The Market Report

Now it's on to the former grocery stores of Main Middle, Tatnuck, Newton Square, and the other neighborhoods around this area! We'll wander through some of the neighborhoods but spend a lot of time around Tatnuck Square on Pleasant Street, around Billings Square, and a bit in Main Middle -- although I have not photographed the multitudes of former grocers along Pleasant Street in Main Middle and a few other hotspots. So remember, this is not nearly a full listing. A note on historical sources:  To get past stores in each location, I've consulted Worcester city directories going back to the 1910s. Here in the city, I'm drawing from  1916, 1922, 1927, 1931, 1937, 1943, 1959, 1952, 1957, 1962, 1969, 1973, 1979, 1985, 1991, 2000, 2009, and 2017.  Also of note: this is far from an exhaustive listing of all grocery stores that have been in this area, although I'll probably eventually post the full thing, this is just what I've been able to photograph. Reading the cap...

Happy Monday! Let's check out the small independent grocers across the neighborhoods we've been visiting. A note on historical sources:  To get "past stores" in each location, I've consulted Worcester city directories going back to the 1910s. Here in the city, I'm drawing from  1916, 1922, 1927, 1931, 1937, 1943, 1959, 1952, 1957, 1962, 1969, 1973, 1979, 1985, 1991, 2000, 2009, and 2017.  Also of note: this is far from an exhaustive listing of all grocery stores that have been in this area, although I'll probably eventually post the full thing, this is just what I've been able to photograph. Reading the captions:  A caption such as the following...          |  John Smith (1926-1937) > Joe Jones (1955-1982) ...means that John Smith appears in the directories in 1926 and 1937, and Joe Jones appears in all directories I consulted between 1955 and 1982. That doesn't mean that John Smith opened up shop in 1926 and closed in 1937, he might ...

Pleasant Market Opened: 1993 under current ownership Owner:  George Makos Previous Tenants:  The Lenox Market Cooperative:  none Location:  2 Richmond Ave, Newton Square, Worcester, MA Photographed:  March 20, 2021 and May 13, 2022 Welcome to one of the most pleasant, green, and residential neighborhoods of Worcester. The Tatnuck/Newton Square area -- basically everything from Worcester State's campus at the south to Assumption University's campus to the north -- is possibly the most suburban part of the city, and one of the higher-income sections. So there are a lot of beautiful old houses, trees, and winding small streets. At the corner of Richmond and Pleasant, the Pleasant Market has been selling groceries to customers for over a century. The earliest listing I have for this grocery store -- which I estimate is around 800 square feet -- is as The Lenox Market in 1916. The building was constructed in 1910, so I'd bet The Lenox Market opened around that time....