The Market Report

Sayar Market Opened: 2013 Owner:  Younes Sayar Previous Tenants:  none Cooperative:  none Location:  3 Everett St, Revere, MA Photographed:  July 14, 2019 Just north along the shore from Winthrop is Revere, to the northeast of Chelsea and due east of Malden . There are a number of supermarkets in Revere -- two Stop & Shops, a Market Basket, a Price Rite. There's also two Middle Eastern grocers. Sayar Market has been here at the Bell Circle since 2013. The 5500 square foot grocer has imported groceries, produce, a halal butcher, and a bakery. Take a look inside here . Sayar has also more recently opened a new location in Norwood, between Boston and Brockton. This Revere location competes most directly with another halal supermarket, Fair Price Market , under half a mile east. That store is brand new and looks really nice . I really want to get back to this area eventually and explore these stores further, but for now, this'll have to do. And with that, we...

Winthrop Marketplace Opened: 1999 Owner:  Frank Carideo Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  none Location:  35 Revere St, Winthrop, MA Photographed:  April 22, 2023 New England definitely has a lot of independent supermarkets. There are plenty of areas of the United States where your only choices are Walmart and Kroger, and don't get me wrong, there are plenty of small New England towns that have only a Hannaford or only a Shaw's. But independent grocers also thrive in New England, which I mentioned on yesterday's visit to Chelsea's Stop and Compare . Here in Winthrop, in fact, the only store in town is the little independent Winthrop Marketplace. And if you thought Stop and Compare was tiny at 8000 square feet, try Winthrop Marketplace's 5900 square feet. Still, it's a full-fledged supermarket without a doubt -- and a very nice one at that. You enter to the produce department in the front-right corner. Meat and deli/bakery line the back wall of the store,...

Stop & Compare Supermarket Opened: 1996 Owner:  Calvo and Ianotti families Previous Tenants:  First National Stores (late 1950s-1980s) > Oppedisano's Market (open by 1980s, closed by mid-1990s) Cooperative:  none Location:  170 Everett Ave, Chelsea, MA Photographed:  July 22, 2019 Truly independent supermarkets are getting harder and harder to find. It's no secret that the supermarket business is a hard one, and heck, it's rough out there for small businesses of any kind at all. But in the northeastern suburbs of Boston, a three-store, fully independent chain is not only running full steam ahead but has recently expanded. Stop & Compare Supermarket, run by members of two longtime food industry families, opened up here in downtown Chelsea back in 1996, later adding a location in Lynn in 2004 and another in 2021. Recognize the exterior of this building? If it looks familiar, it's because we've seen other stores with the same general facade design befor...

Market Basket Opened: 2009 Owner:  DeMoulas family Previous Tenants:  none Cooperative:  none Location:  170 Everett Ave, Chelsea, MA Photographed:  July 22, 2019 I mentioned yesterday that it's somewhat unsual to see a 75,000 square foot, suburban supermarket downtown in a small New England city. Well, how about a massive, 135,000 square foot suburban supermarket right outside Chelsea's downtown? Chelsea is a city of about 40,000 to the north of Boston. In fact, here we're just across the harbor from Charlestown and East Boston . A couple blocks northwest of the main downtown area, the former Mystic Mall was demolished and replaced by this massive Market Basket in 2009. The mall dated back to the 1970s , and had an older and much smaller Market Basket in it. Inside, you'd hardly know the Market Basket was double the size of many of their locations because, well, it's basically identical. There's just more of it. But the basic setup, layout, decor, and offer...