We've finally come to the end of Massachusetts here on The Market Report! Obviously, we've only seen a very small portion of the state's many supermarkets, but we've covered some good geographic ground and we're now all the way up in the northeastern corner of the state. This is around where the North Shore stops being just a place where people live and becomes more of a tourist destination (though, of course, those areas are mixed all along the coast of New England). We'll see a few stores along the coast from Gloucester, MA to Portsmouth, NH, which is just south of the Maine border. Yes, New Hampshire does have a tiny section of coastline, although only about 15 miles from Seabrook to Portsmouth. We'll start in Gloucester, then make stops in the small towns of Ipswich and Newbury before a look at Newburyport, the larger town right on the NH border, and West Newbury. Then it's off to New Hampshire for a few stores in Seabrook, one inland a bit in Exete...
I mentioned on the post for America's Food Basket that Lawrence has a number of independent grocers, mostly small corner stores catering to Latin and Caribbean shoppers, so let's take a look at them before The Market Report leaves the area. Plus, we'll see a store just outside of Lawrence. Here we go! Lawrence V&V Market & Restaurant Opened: 2015 Owner: Victor Villacis Previous Tenants: car dealer > car rental agency Cooperative: none Location: 273a S Union St, Lawrence, MA I've seen grocery stores in buildings previously occupied by lots of different businesses, but here's a somewhat unusual one -- a former car dealership, later car rental agency, that's now the V&V Market & Restaurant. That certainly explains the unusually large parking lot for this store of just 3000 square feet. V&V has been here since 2015, and is a small corner store with a butcher, deli, hot food, and general grocery.