LONG BEFORE The Farmland, Shaw’s or any other local supermarkets, Reid’s Market at 73 Albion Street (shown above in a 1940 photo) served the town’s grocery needs. When it closed its doors for good on May 14, 1960, it was the second-oldest business in Wakefield, after Hartshorne Insurance. Reid’s Market was established in 1875 by J. Robert Reid, who sold the business to his nephew, John G. Reid, in 1892. After John G. Reid’s retirement, the store was operated by his three sons: Henry, Frank and Fred Reid. Advertisements in the Daily Item declared that “Housewives will find quality foods, fair prices at Reid’s Market.” The store advertised a full line of name-brand grocery items as well as fresh foods including “steer beef, chickens, pot roasts, fowl, home-made sausage meat and fresh fruits and vegetables of all kinds.” The building that once housed Reid’s Market is now occupied by Christopher J. Barrett Realtors.
