Grocery Archaeology

  We are getting closer and closer to Worcester! This time we're to the southwest of the city, in the southwestern part of Worcester County. We're starting in Sturbridge, about 18 miles southwest of the city, then continuing east into Southbridge with a brief detour to the north for Charlton, then back south for Dudley and Webster. Then we'll circle north towards Worcester for Oxford and Auburn! We've got quite a few former supermarkets around these areas, some chains, and some independents. We have about three weeks' worth of stores, so we'll be spending about the rest of the month in this area before we move on. Our first post is over on  The Independent Edition  tomorrow!

    Worcester, here we come! Or very soon, at least. For right now we're approaching Worcester, the second-largest city in New England, from the west. We're going to start in Palmer, about 30 miles west of Worcester on the Mass Pike, then head north to follow route 9 east through Ware, North Brookfield, Spencer, and Leicester. There's not a lot in this part of the state, so we'll take a quick look at a few places in the small towns along this corridor. We're starting in Palmer tomorrow with a post each here on Grocery Archaeology and on  The Market Report !

Moving from Cape Cod to north central Massachusetts, we have a look at the small town of Ayer, MA! Unlike the Dennisport picture, I can definitely pinpoint where this picture was taken -- the train tracks give it away! (Those train tracks are now a rail trail, that I've biked up. Beautiful!) Unfortunately, though, most of these buildings no longer exist. And in case you missed it, take a look at that building on the left side of Main Street. That's the Union Cash Market! Now, Ayer doesn't have its Union Cash Market anymore, but they do have a strange  circular Shop 'n Save (well, technically the store is a tetradecagon, because it technically has 14 sides; had to do some Googling for that one). I hope you enjoyed this Back in Time feature, and I'll look for more opportunities to share old memorabilia, photos, and ads as I can!