Belfast Community Co-op Opened: 1993 in current location; 1976 previously Owner: cooperatively owned Previous Tenants: Finast (opened ca. 1960) Cooperative: National Co-op Grocers Location: 123 High St, Belfast, ME Photographed: August 12, 2019 New England has at least dozens of co-op grocers , most of which are members of the National Co-op Grocers cooperative -- that is, basically a cooperative made up of cooperatives. In a co-op supermarket, the owners (usually just regular people who've bought a small share of the co-op) co-own the business, and then in this case, the business itself co-owns the retailers' cooperative. Belfast, Maine has had a community co-op for a couple decades, which opened here in a former Finast in 1993. I photographed the approximately 10,000 square foot supermarket back in 2019, but since then, it's gotten a major renovation. It was also rebranded from the Belfast Co-op Store to the Belfast Community Co-op. When I visited, the p...
ASR Food Market Opened: February 2026 Owner: Aziz Khan Previous Tenants: SuperFresh (1997-2002) > Big Lots (ca. 2005-2024) Cooperative: none Location: 15501 Bustleton Ave, Philadelphia, PA Photographed: April 1, 2026 Welcome to Philadelphia! It's been a while since The Market Report has stopped in Philly, hasn't it? Well, I've gone back to the city (and its environs) a few times lately and there's some really interesting supermarkets in and around -- it's just that it's quite a distance from where I live. So let's check out one of the most interesting stores that opened back in February! I write about a lot of international supermarkets here on The Market Report, but we don't hear much about Uzbek supermarkets (other than Tashkent , of course). Philly's largest halal supermarket is this Uzbek market, which takes the place of a former Big Lots. But ASR isn't a new store -- in fact, they moved from a nearby location in a former Wawa. ASR...