The Market Report

Tozier's Family Markets Opened: 1967 Owner:  Dale Tozier Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  none Location:  127 Main St, Bucksport, ME Photographed:  June 13, 2022 Bucksport is The Market Report's final stop in this region of Maine. The craggy coastline has numerous peninsulas and islands here, so almost 50 miles south of Bucksport, you'll still be finding small islands like Isle Au Haut and Vinalhaven. Our next stop along the coastline will be primarily focused on those islands and peninsulas. But first, let's check out the small grocer here in Bucksport! This is the last remaining Tozier's, whose other locations closed back in 2024. At just 2500 square feet, this store -- closer to a general store than a supermarket -- is a quarter of the size of the Searsport location. The store has a few grocery aisles that run side to side, along with beer and wine. There's also a small deli. Not a full supermarket, but definitely all the essentials. In addition to ...

Swan Lake Grocery Opened:  2022 under current ownership; 1977 previously Owner:  JP & Rhonda Wentworth Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  Associated Grocers of New England Location:  979 Swan Lake Ave, Swanville, ME Photographed:  June 16, 2022 We've seen plenty of stores that have undergone their fair share of expansions over the years, but that's definitely the case here at the Swan Lake Grocery, where it looks like an original general store building has been expanded to its present size of 10,000 square feet -- making it more of a supermarket. This store dates back to at least 1977 under its previous owners (and I would bet it's been a grocery store for much longer than that). In 2022, Wentworth Family Grocery took over the store. Wentworth is a member of Associated Grocers of New England, so this store sells Food Club and Full Circle brand items distributed by AGNE from Topco. Wentworth stores are full supermarkets, but AGNE also supplies con...

Tozier's Family Markets Open:  1964-2024 Owner:  Dale Tozier Previous Tenants:  unknown Later Tenants:  Edwards Brothers Supermarkets (2024- ) Cooperative:  none Location:  22 E Main St, Searsport, ME Photographed:  August 14, 2019 Tozier's Family Markets isn't exactly a household name, but the grocery store was previously a small chain in this region of Maine. This 11,000 square foot supermarket opened back in 1964 and was in business for 60 years, closing in the summer of 2024. I visited it while it was still open in the summer of 2019. After Tozier's closed, another local chain called Edwards Brothers Supermarkets reopened this location. They're supplied by Hannaford, as are several independents in the area. They lightly remodeled the former Tozier's prior to opening. Edwards Brothers doesn't seem to have changed the layout. Deli-bakery are in the front-right corner, with produce and meats in the rest of the first aisle. Beer is on the back wall, w...

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...