When I lived in Boston, I used to walk to the 24 hour Shaws in Fenway almost every night for groceries. It was dingy, had a limited selection, the produce was overpriced and Haymarket quality, and the meat section tended to smell bad.
I avoided this Shaws for a long time from the residual grossness.
This is not that Shaws. Holy crap. It's like someone opened a Roche Brothers and accidentally put the wrong sign on it. The produce section is huge, fresh, and reasonable. Much better than the Stop and Shops I've been to in the area, and probably on par or better than Big Y (still no tomatillos that I've found, though, sigh).
I've never had a problem with the meats I've gotten here, and they don't go bad prematurely like can happen at lesser markets. The prices are average to lower than average, in my experience.
Their Asian section is probably the best I've found in the area, with affordable Mirin and Sriracha Peas and a lot of great options. In general, the store is pretty huge, and I've often found things that I haven't at other stores at impulse buy prices. Great selection of hummus, and the prepared stuff always smells great.
If the conversation I overheard between a mother and her son about how "White bread's just not the kind of bread that we eat" is any indication, the locals have caught on that this is an mid-upper level super market option.
I was surprised to see the bad reviews, mostly centered around self-checkout. I'm not afraid to interact with humans, so that's never been a problem for me. Sometimes there aren't enough checkout people, but that happens everywhere I've been to. Other than that, and perhaps the annoyance of the parking lot, it's a fine grocery store. read more