Meet Alina Morris of DJ’s Market & Deli in Dorchester

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alina Morris.

Alina, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Before the deli, I sold real estate for 15 years and was very happy doing that. My mom and dad owned and ran DJ’s for over 28 years and wanted to sell and retire. I was helping them sell it when the buyer started getting cold feet and felt he was getting in over his head. Their potential buyer ended up walking away. My mother was upset, so I said I would buy it for the same price and see what would happen, if it didn’t work out I figured I could always sell. The problem is I don’t like to quit something after I start. The place and equipment were all very old. Over the years, as money came in, I would slowly update the equipment and complete small renovations to the building. 12 years later, I’m still here and still trying to improve the business. I think I will be here until I retire. I really enjoy the work and the people I interact with every day.

Has it been a smooth road?
I think the biggest struggle has been working with old equipment and an old building where things were always breaking down. Things are much better now and we are starting to concentrate more on moving forward with more fun projects, like expanding and opening up a cafe/bakery.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with DJ’s Market & Deli – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
DJ’s Polish Market and Deli is a market that sells polish groceries imported from Poland and the deli has all kinds of polish meats and a large variety of kielbasas. Our kitchen makes all the Polish specialty dishes, including soups, pierogis and stuffed cabbage in-house. We also bake Polish pastries. We are very well known for our Polish donuts, called Paczki. I’m proud to say that no one makes them as well as ours. Our famous donuts were recently featured on Chronicle, which brought in many new visitors. We are also very proud and known for our fresh kielbasa, also made in-house that won best in Boston in a kielbasa cook-off in the Polish Triangle.

The store is an extension of my family. My eldest daughter has two brothers-in-law that work for me. After my husband retired, he started working with me in the deli every day and now makes our award winning fresh kielbasa. My youngest daughter also works with us and does all the baking. She has been a joy to work with and has a very positive outlook on the business and makes it fun for all of us to work there, especially me. I don’t know if I could have lasted without her. To ensure the business is a success going forward, I am focused on making the store fit in to the changing neighborhood that is seeing a lot of new development. I want the store to be friendly and welcoming to everyone. It would also be nice to make the store more self-sufficient so I don’t need to be there every day. I now have 5 grandchildren with whom I would like to spend more time. There will come a time when this business will be passed down to the next generation and I want to make sure I’m setting them up for success and an easy transition.

Contact Info:

• Address: 120 Boston St
  Boston MA 02125
• Website: DJsMarketandDeli.com
• Phone: 617-436-9766
• Email: DJsMarketandDeli@gmail.com
• Instagram: DJs_Market
• Facebook: facebook.com/djsmarketanddeli/
• Other: https://youtu.be/wRLdgCr8MuM

Image Credit:
Chris Hislop & Dawn Morris
Group shot of food provided by UberEats

Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.