Update: Gala Foods Supermarket - Worcester, MA

Gala Foods Supermarket
Opened: 2018

Owner: Aurora Grocery Group

Previous Tenants: department store > Santiago's Supermarket > Compare Foods

Cooperative: Key Food Stores

Location: 664 Main St, Worcester, MA

Photographed: January 13, 2025

It's time for a revisit to the Gala Foods in downtown Worcester! I posted a few pictures of the outside last fall, but now let's take a look inside the roughly 30,000 square foot supermarket -- the only one in downtown Worcester, in fact.

Gala Foods has renovated the store, but the bones are similar. Still, it feels much brighter and more open, as a few things have been shifted around and lighting and flooring has been changed throughout. Here at the deli/bakery area near the front entrance, a fresh coat of paint is looking good along with new fixtures and a new juice and smoothie bar. New refrigerators and shelving in front of the service counters display a much wider selection of baked goods. Sorry for the terrible picture...

The change is most noticeable in the produce department, which has new fixtures and flooring. Here's what the area looked like previously, from my original photos. The signage was installed when Compare Foods switched to Gala Foods in 2018, but there have been some more signs installed since. The majority of the work has happened in the last year or so.

I shopped at this store regularly when I lived in Worcester, and I can tell you without a doubt the produce is much better than it used to be -- and that there's a much larger selection.

In the rest of the store, most of the fixtures weren't updated, although some were painted and a few walls were painted. Mostly, though, the new flooring and paint on the ceiling makes a big difference.

The building still feels older, but there's a noticeable improvement. See before.

Over the years that I've been going here -- starting in 2017, when I first visited -- the store overall has become much more mainstream. Years ago, it was more specifically a Latin American grocery store, but today it's more of a mainstream supermarket with a lot of Latin American products. They've managed to keep a lot of the core products, but downtown Worcester has changed a lot in the last several years. This store now has a much wider audience than it once did.

The middle dividing aisle is looking very sharp with new flooring, new endcaps, and new aisle markers. Compare to before the renovation here.

In the last aisle, the freezer and dairy cases haven't been replaced, but some minor updates make the aisle look completely different.

I particularly like these endcaps, which look very sharp.

Incidentally, Aurora Grocery Group, which owns this store, recently opened a Gala Fresh Farms on Long Island and is preparing another Gala Foods on Long Island also. Another one is in progress in Bridgeport, CT.

I'm glad to see Gala Foods looking really good, especially as the Shaw's at Webster Square reduces its selection and the Price Chopper in Main South closes. Read about both of those and more here!