Bolton Hill’s newest food establishment – a Mexican grill akin to Chipotle – will open in the Sav-a-Lot strip mall on McMechen Street this fall. It’s the latest addition to the neighborhood from the Ranjha family of Ellicott City that bought Maryland Save-a-Lot grocery outlets nearly four years ago.
Guacado Mexican Grill will locate between Walgreen’s and the Wash-EZ laundromat at 242 McMechen Street. The Brooklyn-based franchise chain will offer tacos and burrito bowls, birria tacos, chips and guacamole and churros, among other Mexican specialties. It will have 8-to-10 tables plus online takeout orders and delivery. The nearest Guacado currently is in Laurel.
Hamza Farooq, a partner in his Pakistani-American family’s grocery operations, also will own and manage Guacado, a fast-casual food spot located in part of what once was a popular hardware store. It will mark the first time the small mall has been full since shortly after the Freddy Gray uprising in 2015.
Hamza oversees the neighborhood Save-a-Lot alongside Chanika Jones, the store manager. The family’s company, PAK Foods, also operates gas stations and convenience stores. Pak Foods acquired the grocery stores from its St. Louis-based Save-a-Lot in 2021, but still relies on Save-a-Lot for most wholesale purchases.
Since taking charge, the owners have painted and refurbished the facility and upgraded the store’s offerings, which now include fresh meat, expanded bakery products and a wider range of popular brands. As a discount grocery, the store still depends heavily on SNAP purchases from nearby eligible shoppers, along with students and Bolton Hill residents who find it convenient.
Hamza said he has made an effort to rotate the store’s stock more often than under its previous owners. The store has 15 employes and a security guard. Like many Baltimore retailers, the grocery store is plagued by shoplifting and graffiti vandals, Hamza said.
Neither he nor manager Jones seemed aware of coming competition. Streets Market earlier this year announced that it would build an 18,000-square-foot grocery on North Avenue just east of the new Reservoir Square townhouse and office building development, hoping to open in 2027.
A recent, unscientific survey of prices on a dozen common items available at Save-a-Lot, two nearby Streets Markets and the Safeway in the 2400 block of North Charles suggested that, if current pricing is representative, Save-a-Lot will be cheaper than its competitors, with Streets the more upscale of the three companies.
–Bill Hamilton
Download PDF