Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

Somerville’s finest are of course our outstanding police force. Names like Remigio, Fallon, Mitsakis, Stiles, Dervishian, Gilberti, Cabral, Howe, Hodgdon and so many more. But Somerville’s other finest was actually spelled Finast with an a. An acronym for First National Stores.

At one point, First National Stores was one of America’s largest grocery chains. The company operated First National (and later Finast) stores in the northeast. (get it … FINAST?) There used to be a few First National grocery stores around Somerville years ago.

The Assembly Square Mall in Somerville, Massachusetts, opened in 1981 inside of a former Ford Motors Assembly Plant along the banks of the Mystic River. The site had more recently been a distribution center for First National Supermarkets also known as Finast. Finast was based in Somerville until 1978.

The Finast label, much like Market Basket’s, offered consumers quality products at a lower price than the popular brands. Plus, how cool was it to buy a can of genuine Somerville tomatoes (see photo)?

First National’s huge warehouse and retail stores employed a lot of Somerville people. These are some of their stories:

“I remember going to the one on Mystic Ave. Also there was one where the Stop & Shop is in Clarendon Hill.” A warehouse worker recalls, “It was so brutal coming outside into the heat of a hot summer day after the end of a 14 hour shift in a refrigerated warehouse.”

“My mom worked in the factory at Assembly Square. She told stories of packing pickles into jars, placing perfect spears neatly facing out of the jar and then random bits piled into the center.”

“There was a First National in Union Square. I won a giant Sugar Daddy candy bar there for counting the marbles.”

“There was a First National Store at the corner of Medford St and Somerville Ave next to Target, which way back was Bradlees.” There was one on Broadway near where Star Market was. It burned down around 1960.” There were also stores in Union Square, Ball Square and on the corner of Highland Avenue and Central St.

Here’s a bit of scandal for you! “I worked in their offices. When I started at 18, (1972-73) I worked in the mailroom with similar aged peers. I heard a rumor that a few of them were stealing payroll checks that came through the mailroom. I was there when law enforcement came to take them. Can’t remember if it was local police or FBI. Idiots had signed their own names when cashing those checks. They signed them over to themselves!”

A friend sends this sweet comment in: “My parents worked there, that is where they met in the 50’s. Still in love 62 years later.”

First National Stores have gone the way of the Ford Assembly Plant, Assembly Mall, Somerville Lumber, Johnny D’s and Joe Izzy’s. Important parts of our Somerville past.

I wouldn’t be surprised if someone out there still has an item in their kitchen cabinet or cellar with the Finast label on it.

Thank you to Wikipedia and my Facebook friends for some facts and statistics.