Having seen the independent grocers of the area, let's check out some of the former grocery stores in the southern part of the city!
50 Greenwood St | Quinsigamond Village
1045 Southbridge St | College Hill
1030 Southbridge St | College Hill
267 Webster St | Hadwen Park
250 Webster St | Hadwen Park
6 Knox St | Hadwen Park
156 Webster St | Hadwen Park
6 Fremont St | Hadwen Park
233 Canterbury St | South Worcester
219-231 Canterbury St | South Worcester
2 Litchfield St | South Worcester
163 Canterbury St | South Worcester
144 Canterbury St | South Worcester
89 Southgate St | South Worcester
299 Cambridge St | South Worcester
311 Cambridge St | South Worcester
335 Cambridge St | South Worcester
326 Cambridge St | South Worcester
36a Douglas St | South Worcester
373 Cambridge St | South Worcester
379 Cambridge St | South Worcester
1 Douglas St | South Worcester
168-170 Grand St | South Worcester
671-673 Southbridge St | South Worcester
553 Cambridge St | South Worcester
622 Cambridge St | South Worcester
That wraps up our former grocery stores in the southern part of Worcester, and again, this is far from an extensive listing, but it's just a sampling of a few I've actually photographed! (My full list has over 1700 grocery stores in Worcester, and I've photographed not even 200 of those.) But next week we're off to Webster Square and Main South!
A note on historical sources: To get past stores in each location, I've consulted Worcester city directories going back to the 1910s. Here in the city, I'm drawing from 1916, 1922, 1927, 1931, 1937, 1943, 1959, 1952, 1957, 1962, 1969, 1973, 1979, 1985, 1991, 2000, 2009, and 2017. Also of note: this is far from an exhaustive listing of all grocery stores that have been in this area, although I'll probably eventually post the full thing, this is just what I've been able to photograph.
Reading the captions: A caption such as the following...
| John Smith (1926-1937) > Joe Jones (1955-1982)
...means that John Smith appears in the directories in 1926 and 1937, and Joe Jones appears in all directories I consulted between 1955 and 1982. That doesn't mean that John Smith opened up shop in 1926 and closed in 1937, he might have started in 1920 and closed in 1941 but since I don't have those records, I don't know for sure. Any questions (or corrections), feel free to drop a note in the comments and I'll look into it!
Quinsigamond Village
John Strandberg (1916) > Community Stores Co. (1922-1937)
These days 50 Greenwood is a pizzeria (with a delightful old fried chicken sign on the side of the building), but a hundred years ago it was a Community Stores location. Community Stores had a lot of locations in and around Worcester, but I don't know if they were Worcester-based or from another city. The chain seems to have reached its peak around the mid-1930s, declining by around 1940, but several locations lasted well into the 1950s.
Larson Brothers (1916)
6 Stockholm St | Quinsigamond Village
While I don't know for sure this is the building once housing the Larson Brothers' grocery store, the two front doors might suggest that there was once a storefront on the right side where it looks like there's now an apartment.
Wilhelm Ekstrom (1916) > Andrew Carlson (1922) > Sarah Erickson (1931-1943) > Anderson's Grocery (1949)
I don't know specifically where this grocery store was, but if I had to guess, I'd say probably on the ground floor and the white screen door in the middle of this picture was the entrance. There's always the possibility that there was an outbuilding where it was located, though.
College Hill
Mary Dowd (1916-1922)
It's not hard to tell where this one was, though! Now a barbershop, 1045 Southbridge has its distinctive grocery store protruding from underneath the main house. We're here on College Hill, kind of behind the College of the Holy Cross and just a block from the Auburn border, essentially around the corner from 4 Newton and 43 Jerome.
Walter Lees (1916) > Hovannes Zakarian (1922) > South Terminal Market (1943-1952)
Today it's Herbie's, a popular pub known for its piles of fried seafood, but in the first half of the 20th century the building at 1030 Southbridge was the South Terminal Market, and a few independents before that. I'm willing to bet Herbie's or some other later tenant covered up the many windows -- and probably a front door -- right about where that Herbie's banner is now.
