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Camberville & beyond
March 27, 2025
Pemberton Market in 1985. (Cambridge Historical Commission)
It's one of my earliest memories. I'm in North Cambridge. I walk with my parents to Pemberton Market, a modest convenience store. I march to the back counter, which towers above me. An older man with a huge smile greets me, and hands me a blueberry muffin right out of a large muffin pan.
A few days ago, I was at the old location of the Pem, as I called it as a toddler. With so much changing in the world, returning to the corner of Mass. Ave. and Rindge Ave. got me thinking about the ways a longtime local business can anchor a community. And it got me wondering how a family business — the Pem eventually became the ultra-high-polish Pemberton Farms grocery store and garden center up the street — managed to survive and evolve in a changing Cambridge for 95 (!) years. It's surely one of Camberville's oldest family businesses, and I guessed there was a great story behind it.
So I called Tom Saidnawey, whose father, Leo, was probably the kind old man in my 1980s memory, and whose grandfather opened a less-than-thousand-square-foot North Cambridge store in 1930.
The retail stretch that included Tofic Saidnawey's small shop in 1936. (Cambridge Historical Commission)
Tofic Saidnawey was born in Syria, came to the United States at 16, served in World War I, and built a fruit and vegetable business, according to his obituary in the Cambridge Chronicle-Sun. He died suddenly in 1948 at the age of 53.
So his wife and sons stepped up and took charge of the shop, Tom recalled. The 69-year-old remembers biking to the market after school and helping his father and uncle. Later, he said he bought the company outright, and had a vision for making it something bigger — a business that would eventually become Pemberton Farms.
Pemberton Farms on Mass. Ave. (Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff)
Tom kept running the corner store as he tried to expand in a way that would meet the neighborhood's changing tastes. He ramped up the fruit basket and gift basket business. With his brother Mark, they expanded garden offerings, building a temporary greenhouse. But they didn't know how customers would respond. "Year one, I think we sold 125 trays of pansies. And I just couldn't believe the possibilities that were there!" Tom said.
Pemberton kept evolving, as longtime North Cambridge families moved out, and new Cantabrigians, willing to spend more on groceries and drink, made the stretch between Porter Square and Arlington home.
Tom's wife, Denna, is a key part of the story. She had previously worked in food and beverage at the Ritz Carlton, and ran stores for Ethan Allen. She joined the Pemberton business in 2007. Denna helped make the Mass. Ave. location a destination rather than a fill-in store, she and Tom said.
Pemberton Farms on Monday night. (Joshua Miller/Globe Staff)
Now, the modest convenience store of my memory is the sparkling Pemberton Farms of today — with its high-end deli; vast sweep of beer, wine, and cider; locally roasted coffee beans; and, by my count, more than 75 types of tomato sauce.
I asked Tom and Denna whether I could stop by to get a photo. Yeah, they replied. Just ask for Greg or Amanda or Laynie.
Greg and Amanda and Laynie?
"Our son and our daughters!" Tom replied.
Joshua Miller
Assistant Metro Editor
Camberville & beyond
P.S. You are cordially invited to a Cambridge- and Somerville-themed trivia night at Aeronaut Brewing Co. on Monday at 8 p.m. Camberville reporter Spencer Buell and I are hosting and we'd love to see you there.
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