The Market Report

Los Vecinos Economarket Owner: unknown Opened:  between 2008 and 2018 Cooperative:  none Location:  101 Central St, Southbridge, MA Photographed:  November 30, 2018 Just to the north of downtown Southbridge, which is quaint and very Massachsuetts-y , is this roughly 3,000 square foot store. I might call it a bodega -- it's definitely not a supermarket, but it's more substantial than a convenience store . It may have been a grocery store for a long time, but this particular business opened at some point between 2008 and 2018 -- in 2008, the store was still Los Hermanos Market. On Monday, we're headed about a mile and a half outside of downtown for the large supermarket here in Southbridge!

Big Bunny Market Owner: Peter Cournoyer Opened:  1960s in current location; 1950s previously Cooperative:  none Location:  942 Main St, Southbridge, MA Photographed:  November 30, 2018; October 10, 2020; and April 3, 2021 What other supermarket has a giant rabbit on the top?! Welcome to Big Bunny Market, Southbridge's well-known independent supermarket. It shares ownership with the smaller Micknuck's Fresh Marketplace about five miles west. The store dates back to the 1950s but was constructed in its present location the following decade, then expanded several times to its current 32,000 square feet. It's a bit of an institution in Southbridge (and you can read extensively about its history here ). My former boss lived in Southbridge and once, when in a team meeting about an upcoming event, said that he could go buy an elusive food item "at the Bunny." About half the team nodded along in full understanding and the other half was like "...I'm not gonna a...

Shaw's Opened:  unknown; possibly 1972 Previous Tenants:  unknown Location:  178 Main St, Sturbridge, MA Photographed:  November 30, 2018 Today is the slightly smaller of the two supermarkets here in Sturbridge, but at around 42,000 square feet, it's not a small store. The Shaw's of Sturbridge was renovated most recently with the cheap version of Premium Fresh & Healthy 3.0 right at the end of the Supervalu days (around 2012-2013), although at the rate Shaw's has been doing renovations it's possible they've redone it by now. We enter to customer service in the front right corner. Produce is on the right side, and is kind of a self-contained section split off from the rest of the grand aisle. Behind that is deli and seafood, with meat on the back wall. Dairy/frozen are on the left side, and on the front wall are natural foods (next to the entrance), the registers, sale items, and bakery from right to left. Note the big empty section of the greens -- something...