Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/565724
167 photograph by Elise Sinagra When James Turner's grandfather moved from Newfoundland to New England in the 1920s, he intended to work for the railroad company. But the pull of the ocean proved too strong. "His heritage lured him back to the fish pier," Turner says. Turner's grand- father started working as a seafood salesman. He was good at his job, and it wasn't long before an entrepreneur approached him about launching his own wholesale fish business, an enterprise that flourished for decades. When fish stocks declined and government regula- tions tightened in the late 1980s, Turner, his father, and his three brothers decided to spin off with their own high-end wholesale business, launching in Melrose. A few years later they expanded, opening a restaurant and fish market. In 2006, they opened a market in the historic fishing port of Gloucester; two years ago they opened another res- taurant and market in Salem. The company is "finicky" about its fish, Turner says. Every day, trucks go to the docks in both Gloucester and Boston to get the best local product. Both of Turner's restaurant locations include a seafood market, which Turner says is an indication of the quality of his wares. "We're not ashamed or afraid to put it right there in front of you," he says. Indeed, Turner says, it is the seafood and the family heritage of fishing that drive the business. "We love what we do," he says. "We're fish people in the restaurant business." Turner's Seafood 506 Main St., Melrose, 781-662-0700 43 Church St., Salem, 978-745-7665 turners-seafood.com photograph by Michael Basu (top), by Robert Boyd (bottom) James Turner now helms his family's seafood business.