History of Motown Market

The Motown Market is an abandoned supermarket on the West Side of Detroit that was abandoned around 2012. It is likely that the store once had a history similar to the 2259 E Palmer Kroger store found on Chene St. In the 1950s, as many neighborhood markets started going out of business due to the rise of the new " supermarket ," these establishments set the new standard for grocery shopping and began to take the market by storm with much bigger footprints and stock options that neighborhood markets could never compete with. Stores like Farmer Jack, A&P, Chatham, and most notably Kroger adapted to become supermarkets, while other neighborhood chains like CF Smith went out of business due to their unwillingness to adapt to the new standard. These supermarkets are not to be confused with the much larger big box stores of today, although supermarkets were big, they were nowhere close to the size of most big box stores of today. On the side of the Motown Market building, an accent is visible reading "GRAND BOULEVARD GARAGE." It is possible that the original use of the building was an auto shop of some sort.