The Market Report

I mentioned on the post for America's Food Basket that Lawrence has a number of independent grocers, mostly small corner stores catering to Latin and Caribbean shoppers, so let's take a look at them before The Market Report leaves the area. Plus, we'll see a store just outside of Lawrence. Here we go! Lawrence V&V Market & Restaurant Opened:  2015 Owner:  Victor Villacis Previous Tenants:  car dealer > car rental agency Cooperative:  none Location:  273a S Union St, Lawrence, MA I've seen grocery stores in buildings previously occupied by lots of different businesses, but here's a somewhat unusual one -- a former car dealership, later car rental agency, that's now the V&V Market & Restaurant. That certainly explains the unusually large parking lot for this store of just 3000 square feet. V&V has been here since 2015, and is a small corner store with a butcher, deli, hot food, and general grocery.

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 !

New Market Opened: 1984 Owner:  Huong Le Previous Tenants:  Kuszmar's Market (open in 1961) > Cal's Market (open in 1991) Cooperative:  none Location:  109 Bridge St, Salem, MA Photographed:  May 14, 2022 Today's visit is a quick one: New Market in northern Salem, on a peninsula that extends north of downtown. This store is right around 2000 square feet, and clearly has been a grocery store for a long time. Historical information is limited, but looking at Newspapers.com, the building was Kuszmar's Market in 1961 and Cal's Market in 1991. Other than that, I don't have much more information to offer. Today, the store is a pretty updated liquor and convenience store . Tomorrow, The Market Report crosses the Essex Bridge over to Beverly for two stores in the southern part of town!

Los Amigos Supermarket Opened: 1991 Owner:  Cesir Euerrero Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  none Location:  122 Lafayette St, Salem, MA Photographed:  March 29, 2025 There are a few small grocers here in downtown Salem, and one small supermarket -- Steve's Quality Market , just a couple blocks northwest of here. Los Amigos is quite a bit smaller than Steve's, at only around 1000 square feet, so it's closer to a corner store or bodega than full supermarket. It's been here since 1991, but if I had to guess, I wouldn't be surprised if a corner grocer has stood at this corner, directly across from a small park or common, for many decades longer. A larger but still small-format grocer was briefly located across the street, which you can see here in today's other post. And tomorrow, The Market Report visits a small store at the northern edge of Salem!

Wholesome Fresh Opened:  2018 Owner:  Eun Hye Yoo Previous Tenants:  Market in the Square Cooperative:  none Location:  60 Church St, Cambridge, MA Photographed:  July 21, 2019 Today's post is a look at Wholesome Fresh, a small corner grocer/bodega type store where the focus is the deli and prepared foods. It's a fairly common setup in parts of New York City, with rows of self-service hot and cold food bars in the middle and other features around the outside, usually things like a deli and grill, tossed salads, sushi, tacos, ramen, or the like. But it's not too common outside the city. Here, Wholesome Fresh is very close to Harvard's campus, so it's likely attracting college students who want something quick. The store is small, about 4000 square feet, and definitely isn't a supermarket. But although the front half has mostly grab-and-go items and prepared foods, there are a few grocery aisles in the back. The owners appear to be Korean-American, and there'...

Fresh Pond Market Open: 1922-2019 Owner:  Crosby & Marc Najarian Previous Tenants:  none Cooperative:  none Location:  360 Huron Ave, Cambridge, MA Photographed:  July 27, 2019 This was one of those stores I just knew  I had to visit when I lived in Boston. The Fresh Pond Market opened all the way back in 1922 here on Huron Avenue in a space of just about 3000 square feet (it may have been smaller originally) and was still chugging along selling groceries by the summer of 2019 when I visited. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and the independent grocer closed just months after I was there . The store had a small liquor department just inside the entrance to the left -- to the left of the shopping carts in the above picture -- with meat and deli items in the first aisle, and a butcher/deli counter behind that. Dairy and produce were at the back of the store, with frozen foods in the last aisle. As the CBS article notes, the owners...

