Armata's Market
Owner: Alexis Vallides
Opened: 1963-2021
Cooperative: IGA
Location: 901 Shaker Rd, Longmeadow, MA
Photographed: November 2021
Contributor: Cole N.
Someday, we'll actually get up to Massachusetts for regular blog coverage, where I have roughly 300 stores photographed (primarily in the Worcester and Boston areas). But for now, we have an exclusive look at Armata's Market in Longmeadow, Mass, just outside Springfield in the western part of the state. These photos come to us from a contributor and Longmeadow native, Cole, who was on-site just a few days after the IGA-affiliated independent grocer
burned down the day before Thanksgiving 2021. The fire apparently started in the neighboring liquor store, ultimately destroying the whole strip as shown above. The approximately 10,000 square foot store was located at the far end of the strip mall in the above picture. There remains a much larger Big Y World Class Market about a mile and a half north -- a far inferior choice for shopping, according to my contributor, along with a few choices in Enfield, CT about three miles to the south. This strip mall is all of 500 feet from the Connecticut border.
Here's a look at where the grocery store was, although it's all been demolished. We can see remnants of what appears to be the back and left-side walls of the store, along with what might be a loading dock to the far left.
This would've been the store's left-side wall. The store does intend to rebuild, and has opened a
temporary store in the meantime.
Here's a zoomed-in shot from the same angle as the first picture. We can see the interior of the supermarket and the left-side wall in this shot. Thank you to our contributor for getting these pictures to document the building immediately after the fire, and between him and myself, we'll try to get pictures once the store re-opens. Check out our other posts for today here:
Comments
Post a Comment