TOUR: Key Food Marketplace - Holyoke, MA

Key Food Marketplace
Owner: Tony Diaz

Opened: 2020

Previous Tenants: CTown Supermarkets (2001-2020)

Cooperative: Key Food Stores

Location: 13 Cabot St, Holyoke, MA

Photographed: November 20, 2023

Even though we're all the way up in Massachusetts, we do see a few names we know from the metro New York area! This supermarket opened as a Key Food in 2020, and after some renovation, held a grand reopening in 2023 (you can see the sign for that in the first picture). I'm not positive what the 16,000 square foot store was originally, but by 1994, it had been taken over by Francisco Diaz. I'm not sure what the store was called between 1994 and 2001, but in 2001, it became Massachusetts' first CTown. By 2020, the owners switched to Key Food, making it the second Key Food-affiliated store in MA and the first under the Key Food name. (There are now three.)

Here's an idea of what the store looked like when it was a CTown.

Produce is on the right side of the store, with deli, hot food, and bakery at the back of the first aisle. (This grab and go section is in the back of the first aisle.) Meats are on the rest of the back wall, with dairy and frozen on the far left side.

The renovation was actually pretty extensive, with most of the fixtures replaced along with the decor and flooring.

It looks like the refrigeration mostly was not replaced, but all of the grocery shelving was.

Holyoke also has a Save-a-Lot (owned by a Key Food owner) and a Stop & Shop. There's also a small independent called Appleton Market. 

The aisles are bright, organized, and clean.

Don't forget this decor package, as we'll see it again very soon!

Dairy lines the outside of the last aisle, with frozen on the inside.

Notice how, like we see in my area around New York City, the space is used extremely well. Look at all the multi-tiered produce cases, or for instance the cooking goods hung over the dairy cases.

In the front corner of the store next to the office and customer service, there's a large (and very impressive) display of canned goods and more kitchenwares, like pots and pans, around the outside. Sale items are on the other two outside walls.

Here you can see the front corner, with the front-end on the far left. Notice the Key Food Marketplace sign on the far left -- that's a CTown sign with a sticker over the name.

And a look across the front-end...

This is a very pleasant Key Food, and it definitely felt like stores I'm familiar with in my area. Next, let's head into Chicopee to see a former supermarket on Monday!