The Market Report

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...

Orange Farmers Market Opened: 2000 Owner:  unknown Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  none Location:  502 Main St, City of Orange, NJ Photographed:  January 31, 2026 Circling back to the little Orange Farmers Market, which says it's under new management (and under new ownership online). The store is small but has a lot, and most recently, I spotted a seafood case going into the store . Now, the seafood department is open, and the store has been freshened up with a new paint job. You can get a sense below that it's a small store, with a few rows of produce taking up about half the sales floor. Seafood and tea are now at the back, with two or three grocery aisles on the right side along with dairy and frozen. There's also a floral department on the front wall. It looks like the lighting was replaced fairly recently, too. The seafood counter is up and running, and hey, I even bought some fish when I was here. You can see the grocery shelving is fairly new, t...

City Fresh Market Opened: unknown Owner:  A&E Supermarket Group Previous Tenants:  unknown Cooperative:  Retail Grocers/General Trading Location:  68 W Post Rd, White Plains, NY Photographed:  February 4, 2026 Don't remember the tiny City Fresh Market in White Plains? No problem -- that was one of the very first stores I photographed back in 2017 and posted in 2018 . Let's return to check it out! This store opened around 2015, though I haven't been able to nail down an exact opening date. This space has been a supermarket for at least a decade, maybe more, though back in the 70s and 80s it was a furniture store. The store has now been expanded from just 4600 square feet (plus possibly a basement) to 7500 square feet, and a parking lot has been added to a formerly vacant lot next door. The entrance will soon be moved over to the left side, facing the parking lot, although right now it's still under the City Fresh sign above. The exterior has gotten fixed up ...

ShopRite Opened: 1960s Owner: Robert Sumas / Village Super Market Previous Tenants: none Cooperative: Wakefern Food Corp. Location: 483 S Livingston Ave, Livingston, NJ Photographed:  January 8, 2026 and February 3, 2026 The ShopRite of Livingston recently got some renovations including new fixtures and an expanded kosher department . And last fall, the store held an official grand reopening with a ribbon cutting . But now, the renovations appear to be ongoing and in fact addressing other parts of the store. It's a little odd, and even odder is that the renovations don't seem to make a lot of sense (just yet, at least). Some fixtures have been taken out from the grand aisle, which has seen most of its specialty and prepared foods counters removed over the years . The remaining fixtures have been spread out to fill the space, and I'm not sure if there's some other plan for this area. I also am not sure what the impetus for this decision was, since it seemed perfect...