The Market Report

Star Market Opened:  1954 Owner:  Albertsons Companies Previous Tenants:  none Cooperative:  none Location:  1717 Beacon St, Brookline, MA Photographed:  July 19, 2019 Happy October! Checking out the Star Market in Brookline, it's clear it's been updated quite a bit. But it's not a new store -- in fact, it's been in business since 1954, when the 16,000 square foot store was constructed. This store is on the far northwest side of Brookline, near the borders of Brighton and Newton. It's about a mile west of Coolidge Corner, and it's just about two miles northwest of Jamaica Plain . The store is small -- about half the size of Stop & Shop south of Coolidge Corner -- but really packed with stuff. It's deep and narrow, so the produce department is in the front half with the rest of the grand aisle behind it on the right side. Cold cuts and part of dairy are on the right side in the first aisle, which for some reason is labeled aisle 2, and bakery, deli, and...

Bazaar on Beacon Street Opened: 1993 Owner:  Sabina Roytman Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  none Location:  1432 Beacon St, Brookline, MA Photographed:  June 16, 2019 Brookline has a large Jewish and Eastern European population, and the only kosher supermarket in the Boston area . The Bazaar on Beacon Street isn't a kosher supermarket, but it's a location of a local chain of Eastern European supermarkets , with other area locations in Allston, Newton, and Framingham. We'll be seeing the Allston and Newton locations shortly. It opened in 1993 in a space of about 2500 square feet a few blocks west of Coolidge Corner . The centerpiece of the market is a large deli in the middle of the store , with various imported groceries lining the outside. In 2022, the chain stopped stocking items imported from Russia in a show of support for Ukraine. It doesn't look like there was previously another grocer here prior to Bazaar, but I don't know that for sure. And th...

Stop & Shop Opened: ca. mid-1970s Owner:  Ahold Delhaize Previous Tenants:  assorted non-grocery tenants Cooperative:  none Location:  155 Harvard St, Brookline, MA Photographed:  June 16, 2019 and March 8, 2020 Contributor:  Jacob V. Welcome to the largest supermarket in Brookline! This 31,000 square foot Stop & Shop is certainly unusual, and you can tell that immediately from the outside look of the building. The building existed long before the supermarket -- it was built in the 1930s or earlier -- while Stop & Shop appears to have opened around the mid-1970s (it was open by 1977). I don't know all of the tenants in the unusual building prior to Stop & Shop, but by 1949, Fred Miller Chevrolet occupied the space. By 1970, it had become a furniture factory run by H. Sacks & Sons. In 1971, it was a Ryder car and truck rental facility. The two above photos come from our contributor Jacob V., showing the new logo on the outside in March 2...

Trader Joe's Opened: 1996 Owner:  Aldi Nord Previous Tenants:  J. Bildner & Sons (closed 1995) Cooperative:  none Location:  1317 Beacon St, Brookline, MA Photographed:  June 16, 2019 We've spent a couple of days near Coolidge Corner , so now let's check out a store right at the corner. The Trader Joe's in Brookline was one of the first two to open in the Boston area, opening in 1996. While I don't know what the space was originally, immediately before Trader Joe's it was J. Bildner & Sons, a gourmet grocer that declared bankruptcy in 1988 . They continued operating for several years , though, and this Brookline location was one of the last ones that closed in 1995. Amazingly, the Bildners were actually related to the New Jersey Bildners , who founded and owned the Kings Food Markets chain of stores -- later owned by Marks & Spencer, then an investment firm, and now Albertsons Companies. This store is about 18,000 square feet, and has two storefron...