The Market Report

Original Grocery Tenant: Living Earth Market Address: 232 Chandler St, Main Middle, Worcester, MA Opened:  1971 Closed:  2019 Later Tenants:  vacant Photographed:  August 31, 2018 and March 20, 2021 For a few decades, a natural food store called Living Earth Market stood at the corner of Park and Chandler in Main Middle. The grocer was just under 7,000 square feet, and was the only natural food store in Worcester. I visited the store back in 2018, but unfortunately didn't take any pictures other than that first one. The rest all come from 2021, after it had closed. I won't go too deeply into the history here, but make sure you read this profile on the store from the Telegram & Gazette when it closed. You can also see quite a few pictures on the Yelp page . In 2022, a restaurant owner purchased the property . Long before Living Earth was here, though, the property was a Community Stores location back in the 1920s and 30s, then was taken over by Harry Provost by...

Woodland Superette Opened: ca. 1960 Owner:  Phillip Alexiadas Previous Tenants:  RD Creamer & Son > Community Stores > The Corner Store > Woodland Street Market Cooperative:  none Location:  30 Woodland St, Main Middle, Worcester, MA Photographed:  February 10, 2019; November 8, 2020; November 16, 2020; and February 1, 2022 The Woodland Superette is a stunningly well-preserved example of an early 20th century grocery store. The space dates back to 1880, when this brick apartment building was constructed. I don't know about all the way back then, but by 1916, R. D. Creamer & Son had a small grocery store in the corner of the building. By 1922, that had become a Community Stores, and by 1943, The Corner Store. By 1949, the store had become the Woodland Street Market, a name it would retain until about 1960 when it became the Woodland Superette. Here's a look at the back of the building... By my estimate, the store is around 1,000 square feet, but...

Perry's Market Owner: Loc Win Opened:  2005 under current ownership; 1930 originally Cooperative:  none Location:  196 Stafford St, Webster Square, Worcester, MA Photographed:  August 20, 2020 Just a few blocks away from Webster Square Plaza , we start to feel like we're out in the country a little bit as Worcester starts to give way to its more rural western neighbor, Leicester. A couple blocks in from the city line is this tiny grocer of about 1600 square feet, which appears to have been built in the 1920s by Community Stores Co. In 1930, Community Stores moved next door to 194 Stafford , and Louis Perry opened a grocery store in 196 Stafford. The store would keep Perry's name on the building for almost a hundred years, although the Perry's Super Market name didn't come until around 1960. The original family is no longer involved with the business and it appears to have been sold several times, most recently in 2005. Inside, the tiny market functions as a conveni...