring town of Brookline! As you can see on the map above, the town is surrounded on three sides by Boston, but borders the city of Newton on the west. The main part of town is Coolidge Corner, at the intersection of Beacon and Harvard Streets (it's just west of the Longwood area, and about a mile west of the Star Market we saw in Longwood ). Most of what we'll see is within a few blocks of Coolidge Corner, although I've also photographed two stores a bit farther away in either direction on Beacon Street. But we'll...

I hope you've enjoyed the far northeastern neighborhoods of Boston over the last few days. If you like what you saw, great! We have plenty more coastal areas of New England still to visit north of Boston. But before we get there, we do have a bit more of Boston and its suburbs to see. If you want to browse the stores of Charlestown and East Boston, click on the points on the map below. Coming Up Next Back Bay and Longwood are our next stops, including the Kenmore Square area between those two neighborhoods. These are, like the nearby North and West Ends, historic and generally affluent areas, and there are several large institutions here. The main library, Prudential Center, and famed Newbury Street area are in Back Bay, while Longwood and the Kenmore Square area is home to Boston University, Northeastern University, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Boston Children's Hospital, the Brigham and Women's Hospital, and the Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, and dare I forget Fenway P...