Johnnie’s Foodmaster

And away goes our local market. Maybe it didn’t have the finest selection, and maybe not everything was an incredible value (though some things were), but it was convenient, they had some hard-​to-​find items, and most important of all, the thing we’ll miss more than anything: Kayla’s hair.

I wouldn’t have considered reviewing this place before, but they’re going out of business soon and I’ll miss them, so I feel compelled to leave a farewell review.
Johhny’s Foodmaster is in many ways, a fairly ordinary grocery store. They don’t have the hours or selection of Shaws or Star Market, the prices of Market Basket, the fancy options of Whole Foods, or the unique character of the tiny ethnic grocery shops scattered throughout the Inman/​Union area. Their produce section was not the best, though their butcher and deli counter was pretty good. And they did have reasonable prices, reasonable selection, staff who were unfailingly helpful and friendly, carpeted floors, good beer, and a location just around the corner from where I live.
Yes, they’re kind of a throwback, but there’s something great about having an ordinary grocery store practically next door. I’m sad to see them replaced by Whole Foods. The fact that the space will be closed for months during the transition just adds to the disappointment.
I hope the staff will swiftly find new employers that show them all due appreciation. They did a good job. The fourth star is for them.

Outside of being convenient there are not many reasons to go to Johnny’s. They have, hands down, the worst produce of any grocery store in the area. I have been burned more times than I can count by vegetables and fruits that look fine on the outside, only to be rotten and brown on the inside once peeled, or worse, bitten into.
The selection of general grocery items is pretty abysmal and their meat department offers very little in variety. I really don’t know why anyone would shop here regularly unless they lack a vehicle that can take them to Market Basket down the road. The prices are on par or higher than Market Basket.
In sum:
1. Poor quality produce
2. Poor selection
3. Mediocre prices, no good deals

Living a stones throw away this is my supermarket of not only choice but convenience. Right off of Inman Square it might not be the massive size of most Shaw’s but they have a good selection of everything you might need, it’s clean and the staff here are super friendly. I don’t always have the time or the wheels to go to Trader Joes. But that’s okay, I love that this place is walking distance. There are also times when I don’t want to pay the super high prices of Whole Foods or Broadway Market, which are also in the vicinity. That’s another plus for Foodmaster, they’re one of the cheaper grocery stores. It’s not Market Basket price but it’s not going to burn a hole in my wallet for a week’s worth of groceries.
What I particularly like are the guys who work the meat section. One of staff there introduced me to maple turkey, which happens to be the most delicious deli meat I’ve ever had. Unfortunately other people have discovered this too so on occasion it does sell out. This weekend happened to be such an occasion. Sad as I was I couldn’t get any of their sweet turkey one of the guys suggested I try the Italian turkey. He even gave me a sample slice to see whether I would like it. I did and bought some on the spot.
That’s one of the things you don’t get with the really big stores, the friendliness and customer service is a big thing and our local Foodmaster has that down when it comes to customer courtesy. Even the cashiers here are pleasant, and I know how tiring that particular job can get since I worked as one myself right out of college. Good food, good prices, great service is what keeps me coming back week after week.

Johnnie’s Foodmaster offers some of the best of both worlds: on one hand it is small enough that cashiers and managers can eventually know you by name and chat about sports, giant lotteries, or the topic of the day. And on the other hand, it is big enough that their weekly bargains can be very competitive.
If you shop for bargains, it is best to use the weekly flyer because the special sale tags in the store are often old or are in the wrong place. The register is accurate with the sales flyer.
Also be careful with the bakery section. Day-​old store bakery items should be sold at a reduced price at Johnnies Foodmaster, but the bakery manager does not work every day and so the day-​old items can be the same price as the newly made fresh items. Check the dates! If you find a day-​old item at full price, there is no policy in place for any other manager to reduce the price, so buy fresh!
Johnnies Foodmaster is the best place for buying Polar Soda, fresh chicken, canned Tuna, and fresh milk — or in other words, these items are repeatedly on special prices which other grocery stores do not beat.
One last tip is look at the front page of the weekly flyer to see if your planned purchase will trigger a bonus offer (found on the front page of the flyer).

Johnnie’s is a stone’s throw away from Inman Square, so it gets 10 points for location.
Selection is decent, plus they have beer and wine — throw in another 20 points.
Really, their schtik is that they have carpeting… whaaaat? In a supermarket? SO AWESOME. A million points for Foodmaster. The truth is, I keep coming back because the floor feels good under my feet.

