Original Grocery Tenant: Big D Supermarkets (?)
Address: 184 West Boylston St, West Boylston, MA
Opened: ca. late 1980s
Closed: 1995
Later Tenants: Price Chopper (1995 - mid-2000s)
Photographed: November 8, 2020
Here we are in West Boylston for another former supermarket. The small town just north of Worcester doesn't have any supermarkets today, but there were previously several. (I'd be fascinated to know exactly why that was; was there a large population drain? A major employer closing? Tax incentives to relocate into Worcester? Unfortunately, I can't find any more specific information.) This store was constructed around the late 1980s, around 40,000 square feet, and possibly originally a Big D or Wonder Market (given its similarity, at least externally, to
this store). By 1995, there was a Big D in West Boylston -- I assume here -- that became a Price Chopper. The store closed in the mid-00s, which I believe coincided with the opening of a
new-build store about two miles south just across the Worcester border.
When I photographed the space in 2020, it had recently been vacated by Salter College, a strange outfit
accused of defrauding students. Today it's an
indoor pickleball court.
You can see a bit of the Price Chopper labelscar behind the Salter College sign here.
You can also see the same pattern on these stripes as with the Sunderland Road location. The rounded design on the right side, I assume, was originally designed to mirror the shape of the D in Big D, although I never saw pictures of any Big D stores.
Let's take a walk around the back, with the beautiful New England fall colors on the trees...
The back doesn't have a whole lot of distinctive features, but there's still a sloped-down cutout driveway that probably was used for the supermarket's loading docks. Clearly, there still are loading doors there, and it's hard to tell whether this is the same setup the supermarket would've had.
This is the second of three former supermarkets here in West Boylston, and we're going to check out the third tomorrow!
"You can also see the same pattern on these stripes as with the Sunderland Road location. The rounded design on the right side, I assume, was originally designed to mirror the shape of the D in Big D, although I never saw pictures of any Big D stores."
ReplyDeleteYup, that's correct. This and the Sunderland Rd. buildings are the only 2 still standing that retain this design. As I noted in my comment on the Sunderland store post, the curve on the right is where the "D" was; that comment includes a link to a picture of a since-demolished former Big D/Price Chopper in Framingham where the labelscars for both stores are visible, confirming the former's logo placement. This can now be corroborated with the picture I included in my comment on the Spencer location's post; that store's facade didn't have this design, but you can get an idea of how the logo would have fit in here.
I'm fascinated by the pickleball joint keeping this design. I'm sure it saved them money on renovations, but on the outside it's still very clearly a former supermarket.