The Market Report

ALDI Food Market Opened: between 2007 and 2011 Previous Tenants:  none Location:  500 Lincoln St, North Lincoln St/Lincoln Plaza, Worcester, MA Photographed:  February 17, 2019 and November 2, 2019 This, folks, is an ALDI. End of store tour. Have a great day. Okay, maybe I'll say a little more, even though ALDI famously sticks almost-religiously to their standard store format. It's an 18,000 square foot store, constructed between 2007 and 2011. Around 2018, it was renovated to the current decor package, and I photographed it the following year. Although you can see the decor is up-to-date, the flooring remains from the original decor package . In a slightly unusual setup (only slightly, though), produce is in the front left corner instead of the back with baked goods behind it. Dairy/meat/deli items are on the back wall and extend about halfway down the right side wall, with frozen foods in the front half of the right side. This is the only ALDI in the immediate area (the next

Original Grocery Tenant: Food World Warehouse Address: 490 Lincoln St, North Lincoln St/Lincoln Plaza, Worcester, MA Opened:  bet. 1979 and 1985 Closed:  bet. 1985 and 1991 Later Tenants:  Shaw's (open by 1991, closed by 2000) Photographed:  February 17, 2019 Quick look today at a former supermarket on Lincoln Street. This store of roughly 42,000 square feet opened between 1979 and 1985 (probably in the early 1980s, based on Historic Aerials) as a Food World Warehouse, one of the Iandoli brands , then likely was sold to Shaw's with the rest of the Iandoli chain in 1987-88. Shaw's closed by 2000. I'm not sure if Savers (a thrift store) opened immediately thereafter, or if there were any other tenants in between. Even though this Shaw's isn't here anymore, there are still two supermarkets in this area (plus a Target) -- let's tour the smaller one tomorrow!

Original Grocery Tenant: First National Stores Address: 267 Lincoln St, Brittan Square, Worcester, MA Opened:  bet. 1943 and 1949 Closed:  bet. 1952 and 1957 Later Tenants:  Phillip Jacobs > General Food Stores > Pennywise Market > North End Market Photographed:  November 2, 2019 and September 9, 2022 There sure are a lot of squares in Worcester. In fact, the Worcester Public Library has an entire page dedicated to listing them. (Side note: the WPL is a wonderful library and I loved it the time I was in Worcester.) So we're here now at Brittan Square, about two miles northeast of downtown, where a longtime grocery store has recently closed. 267 Lincoln Street was first built in 1925, but I'm not sure what was here prior to 1949, when the first listing I can find for this address shows First National Stores (later Finast). In 1927, First National was at 265b Lincoln, which might be the same building, but I'm not sure; 265b was Cloverdale in 1931. The 4200 square

Stop & Shop Opened: 1990s Owner:  Ahold Delhaize Previous Tenants:  none Cooperative:  none Location:  855 Bridgeport Ave, Milford, CT Photographed:  August 18, 2024 Closing Date: October 31, 2024 Milford is one of three closing Stop & Shop stores we're seeing in Connecticut today, and all are set to close on the 31st of October (see Stamford and Ansonia ). The Bridgeport Ave. Stop & Shop in Milford, CT opened in the 1990s -- specifically between 1994 and 2001 -- and takes up about 65,000 square feet. It was renovated around 2012. Big Y has become a very strong competitor, and it's a tightly-run, family-owned chain of around 85 stores (and counting). They've long been strong in western Massachusetts, but their expansion into Connecticut, which keeps pushing farther and farther south, seems to have seriously threatened Stop & Shop. This store is just down the street from a new-build Big Y that opened in late 2019, and it's a nice one (though most are).