New Hyde Park supermarket: Lots of stuff, cheap

Produce, and lots of it, at new market

Some people celebrated the holiday today by going to the movies or just lounging around the house. We checked out the new PriceRite supermarket on River Street on the Hyde Park/Mattapan line (where the paperboard factory used to be).

It was amazing how crowded the place was - and how many people were leaving with full carts; inside workers were kept busy wheeling in large pallets of stuff from the back to replace all the stuff going out the front. This is a large store - its appearance from River Street is deceptive (17 registers and every one open today).

Now this is not the store to come for gourmet foods prepared while you wait. It doesn't even have a deli department. What it does have are tons of basics, in large quantities (like five-pound bags of cheese; when the kidlet wondered what you'd do with so much cheese, a guy who overheard her exclaimed, "nachos!"). And you won't believe how many different types of PriceRite store brands there are in every aisle.

The first thing that hits you on entering is the large produce department - apparently a rare commodity in Mattapan: Plenty of fruits and vegetables, including all sorts of big root things.

What it lacks in gourmet olives, it makes up for in stuff that you would never find at Roche Bros., including a wide variety of Hispanic and Caribbean items, fresh pig's ears (just $1.99 a pound) and chicken feet and, for those of us who are still mentally 12, Grace's Cock Flavoured Soup Mix.

In addition to the store brands, the chain really works to keep prices down (both milk and hamburger were cheaper than at the Dedham Stop & Shop). Many aisles don't have shelves - just boxes of stuff with the fronts cut open so you can get to the products. There's no real ceiling - just the underside of the metal roof (which means the place is loud - all those conversations bounce off the roof and land right on your ears). If you want bags for your groceries, you either bring your own or pay 10 cents apiece (but they're really big bags) - and you have to bag your purchases yourself at the "bagging station" that runs the length of the store in front.