The Market Report

Burnt Cove Market Opened: 1971 Owner:  employee owned Previous Tenants:  none Cooperative:  none Location:  1 S Burnt Cove Rd, Stonington, ME Photographed:  June 14, 2022 I talk a lot about cooperatives here on The Market Report, and generally I'm referring to what's more accurately called retailers' cooperatives, groups of independent grocery store owners that share resources like warehouses, distribution contracts, marketing, and brand names (think Wakefern or Key Food ). Lately, we've also been seeing more stores that are community cooperatives , or grocery stores that the general public can buy an ownership stake in. There's still a third type of grocery cooperative, although it's one that doesn't generally get a lot of attention: employee cooperatives, where the people who work in the store also own a small share of the store itself. (This is similar to employee-owned supermarkets, though in some cases the employees don't own the full company -- s...

Blue Hill Co-op Opened: 2019 in current location; 1974 previously Owner:  cooperatively owned Previous Tenants:  none Cooperative:  National Co-op Grocers Location:  70 South St, Blue Hill, ME Photographed:  June 14, 2022 Practically across the street from Tradewinds Marketplace (now Hannaford) here in Blue Hill, we find ourselves in another natural foods co-op. The Blue Hill Co-op started in 1974 and eventually moved into the first floor of a building at 4 Ellsworth Rd in town. When the co-op moved to its current, 15,000 square foot location in 2019, it was the largest co-op food store in Maine (not sure if that's still true). Here's a 2012 blog post that gives a little look at the old store. The new building, which was purpose-built for this co-op, is modern and attractive. You enter to the produce department on the right side of the store, with bulk foods at the back. Grab-and-go prepared foods and dairy are on the back wall, with frozen foods and cheese...

Tradewinds Marketplace Open: 1999-2023 Owner:  Belinda and Chuck Lawrence Previous Tenants:  none Later Tenants:  Hannaford (2023- ) Cooperative:  none; supplied by Hannaford Location:  15 South St, Blue Hill, ME Photographed:  June 14, 2022 Blue Hill is one of the larger towns on the Blue Hill Peninsula, and we can tell that from the number of grocery stores in town. Today, there are two supermarkets, but a smaller general store/market recently closed in the middle of town. Like Merrill & Hinckley, Tradewinds Marketplace also closed in 2023, but this one isn't gone forever -- the owners retired and sold the independent grocer to Hannaford , which had supplied Tradewinds. Hannaford did some light remodeling on the inside -- here's a look -- but by and large the store seems to be very similar to when I photographed it back in the summer of 2022. Let's go in! Our tour begins in the front-right corner with a Made in Maine department with an abundance of...