I shopped here all summer… because I had to. It’s convenient and there’s at least a substitute for anything that you could want. Just double check the dates on anything you get. I don’t think I’ve ever found expired juice while shopping as often anywhere else.
The layout is often counter-​intuitive, as well. Cereal bars are in two different places, as are crackers. I’ve wandered around the store looking for peanut butter and run into somebody doing the same thing.
It’s not the best, but you wont starve or anything if it’s your only option.

Let’s be honest. We all go here for the same reason… beer and wine! I’d never go here if they stopped serving alcohol and I doubt you would, either.
Their meat selection (beef/​pork/​poultry) is pretty good. Their produce section is tiny and is neither impressive nor disgusting in regards to quality. You could say that about the entire store, really. Their prices are not noticeably better than anyone else’s. I never noticed them being cheaper than Market Basket.
The store is tiny and selection pretty mediocre, but adequate.
Cambridge has the worst selection of places to buy booze I’ve ever seen in my life. Foodmaster and Trader Joe’s are the only two places I enjoy shopping for beer and wine.
So I, like all of you, go to Foodmaster to pick up booze and perhaps a bit of groceries since I am already there. If the region had more reasonable liquor licensing laws, this place would have to adapt rapidly or go out of business. Fortunately for them, all of the liquor stores in a mile radius (with the exception of the upscale Wine and Cheese Casket) are extremely gross, sleazy, places that are mostly overpriced and many smell like they are mold infested… the type of liquor stores I haven’t seen outside of the ghettos of my native Chicago.
Therefore, I will give Johnny Foodmaster plenty of my business in the future. They are better than the nearby alternatives, but I’d never go there if I didn’t need alcohol. I enter with minimal expectations and never leave impressed nor particularly disappointed.

Since moving to Central Square, I shop here all the time! I used to shop at the Arlington Johnnie’s and I definitely prefer this one.
Yeah, it’s a very tiny store but they have everything you need and the prices are great. I hate going to larger stores and having to look everywhere for products. I find the staff there especially helpful and nice… the deli department is beyond excellent! l
The prepared food is delicious! I especially like their homemade mac n’cheese and their deli sandwiches, which are super fresh.
Overall, a tiny and affordable neighborhood grocery store that has everything you need!

For some reason this grocery store has the nicest cashiers and baggers you will ever meet. They actually talk to you in a friendly manner and don’t hate the world, whoa!
The store itself is pretty basic. Everything is generally cheapish, but the selection is a little on the bland side. This might be a bad thing, but if you’re going there in order to buy like a bananas, eggs, lightbulbs, cheese, milk combo, you’ll end up sticking to that and not really veering off course with your 80% dark organic chocolate bars or whatnot like at WF or Trader’s.

Foodmaster is a pretty generic supermarket: labyrinthine aisles, deadening fluorescent lights, bored employees. So why 4 stars? Because it’s cheap, and the selection is great, and there’s plenty of parking. In some parts of the USA, these wouldn’t be surprising, but here in Camberville, they’re a wonder to behold.
If you want to pay more for quality and a more pleasant, personal shopping experience, there are tons of options in the area: Whole Foods, Broadway Marketplace, and countless small boutique shops (e.g. the Wine & Cheese Cask just a block away). But Foodmaster owns the low-​priced niche in Inman Square, and they do it well.
Note that while they sell wine here, I don’t recommend it. Instead, head over to Broadway Marketplace, where even the cheapest wines (say, $ 8/​bottle) are sure to satisfy any non-snob’s palette.

Close to my house, so I go often.
Super friendly check out people. (I always go to the nice black lady – she’s so sweet and always chats with me.)
Deli takes a while.
Meats are sometimes already browning.
But super cheap and they sell alcohol…
and you can rent movies.
Basically, I could live in Johnny Foodmaster’s because there’s food, carpet, alcohol, and movies. I’ll bring my pillow. You bring the meat.

The prices here are excellent. I got bananas (39c/​lb) the other day… that’s better than Trader Joe’s. When things are on sale, you can do very well here ($ 2 for 8oz of pitted Dole dates and $ 1 for a V8 juice drink, etc.). They also have a baked goods section – with 8 freshly baked dinner rolls at $ 2. Plus, if you need spices, you can buy gigantic bottles for $ 3-​$ 5. I would still buy most of my produce at Whole Foods on Prospect St. (if I were in the Central Sq/​Inman Sq area) but I’d stop in here for cookies, rolls, and snacks/​generic spices (if you need special spices, go to Christina’s on Cambridge St). I spied galloon bottles of Poland Spring for $ 1, too. They also have a sizeable wine/​beer section and some flowers near the produce section. In sum, this is a good value store near Inman Sq.

