The Market Report

Howe's Station Market Opened:  2005 under current ownership; ca. 1940s previously Owner:  Vipak Karia Previous Tenants:  none Cooperative:  none Location:  229 Maple St, Middleton, MA Photographed:  August 22, 2025 Our final stop in the Greater Salem area is about six miles west of yesterday's stop in Hamilton . This market is just 2000 square feet, but it's been continuously open since at least 1952, and I would bet even well before that. Today, Howe's Station Market is more of a corner store than a full grocer, but it's still impressive to see it in business for that long. The small town of Middleton has a Market Basket in the southern end, and there's a Stop & Shop to the east in Danvers.  Here's this month's  10th year  special feature, and what's coming up next !

Tendercrop Farm Opened: 2015 Owner:  Matthew Kozazcki Previous Tenants:  Canaan Farm Cooperative:  none Location:  93 Main St, Wenham, MA Photographed:  May 14, 2022 Ever heard of Wenham, MA? I'm sure most haven't -- it's a town of less than 5000 people over eight square miles, a bit over 20 miles northeast of Boston. I certainly wouldn't know about the town, save for a friend who grew up here. The town is home to Gordon College, a small school, and a small museum. It's also home to the Wenham Tea House , the only restaurant in town. This is where the suburbs start to give way to farmland and forests, and there are a number of nature preserves and other protected land around here. Tendercrop Farm , which opened here in 2015 (it was previously a different farm), has opened a farm market and food store in a building on the farm property, which as you can see is scenic and quaint. The main event is the produce, much of which is grown on-site (or at other farms own...

Stop & Shop Opened: 1989 Owner:  Ahold Delhaize Previous Tenants:  none Cooperative:  none Location:  37 Enon St, Beverly, MA Photographed:  May 14, 2022 Take a good look at this Stop & Shop's exterior. Well, this is an easy store to tell the history of -- a mid-00s build Super Stop & Shop, much like this one , right? Wrong. Would you believe this store actually opened in 1989? Granted, it's been extensively renovated, and probably most recently was redone around the mid-00s when the neighboring Star Market moved into a former Ames . That also explains why it's a bit smaller than the type of store Stop & Shop was typically building around the mid-00s. It's around 57,000 square feet -- plenty large, but much smaller than the 76,000 square foot South Bay one I linked above. Some digging on Newspapers.com brought me to the following article... The Daily Item, March 1, 1989 Quite a few interesting observations here, including the incredible picture...

Shaw's Opened: early 00s Owner:  Albertsons Companies Previous Tenants:  Zayre > Ames Cooperative:  none Location:  71 Dodge St, Beverly, MA Photographed:  May 14, 2022 These days, Star Market is mostly in Boston and its immediate suburbs . But the chain once stretched much farther out from the city, including up here to Beverly about 20 miles north of Boston. Star Market constructed an approximately 53,000 square foot supermarket here at the North Beverly Plaza in the early 1960s. It anchored the mall along with a Zayre department store, later Ames. Shaw's and Star Market were merged into the same company in 1999, and shortly thereafter Ames closed. Shaw's constructed a new, approximately 70,000 square foot supermarket in the former Ames, and it opened in the early 00s replacing the Star Market. Unlike the Boston-area locations, this store never returned to Star Market branding and has remained Shaw's. You enter on the left side of the store to floral and...