Market Basket
Opened: ca. 1990
This is a relatively older Market Basket, but of course, within Market Basket everything is relative. This store only goes back about 30 years (possibly slightly more, but it opened as a new-build around 1990 on the side of a former mill building). Still, the 62,000 square foot supermarket is the newer of the two Market Baskets in Fitchburg. Also of note: Fitchburg has only two supermarkets, and both are Market Baskets. Leominster, just south, has two Hannafords, a Market Basket, and a natural food store. There's another Hannaford right outside Fitchburg, which we'll see shortly.
In a typical Market Basket layout, dairy is in the first aisle on the right side. Seafood and deli are at the back of the first aisle, with meat on the rest of the back wall. Produce and frozen are on the left side with bakery and prepared foods on the left side, although I don't think this store has a seating area like Leominster's Market Basket does.
Again, very plain walls but an extraordinarily clean store, despite it being high-volume by every indicator.
Big-picture, in my mind, the three chains in New England that are forces to be reckoned with are Market Basket, Hannaford to the north where they're strongest, and Big Y to the south. Other chains, like Shaw's and Price Chopper/Market 32 are definitely present and successful, but aren't quite as powerful. Stop & Shop has a lot of stores but they keep declining in volume. At this point, they're closing stores much more quickly than they're opening stores. For Big Y and Market Basket, the reverse is true; Hannaford seems to be pretty solid where it is and doesn't seem to be expanding at the moment, nor does it seem to be significantly shrinking.
The beautiful thing about a Market Basket is that this store could've been built in 1970, or it could've been built this year, and you'd have almost no way of knowing from appearance alone. Their stores rarely change appearance, save for a few specific departments like the Market's Kitchen.
The butcher shop is similarly old-school. While meat (unlike many chains) is cut in-store, there's no service counter exactly. Instead, a row of low meat cases lines the back wall, behind which butchers stand and take orders from customers. Obviously, there was no one here at the time I visited, but it was 8:30 am on a Friday -- not exactly a busy time. Rest assured that a couple hours after I took these pictures, there were probably half a dozen or more butchers lined up back here. Market Basket stores tend to be very high-staff.
The obviously newer Market's Kitchen and bakery departments in the front-left corner. These areas may have been redone since the store opened. For all I know, the whole store was; Market Basket doesn't typically change the decor or appearance in remodels. But they are also so meticulous about maintenance that remodels are rarely necessary because the cosmetic stuff doesn't matter to them.
A couple of frozen aisles on the left side. The remainder of frozen foods is in the front-left corner between produce and bakery, where Market Basket puts the ice cream.
A look at the front-end...
...and from the other side, where this could easily have been a picture from opening day.
Opened: ca. 1990
Owner: DeMoulas family
Previous Tenants: none
Cooperative: none
Location: 130 Water St, Fitchburg, MA
Photographed: April 7, 2023
It's also a very old-school trait to not do anything fancy with the produce department. No wooden crates, no fake bushels, no fake trees. In fact, there's almost no specialized merchandising beyond simply stocking the shelves.
Did you like this Market Basket? Well, I have great news. Monday's post is the other Market Basket in town, a bit east of downtown Fitchburg. Have a great weekend and come back next week to see it!
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