This place was our first grocery stop in the area, and wasn’t too much of a letdown. Sure, it looks dated, but it stocked more than we needed. Produce section wasn’t huge, but had all the basics. I was able to get Amy’s frozen entrees .50 cheaper here than my local grocer, which isn’t too bad. Our cashier was really funny too, which made the trip a lot more memorable.
Also, pretty decent specials on the booze.

This place is a very mixed bag.
On one hand I’m a very big fan of the neighboorhood style grocer. But on the other hand I love a huge selection.
Yes this place is small and the grocery department is the size of my bedroom, but they do have some great deals if you know where to look.
I want to point out they actually have a decent sized wine and beer selection and it seems to me that more effort was put into the booze selection more then anything else.
My big beef with this place is that because this place is so small they there is no rhyme or reason to how they stock things. For example, I found the soy sauce directly across from the pasta and next to olives. Also in that isle was their range of Goya products and rice flour.

Foodmaster entertains me. I’ll tell you why. Their signs are always ambiguous. It will say
«BEER AND WINE
ALL MEAT
99cents»
can you really get beer and wine and all meat for 99 cents?
Seriously, drive by and read those signs sometime. They never make any sense.
On the merits, Foodmaster has gotten a lot better over the five years I’ve lived in Inman Sq. It used to be a dingy sad place with extremely limited selection. Now, they carry some organic stuff, they have a (not great) deli, baked goods, and a wider variety of brands. It’s not brilliant, but it’s not all that bad either. And it’s right around the corner.
As for the carpet, I think it gives Foodmaster ambience.

I was hesitant when my friends wanted to pick up beer and other staple groceries at Johnnie’s. Ick! Johnnie’s? Johnnie’s Foodmaster? This is coming from a girl who likes her produce, meats, and seafood from Whole Foods only!
However, upon entering the old school aluminum auto-​door complete with side rails, I was impressed. Okay, they keep their produce volume pretty low to increase turnover. Most of that stuff looks decent. Of course the prices are very reasonable.
But then we turn to the beer section — our focus. And what a beer selection it was! Wachussett, Magic Hat, Peak Organic (3 flavors), Wolaver’s (3 flavors), Harpoon of course, Smuttynose amongst other unexpected choices. The wine selection wasn’t terrible either. Once I saw Oyster Bay, I was sold.
Maybe I’m overrating Johnnie’s by giving it 4 stars, but I was seriously impressed and actually excited to purchase food next time. Oh, and I will never buy fish from Johnnie’s. Pre-​frozen cod for $ 5.99/lb is a steal, but bleh, pre-​frozen anything, especially a fish caught locally, doesn’t appeal to me.
The only major downfall is it’s unfortunate location… It may be good for the folks who drive down Hampshire to Beacon during rush hour anyway, but for someone who needs to go out of their way to pick up tonight’s fixings, it is NOT convenient. Anyone who knows how trafficky Hampshire-​Beacon gets on a weeknight, they will vouch for me for sure. Weekend shopping, it is!

This place is gross. There really isn’t any getting around that. I will say that, beyond that fact I have continued, however inconsistantly, to shop here. I would have to say that the fact that the majority of the store is either involving chips or things that have an impressive shelf life, or frozen, is somewhat comforting.
The prices and parking may be the only draw here, the deli is not something that I will mess with and the veggies are something you should pass right by, in my opinion. But if you are looking for pasta, ice cream, chips or soda. This is your spot.
They also sell stamps, and have an impressive array of ice melt in the winter.

There is something sort of endearing about the carpet in this store. And then sometimes the place smells really weird and you wonder if they laid it down because it helps cover the odor of rotting corpses better than linoleum.
They definitely don’t carry everything that might be on your shopping list, and might only have a couple of choices for things they do have on the shelves. The prices are cheap (not as good as Market Basket), but the quality of produce is not worth the pinched pennies. If half of what you take home is rotten, then you didn’t save anything. Non-​perishables are acceptable purchases and you can take your chance on meats, I’ve taken home really fresh cuts and a definitively spoiled roast chicken.
So, you can roll the dice with Foodmaster, its carpet, and its musk, but at least you can get a six pack or bottle of wine to wash it down in the same trip.

Yeah it has a carpet? But it does NOT smell. I think people just said that to make their review seem… I dunno, cool? It doesn’t smell. I would point it out from the getgo if it did.
It has fresh meat and fish deliveries all the time. The produce is fresh and when they have their 5 for $ 20 sale on meat, you can’t beat it.
So please, just because there is a carpet and it is dated, doesn’t mean the food in there is as well. It is the same food and company that the Foodmaster in Brookline and Charlestwon (that have high ratings) has. Just… it has a carpet.