Hadwen Park
Joseph Doucette (1931)
These city directories aren't perfect, so it's possible there was actually a grocery store here for longer than they'd suggest. Today, the brick building is Carlos Pizza, and I believe this is called Boyce Square -- but don't quote me on that. 5 Boyce Street was a First National Stores (1931-1943) and 5 Boyce Square was Andrew Ritchie (1949-1962). I can't say 5 Boyce Street today looks anything like a grocery store, so I wonder if possibly some or all of those listings refer to this Carlos Pizza building, or if perhaps there were once several more commercial buildings here.
Cora Grosvenor (1916-1922) > Hadwen Park Grocery (1927-1931) > Harry Wickwire (1937-1943) > Hadwen Park Market (1949-1952)
Just across Boyce Square is the former Hadwen Park Market, which moved next door in the mid-1950s.
James Griffin (1916) > Annie Griffin (1922) > Harry Friedman (1927) > Community Stores Co (1931)
I'm at a bit of a loss as to where the grocery store here would've been. We know from city records that this building was built in 1915, so unless there was a second building on this (very small) property, the grocery store was within this one. The fact that the front door is relegated to the far left corner of the house might be an indication that there was once a storefront in the right part of the house's first floor, but that to me looks more like a later expansion when the porch was also added or expanded.
Ida Mansfield (1916) > Israel Ostrow (1922) > John Fassett (1927-1931)
This building actually dates back to 1890, so it very well may have been home to a grocery store for a few decades before I have the records. This house is today surrounded basically on all sides by cemeteries, so it's in a bit of a residential island. Is it possible that little white structure on the left side of the house was once the store? It's only a couple hundred square feet, but if we're talking about a grocer going back to the late 1800s, I suppose it's not impossible. Otherwise, my guess is the storefront would've faced Webster Street and the main residential entrance was (and still is) around the corner on Lyman Street.
William Murray (1916-1931)
This oddly-shaped, 2000 square foot store at the corner of Webster and Fremont is now home to a lighting supply company, but some or all of it was William Murray's grocery store a hundred years ago. It was originally built in 1910, and it's likely it was a grocery store for the time I don't have records (1910-1916).
South Worcester
John Lavoie (1922-1927) > Crystal Market (1927-1962)
It's pretty clear to me where this storefront once was! The distinctive windows and front door are today the entrance to this multi-family house. An example of the records' imperfection is this: in 1927, this address is listed for both John Lavoie and Crystal Market. These days, Canterbury Street is mostly residential, with a few scattered small businesses, but there were once more than two dozen grocers on the six-block-long street. We're going from west to east, so we're going to be counting down street numbers instead of counting up.
221 Canterbury (far left): Worcester Economy Stores (1922)
231 Canterbury (far right): Zephirin Bouley (1916)
I'm going to bet that 231 Canterbury actually faced South Crystal. Turn 180 degrees around on Street View and you'll see 233 Canterbury; 90 degrees to the right and you'll see 2 Litchfield...
Mary Flynn (1916)
This building was built in 1900, and this is another one where I don't really have a clear idea of where the storefront actually was. I'd guess, though, that it was this wall, facing Litchfield, and the wall we see here is actually an expansion just a few feet in front of the building's actual front wall -- maybe enclosing a porch or something like that.
Bernard Rivkind (1916)
Another enclosed-porch situation here, I think, probably disguising the building's original front wall. The building dates back to 1880, though, so it was definitely here when Bernard Rivkind operated a grocery store at this address.
W. A. Longeran (1916) > Community Stores Co (1922-1931)
We don't have to guess where this storefront was, though! My guess is the store was on the right side and the left side was the entrance for the apartments above. Building built 1890.
Patrick Haggerty (1916) > Benjamin Baker (1922) > Leo Marisello (1927-1931)
One block over from Canterbury for 89 Southgate, dating to 1890. My guess is the storefront faced Southgate (right) and what now appears to be one of the apartment's doors was the store door, while the door visible towards the back was the original apartment entrance.
Henry Belisle (1957)
Another obvious former storefront. I wouldn't be surprised if the windows used to be larger. Now that I've started doing this research, I've started to see storefronts that look just like this in so many other cities that are now any number of other things. In Worcester, like several other cities, it looks like it's pretty common for them to simply be converted to apartments or expansions of existing houses.
