The Market Report

Whole Foods Market Opened: 2003 Owner:  Amazon Previous Tenants:  Purity Supreme (1966-early 1990s) > Nature's Heartland (opened 1996, closed by 2000) > Bread & Circus (opened by 2000, converted to Whole Foods in 2003) Cooperative:  none Location:  170 Great Rd, Bedford, MA Photographed:  March 5, 2025 Time for our latest Whole Foods store! Like so many others we've seen in the Boston area, this store was previously a Bread & Circus, but it actually has a much more interesting history than just that. It was constructed in 1966 as a Purity Supreme, and it appears that when that chain was acquired by Stop & Shop in the 1990s, this store was moved into the new-build Bedford location just down the street. The former owners of Purity Supreme then started a natural food chain, called Nature's Heartland, which had opened here by 1996 and closed by 2000. Bread & Circus (owned by Whole Foods) opened no later than 2000, then converted to Whole Food...

Stop & Shop Opened: early 1990s Owner:  Ahold Delhaize Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  none Location:  337 Great Rd, Bedford, MA Photographed:  March 5, 2025 and October 13, 2025 Welcome to Bedford, MA! It's probably not a town you've ever heard of, but it's actually a notable town because it's home to the Hanscom Air Force Base (and its on-base commissary ). A number of other related industries are also in the area. In addition to the commissary, where I sadly am not able to go as a civilian, Bedford has two supermarkets. The larger one is this Stop & Shop, at about 63,000 square feet. It opened in the early 1990s as a Super Stop & Shop and appears to have only been renovated once, shortly after Stop & Shop introduced the fruit-slice logo. While I'm not totally certain on this timeline, it looks like this store opened as a replacement for the Purity Supreme location they acquired (which is now Whole Foods, tomorrow's store tour). The l...