99 Ranch Market Opened: 2020 Owner: Roger Chen Previous Tenants: Shaw's (late 1990s-ca. 2005) > Hannaford (ca. 2005-2016) > Big Y (2016-2019) Cooperative: none Location: 475 Hancock St, Quincy, MA Photographed: May 6, 2023 From Shaw's to Hannaford to Big Y to 99 Ranch! This North Quincy supermarket has hosted a parade of different brands in the two and a half decades since it was built, and most recently, 99 Ranch -- an Asian supermarket chain based on the west coast -- has opened up, marking their fifth location on the east coast (following New Jersey stores in Hackensack, Jersey City , and Edison and one in Gaithersburg, MD ). Subsequently, they've opened in Westbury, New York , and are preparing a new store in Queens . The Quincy location opened shortly after Big Y closed, and over the course of several years, the space was renovated. When I visited in the spring of 2023, the renovation was still very much in progress. The layout didn't significa...
Big Y Open: 2016-2019 Owner: D'Amour family Previous Tenants: Shaw's (late 1990s-ca. 2005) > Hannaford (ca. 2005-2016) Later Tenants: 99 Ranch Market (2020- ) Cooperative: none Location: 475 Hancock St, Quincy, MA Photographed: August 4, 2019 Big Y has seriously improved their operations in the last, say, five years or so. They've gone from an expensive, not particularly remarkable regional to a consistently well-run, top-of-the-line supermarket. Their newest stores are absolutely exceptional , and the perimeter quality is now notably better than most of their competitors. But let's turn back the clock nine years to 2016. Big Y had just acquired a couple of stores from Hannaford -- when Ahold and Delhaize merged, certain overlapping stores were divested, going to Shaw's and Big Y. Big Y mostly left the stores alone, changing only necessary signage. Within a couple years, they learned which stores were worth hanging onto. For instance, in Nor...