Hervey Forget (1927) > James Kavil (1931) > Hurvitz's Market (1937-1943) > Julius Hurvitz (1949-1952)
Love the arched windows in the brick on the side! Again, not difficult to picture this as a storefront instead of a residence. When there are similar names like Hurvitz's Market and then Julius Hurvitz, I try to keep them separated in my records in case Hurvitz's was owned by some other member of the family, or something like that. Still, it's likely it's the same store for those years. There are also times that you might find something like records listing Joe Jones at a certain location and then Town Market, and you don't necessarily know that Town Market was owned by Joe Jones. It helps when the store's name, if there was one, is the same as the person's name.
Flynn & Mills (1922)
Not sure just how much of this apparently rather large space was Flynn & Mills' grocery store, but it's possible they took the entire ground floor of 333-335 Cambridge, as we see is combined here today.
John Cooney (1916)
I'm not positive whether this building actually is the one once housing John Cooney's grocery store, but it could be. My gut tells me it's not, and while the Historic Aerials are hard to make out, they appear to show that this present cinderblock building was constructed between 1938 and 1960. I can't find the property records for this building.
Napoleon LeLumiere (1931) > Eugene LeLumiere (1937) > Addee Mathieu (1943) > Leger's (1949)
How can you not love the names here? Napoleon LeLumiere is only a couple blocks away from Zephirin Bouley. Hampartzoom Zakarian, another name I love, was up in Main Middle. The names are also fascinating -- they tell the history of immigration into Worcester when you look at them over the years. Plus, I'm surprised at the diversity in names even relatively early on -- and just how many grocers appear to have been owned by women. Very few grocers are owned by women today, so it was surprising to find that it was relatively common a hundred years ago. In 1927, Addie Mathieu owned a now-demolished grocery store not far away at 40 Colton St, and it's likely that Addee and Addie are the same person. Again, these records are far from perfect.
Mary Price (1916-1931)
Some buildings don't make you work to figure out what wasn't originally part of the house and was a separate storefront. 373 Cambridge practically has a flashing neon sign directing us to the little box tacked on the right side. The house and store date back to 1890.
Clara Cooper (1916-1922) > Alma Bedford (1927)
Next door ain't hard to figure out either. 379 Cambridge has its little grocery-store box tacked onto the front just like 373 next door, which you can actually see in the background here.
Albert Chavoor (1927-1943) > George Ovanes (1949-1952) > Louis Brody (1957) > Super Food Center (1962)
Another slightly puzzling one, since there are so many apartments and doors and buildings on this property. The smaller house in the foreground and the three-story behind it are both on this property, which appears to be 1-3 Douglas and 168-170 Grand around the corner. My best guess is that the addresses all refer to the ground floor of the three-story building, whose entrance clearly faces the corner of Grand and Douglas. (There was also a grocery store for many decades at 2 Douglas, directly across the street, but the current house there was only built in 2002, so it's long gone.)
168 Grand: Joseph Carle (1916)
170 Grand: Joseph Poutre (1916)
It looks like the current building was built in 1920, replacing two smaller grocers here. So I'd guess the obvious former storefront we're looking at above was actually the one where Chavoor, Ovanes, and Brody had their stores. I would estimate the store's size at around 2100 square feet, making it much too large to be a 1916-era store.
A&P (1922-1937) > C&M Market (1949-1952) > Joseph Simmons (1957)
I believe the black building on the right side was the original A&P, but it's possible the grocery store eventually expanded to take up the entire first floor we see here. The first floor of the triple-decker on the left side was later an Indian restaurant. A&P would eventually return to College Square with a centennial across the street.
Reuben Brickman (1962-1969) > Cambridge Street Market (1979-1991)
Reuben Brickman moved here between 1957 and 1962, from a nearby store at 555 Cambridge that had been a Community Stores location. Not totally sure where that was, but I'd guess it's across Washburn St in what's now a parking lot.
Hyman Korman (1916) > Benjamin Gaffe (1922) > Anthony Micolites (1927-1931) > Edward Levenson (1937) > Leon Rathey (1943) > Cambridge Street Market (1949)
As far as I can tell, there's no relation to the Cambridge Street Market that was eventually located at 553 Cambridge down the street, but who knows.
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