TOUR: Market 32 - Greendale, Worcester, MA

Market 32
Opened: 2018

Owner: Northeast Grocery

Previous Tenants: Price Chopper (mid-2000s - 2018)

Cooperative: none

Location: 72 Pullman St, Greendale, Worcester, MA

Photographed: December 7, 2018; December 13, 2018; and July 13, 2019

We're getting down to the end here with our last few Worcester stores! Today's post is all the way near the northern city limits, just north of yesterday's former Fortin's Market (and likely a key factor in that store's demise). While that store closed at some point between 2000 and 2007, this store opened in the same time frame as a ground-up new build Price Chopper spanning around 62,000 square feet. (At the time, it was likely very similar to the slightly larger Main & Cambridge store, which opened in 2001. Today, they barely look like they're owned by the same company.) Side note: while I'm not positive about this, it appears this location replaced an older one at 184 W Boylston Street in West Boylston, which although it's outside Worcester's city limits, it's only two miles north.

As part of the overall rebrand, in 2018, this store was converted to Market 32. It was one of the earlier conversions, meaning the work was a bit more extensive. But regardless, they had a very nice facility to work with.

I visited shortly after the conversion was finished, at the end of 2018.

As we see, even the exterior got some pretty significant work, although the bones of the old Price Chopper are still there. Again, compare this to the Main & Cambridge location (although it's a mirror image).

In many of the Market 32 conversions, no expense is spared, even on the shopping carts. I don't know how some of the more recent renovations look, but the earlier ones are really spectacular.

So let's head in! Prepared foods, deli, and cheese line the left-side wall with bakery in the back left corner. Seafood and meat counters are on the back wall, with dairy/frozen on the right side and pharmacy/HABA in the front right corner.

As we see, flooring, lighting, decor, and fixtures were all updated. It looks really beautiful.

In a holdover from the Price Chopper days, there's an island at the front dedicated to donuts and bagels, although there's no longer a separate Bagel Factory department.

This cafe takes up roughly the space that probably was previously occupied by the Bagel Factory. The restrooms are in the same place in the front left corner.

In fact, most of the departments are still in the same places, although as we see they've gotten very significant work.

Floral at the front of the grand aisle looks amazing with big, bold signage.

There are unusual fixtures and displays throughout the store, too, such as these curved produce and juice islands.

The cheese counter is very impressive, with a single-tier case extending out from the deli counter and then a few upright cases to the right of more cheeses.

And the bakery ain't half bad either.

Quite the difference from Main & Cambridge's seafood counter, which is hardly even open a lot of the time.

The first aisle, which is extra-wide, is a spectacular beer and wine department. I'm wondering if, in the Market 32 renovation, they switched the locations of the liquor store and the pharmacy. It would be closer to what I expect to see the pharmacy and HABA here in a Price Chopper layout, and the liquor store in the front corner. That's how Main & Cambridge is set up.

The grocery aisles are clean, well-stocked, and merchandised well, with specialty callouts (like you see below) for specific categories.

Frequently those are for natural/organic products, international foods, or other specialty ingredients.

Quite the butcher counter, too. Looks great!

And one of the things I really love about the Market 32 setup is these displays at the ends of the aisles. I mentioned them on the post for Sutton.

Multiple kinds of pasta all together, with different shelving for regular pasta, specialty pasta, and even a small refrigerator case for fresh pasta built right into the aisle.

The frozen foods aisle looks like it hasn't changed much since the Price Chopper days, except for the flooring and paint on the ceiling.

Dairy begins on the back wall and extends down the last aisle. This signage is really beautiful.

Again, it hasn't changed much from Price Chopper but the store wasn't that old anyway when the remodel was done.

The pharmacy and HABA are in the front corner of the store...

In an unusual but pleasant setup, the pharmacy counter is actually behind a glass wall, designed for privacy and to separate it from the supermarket.

Looking back up the frozen foods aisle...

Pics (with the P and C highlighted) is the Price Chopper/Market 32 storebrand. Although Tops and Price Chopper/Market 32 merged in 2021, the Tops and Price Chopper/Market 32 sides have seen very little integration. Tops still uses its own Tops brand, although both sides use the Full Circle brand for organics and a few other Topco brands (such as TopCare).

And a look from HABA across the front-end. As we can see, this is a beautiful store and it seems to do quite well. When this store transitioned from Price Chopper to Market 32, its nearest competitor just up the street renovated at the same time. We'll be checking out that store tomorrow -- our final tour within the city of Worcester!