The Market Report

Belfast Variety Opened: unknown Owner:  Muhammad Ahsan and Nasir Hameed Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  none Location:  326 High St, Belfast, ME Photographed:  June 12, 2022 Belfast actually has two small general store-type markets called Belfast Variety, and this one is north of town on High Street. ( The other is on Route 52 south of town.) Longtime owner Ronald Benjamin sold this store in 2021 after more than four decades running the 3800 square foot grocery store. Speaking of grocery stores that recently changed ownership, tomorrow's tour will be in the next town along the coastline and Route 1!

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...