The Market Report

Original Grocery Tenant: A&P Address: 215 Market St, Lawrence, MA Opened:  1966 Closed:  1976 Later Tenants:  Jackson Lumber (open by 1981) Photographed:  May 15, 2023 It's a bit hard to see in these pictures, but there's actually a Centennial A&P buried in the middle of this lumber company building. Take a good close look at the section in the middle , between the two yellow towers, and you can make out the former centennial roofline . The supermarket was originally around 15,000 square feet, and built in 1966 as A&P was expanding nationally with their centennial stores -- so named for their 100th anniversary, which they celebrated in 1959. It closed in 1976. I don't know whether another grocery tenant came in after A&P, but Jackson Lumber -- which now has expanded this facility to upwards of 70,000 square feet -- was open in the building by 1981. Although this A&P has closed, there's still a full supermarket in this area. Tour the America's F...

America's Food Basket Opened: 2017 Owner:  Edwin Polanco Previous Tenants:  Stuarts department store > Rite Aid Cooperative:  America's Food Basket Location:  73 Winthrop Ave, Lawrence, MA Photographed:  May 14, 2023 I mentioned that my coverage of the Lawrence/Haverhill area is unfortunately thin, so today's store tour is the only tour I have in this area. Still, it's a very interesting store. I've posted several America's Food Basket stores in the Boston area, and they're affiliated with the Long Island-based cooperative of the same name. (Stores affiliated with that group in Pennsylvania, New York, and Florida are mostly branded Ideal Food Basket .) They only have one location north of Boston, though, and that's this store in Lawrence. We're a little under 10 miles northeast of Lowell , to help you position yourself, and about 25 miles northwest of Boston. This store is on the larger side for AFB, coming in right around 20,000 square feet. I...

Stop & Shop Opened:  late 1990s Owner:  Ahold Delhaize Previous Tenants:  none Cooperative:  none Location:  757 Turnpike St, North Andover, MA Photographed:  August 22, 2025 Our first stop in the Lawrence/Haverhill area actually isn't in either city -- it's in North Andover, where we saw the brand-new Market Basket back last summer. We're about two miles southeast of the Market Basket here, and that Market Basket is right on the Lawrence city line. This Stop & Shop is big, but at 65,000 square feet, it's nothing compared to the Market Basket of over 90,000 square feet. The Stop & Shop appears to still have the yellow and purple decor , and I'm a bit surprised they didn't renovate it in anticipation of the Market Basket's big move. And that's all for today, so come back tomorrow to head into Lawrence!

Our next stop is a little inland of the places we've been, so let's head out to Lawrence and Haverhill! We're back towards the direction of Lowell , which is about 10 miles west of Lawrence. This is not an area I've spent a lot of time in, so our coverage will be very quick. In fact, we'll only be spending this week here. Tomorrow is our first store tour in the southern part of Lawrence, so come back to check it out! Plus, see the latest 10th year special feature here!

Howe's Station Market Opened:  2005 under current ownership; ca. 1940s previously Owner:  Vipak Karia Previous Tenants:  none Cooperative:  none Location:  229 Maple St, Middleton, MA Photographed:  August 22, 2025 Our final stop in the Greater Salem area is about six miles west of yesterday's stop in Hamilton . This market is just 2000 square feet, but it's been continuously open since at least 1952, and I would bet even well before that. Today, Howe's Station Market is more of a corner store than a full grocer, but it's still impressive to see it in business for that long. The small town of Middleton has a Market Basket in the southern end, and there's a Stop & Shop to the east in Danvers.  Here's this month's  10th year  special feature, and what's coming up next !

  Continuing the celebration of The Market Report's 10th year! Each month of 2026, I'll be posting a different special feature to celebrate my 10th year of writing this blog. Last month, we took a look at the history of A&P and its other brands . This month, let's shift our focus to the blog itself. For February's feature, I'm going to be sharing some of my own favorite posts from the first five years of the blog, 2016-2020. Best of 2016 CTown Supermarkets, Bethlehem, PA December 22, 2016 Although I started photographing stores (and posting my pictures to Flickr) in the spring of 2016, I didn't start writing until November. So there's only a few posts from 2016 to actually choose from, and I've always loved the CTown in Bethlehem. It was a fun store to visit myself, and I've been back a couple times since then. Best of 2017 Bell Farm Supermarkets, Belleville, NJ June 12, 2017 This ill-fated store was only open for a couple years in the Newark sub...

CTown Supermarkets Open: 1988-Feb 2023 Owner:  Juan Marte Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  Krasdale Foods Location:  1750 University Ave, Bronx, NY Photographed:  December 12, 2025 The University Avenue CTown burned down in early 2023 , and now they're rebuilding the supermarket. Work seems to be progressing nicely if slowly, and as of late 2025, the foundation, frame, and some of the walls were in. Hey, it looks like this could be a building someday! It's great to see this store rebuilding, although in the time that it's been closed, a new store called Antillana Market Place opened up in a former furniture store. It's on the same block as a longtime small grocer, University Fresh Market , and there's a butcher shop there as well. Can't you almost imagine the cans of soup? They're right there, just next to the blue tarp. Okay, I might be a little early with that, but it's exciting to see this store starting from scratch after being completely d...