Babushka Deli Opened: 1992 Owner:  unknown Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  none Location:  62 Washington St, Brighton, MA Photographed:  July 20, 2019 Welcome to the Babushka Deli of Brighton! This small store of around 3000 square feet -- which was expanded around 2010 from a much smaller storefront by adding the former dry cleaner space to the right in the above picture -- is a convenience store and Russian grocer, with aisles of imported grocery and a deli/bakery with smoked fish , sausages, and cheeses . This area's Eastern European community extends through Newton and Brookline into Brighton, and in fact we're less than a mile from the Bazaar on Beacon Street . We're also just diagonally across the street from a big-chain supermarket, which is today's other post here . Tomorrow we're headed just north to a recently-closed supermarket in Allston!

Oakley Spa Open: 1949-2021 Owner:  Harold Boyajian Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  none Location:  979 Washington St, Newtonville, MA Photographed:  December 17, 2022 As I've mentioned before , "spa" is a very old-school New England term for a small grocery store. There aren't many stores left with that in the name, but there are a handful around. The Oakley Spa, located at the corner of Washington and Walker in Newtonville, is one of those that was in business until very recently. The corner store, which became more of a liquor store in its later years, was in business up until 2021. I was able to still capture a look at the inside through the front windows, though, when I walked by in late 2022 -- and the store's interior was actually still mostly intact, including products on the shelves and the lights on. I don't know the story here. Was the closure abrupt? Why was so much inventory left behind? Browsing comments on a Facebook post, it looks like...

Brookline Superette Open:  unknown-2020 Owner:  Chung & Soon Lee Previous Tenants:  unknown Later Tenants:  demolished Cooperative:  none Location:  18 Pleasant St, Brookline, MA Photographed:  August 3, 2019 Welcome to the Brookline Superette, a small corner grocer of 3000 square feet. As you can clearly tell from the outside, it had been here for quite some time when I visited back in 2019, and while I haven't been able to pin down an exact opening year, it's definitely been here since at least the 1980s. The Caldor Rainbow says the store was "likely opened in 1965" . In 1985, it was put up for sale, for $350,000. "Much foot traffic," according to the sale ad! And that's true -- this store was just a block from Coolidge Corner , the main business corner of Brookline. After decades in business , the building housing this corner store was demolished in 2024 as the site is set to be redeveloped amid concerns of deteriorating building conditions. Th...

Ruggiero's Market Opened: 2014 under current ownership; ca. 1970s previously Owner:  Jay Patel Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  Associated Grocers of New England Location:  3345 Washington St, Jamaica Plain, MA Photographed:  November 13, 2021 Today we're just around the corner from Green Basket Market for a somewhat similar store, a small grocer/convenience store. Like Green Basket, it's around 4000 square feet, but there's a lot more to offer here. Incidentally, the store goes back to the 1970s but was acquired in 2014 by Jay Patel , whose family owns a variety of stores around the city. Right away, you can see the more broad offering than the dated Green Basket Market. There's a food counter on the left side of the store that serves pizza and other food. It looks like they do a good takeout business here. There's a few grocery aisles with various other selections around the perimeter. This is a combined convenience store and liquor store, but there...

Green Basket Market Opened: 2005 Owner:  Hinh Pham Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  none Location:  186 Green St, Jamaica Plain, MA Photographed:  November 13, 2021 Welcome to the Green Basket Market, a longtime independent grocery/convenience store on Green Street. It was previously the Green Supermarket and is also sometimes called the Green Street Supermarket. The current owner took over the store in 2005, but I suspect it was a grocery store for quite a bit of time before that. You can tell it's an old building, and you can also get a sense of where it is here. Green Street is decidedly a side street, although it gets its own T stop just a couple blocks west of here. We're in Boston, but we haven't gotten too much of a sense of the historic charm of the city (in large part because, well, there's not much charming about a 90s Star Market ). We've also been in the southern part of the city, which are not the areas you think of when you think of Bosto...