Two Tremont markets fade in a rite of passage

If left unattended for one growing season, the vines would surely
swallow up the Fairfied Food Market in Tremont. The dive is a
reminder of Tremont’s working-class era as well as the years be-
fore gentrification began to take hold at the start of the 21st cen-
tury. But gentrification swallowed up the market before the
vines could (KJP). CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM

Tremont doesn’t have a grocery store but it does have tiny neighborhood markets. And two gritty members of that shrinking fraternity are about to fade into history.

The demise of the Fairfield Food Market and the Abbey Market & Grocery are a rite of passage as Tremont continues its transition from a rough and tough neighborhood of Eastern European, African-American and Appalachian people who worked in the nearby mills and other Cleveland industries. Replacing them in the last few decades are a wide and gentrifying mix of young professionals, service workers and others who live in new or renovated townhomes and apartments.

READ MORE