The Market Report

Golden Supermarket Opened: April 2026 Owner:  unknown Previous Tenants:  Silver Star Meat Market (1968-2025) Cooperative:  Krasdale Location: 3838 Nostrand Ave, Brooklyn, NY Photographed: April 24, 2026 Speaking of aging stores being refreshed by new operators , let's check out the new Golden Supermarket in Brooklyn's Sheepshead Bay neighborhood! From 1968 to 2025, this roughly 6,000 square foot market was the Silver Star Meat Market, an old-school institution. Well, at some point, the store crossed the line between being old-school and simply old, and the owners began a renovation. I don't know what the full story was, but they never finished it, instead closing the store in late 2025. After finishing up that remodel, new owners have now reopened the market as a halal butcher and small grocery store called Golden Supermarket. Let's take a look! Golden has set up a grand aisle on the right side, with bakery/deli/prepared foods and butcher counters lining the right si...

Açougue do João Butcher & Grocery Store Opened:  2018 Owner:  João Assis Previous Tenants:  Alexander's Supermarket > Rent-A-Center Cooperative:  none Location:  1653 Middlesex St, Lowell, MA Photographed:  August 23, 2025 We're going to see one more grocer in the far western part of Lowell, near the border of North Chelmsford . If you haven't seen my posts on the Wood Street Market Basket and Apna Bazar yet, make sure to check them out. Now we're off from India to Brazil. Get your boarding pass ready. Okay, before we travel to Brazil (metaphorically, of course), let's focus on this building a bit. It sure looks like an old chain supermarket, doesn't it? That's because it is. The building was originally an Alexander's Supermarket, a New Hampshire-based chain that Hannaford eventually acquired. It looks like this store closed at some point before Hannaford acquired the chain, but they did get locations in Chelmsford and Dracut, which we'll b...

Big Boi Meat Market Opened: summer 2022 Owner:  Maycan Groner Alvarenga Previous Tenants:  Tedeschi Food Shops Cooperative:  none Location:  430 Waverly St, Framingham, MA Photographed:  August 27, 2025 We return to Framingham very briefly to see the city's Big Boi Meat Market, opened in the summer of 2022 in a former Tedeschi convenience store -- I'm not sure what was here before them -- joining locations in Worcester and Shrewsbury , among a few others. Today's other post is a look at a Market 32 a bit outside of Framingham, so check that out here , and tomorrow we're headed south over towards Milford!

McKinnon's Meat Market Opened: 1966 Owner:  James Kontos Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  none Location:  239 Elm St, Somerville, MA Photographed:  July 21, 2019 There are two grocery stores at Davis Square here in Somerville. One of them is an H Mart, which was previously a bfresh that you can tour here . The other is McKinnon's, a butcher shop and grocer that dates back to 1966 here at Davis Square and is now a small chain. We saw their Wilmington location last February. The Davis Square McKinnon's is not a large store. In fact, it's only about 2500 square feet. It's primarily a butcher shop, but there's also some other grocery items and produce. But it's definitely not a supermarket the way the other locations are. You enter to the meat department on the left side of the store. Frozen foods and groceries are also in that area, with produce at the front and deli and dairy on the right side. The interior is old-school but extremely well maintained...

Bell's Market Open:  early 1900s-2022, new store coming soon Owner:  George Khoury Previous Tenants:  none Cooperative:  none Location:  246 Dorchester St, Boston, MA Photographed:  June 29, 2019 South Boston -- Southie, as it's called -- is a famously historical, small-town-feeling neighborhood. One of the enduring independent grocers in Southie was Bell's Market, a store of roughly 5000 square feet that dates back to the "early 1900s," per Caught in Southie . (Check that page out for a picture of the store in 1939!) The store, known for its butcher shop -- and its gray corned beef -- closed in 2022 to clear space for an upcoming mixed-use development that will include a brand-new Bell's Market on the ground floor. When I visited in 2019, I was amused by this sign on the front, which not only advertised a brand of milk that no longer existed, but actually, I don't think Sur-Fine ever existed. The Irish-American heritage of Southie is on proud display t...

Roxie's Market Opened:  1960s here; 1957 previously Owner:  Alan and Edward Rubin Previous Tenants:  none Cooperative:  none Location:  479 Southern Artery, Quincy, MA Photographed:  August 4, 2019 There's nothing like a beloved independent grocer going strong for decades despite a big-chain supermarket right across the street. That's what's happening here at Southern Artery and McGrath Highway in Quincy, where a 72,000 square foot Stop & Shop competes with a tiny butcher shop and grocer of about a tenth of that size. Actually, Roxie's and Stop & Shop have been here for about the same amount of time, with Stop & Shop having been constructed in the 1950s and Roxie's here since 1960. In a 2015 article, the local paper credits the store's popularity to its personal service and low prices, which one of the owners says is possible because of their volume. The small, old-school store's main draw is its butcher, but there's also a deli and som...