Winter Hill Star Closing!

[theodosia.livejournal.com]

I was surprised as anything last night when I dropped by the market and it has reduced its hours until 5 PM -- and a sign on the door said it was closing for good on 1/26 (IIRC).

Already the shelves looked a bit on the bare side within!

It's never been a particularly great supermarket, but it was handy and quick from where I lived. I guess it was only a matter of time before the Super Stop & Shop drew away enough business.

Comments

[ron_newman]

Yep, this was covered in the Somerville Journal last month, but very poorly. The journalist never bothered to find out why Shaw's was closing this store.

[thespian.livejournal.com]

Well, and before the 24 hour Star Market that's only 5 minutes north also killed it. I'm certain they were intending to close it down all along; it always struck me that they were awfully close to each other for the same chain.

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

Well, I've always thought that about the Beacon Street Star, too...but it's been hanging in there for years.

[ron_newman]

Where is this 24 hour star market?

[cnoocy]

I think the Beacon Street Star has a fanatical clientele.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

I would love it if Foodmaster would move into the site, although I don't know if they're looking to add locations. Winter Hill really benefits from having a grocery store there.

[ron_newman]

Julia Child, for instance. (Guess that should be "had")

[vanguardcdk.livejournal.com]

Porter Sq.

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

I really dont like that grocery store. It always seemed poorly lit and the produce wasnt as fresh imo.

[ron_newman]

Porter Square is not north of Winter Hill and I certainly can't walk between the two stores in five minutes.

[cnoocy]

I didn't realize that, but it doesn't surprise me.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

oh, that would be a great idea.

or maybe market basket.

[thespian.livejournal.com]

That's irrelevant from a corporate point of view. It's a 6 minute drive; always think of Broadway, Elm and Highland as running north/south, but a look at a map shows my mental model sucks. :-)

However, from a corporate standpoint, the two locations are less than 6 minutes drive away from each other, and the assumption is that one can go. I would not be at all surprised if Beacon goes next, but they're locked into the lease for another 2 years there, if I recall.

This isn't an argument in favour of it; frankly, my favourite ever grocery store was a Canadian one in Southern Ontario, called Dutch Boy, which had large locations, and then small little convenience sized ones (called Dutch Girl) that sold the same stuff, same price, just a lot less of it. The Canadian chain Dominon does something similar, with a few big stores and then boutique groceries about 1/5th the size of the regular ones in malls and smaller storefronts. I'd really rather see a return to lots of small neighbourhood grocers, bakers and butchers (and that's part of why I moved just outside of Davis Square, so I could walk to the smallish selection of them).

But it is the sort of corporate reasoning that says, "Hey, we can close that location."

[ron_newman]

Speaking of small grocers and Davis, the people in the old Pemberton Market told me it will close soon, with some of its merchandise moving across the street to the newer Pemberton Farms. It wasn't clear to me (or maybe even to them) whether the liquor selection is coming over.

[ron_newman]

What I'd like to know is why so many years after the merger, Shaw's has yet to get rid of the name 'Star Market' for some of its stores. Not just small or outdated ones like Winter Hill, but also big or newish stores like Central Square (University Park) and Mount Auburn Street in Cambridge.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

When I lived there, Super Stop and Shop wasn't TOO much more of a haul.

[ron_newman]

No bus goes there, and it's longer than I'd want to walk to Broadway with heavy bags.

[grateful1311.livejournal.com]

I waited on her once when I worked at the Beacon St Star when I was in high school. She was VERY tall.
;)

[teko.livejournal.com]

Wait, what? That's a total surprise and the first I've heard of it. They haven't shown signs of closing... though the "deli" has been empty for nearly a year and the drink cooler is vacant now. Still, Pemberton Farms seems already full to overflowing and is a very different type of store than the old Pemby's.

Any word on when this might happen?

[ron_newman]

I'll try to find out more soon, and make a separate post if I do. The person I talked to after Christmas thought it would close by the first week of January. Obviously that has not happened.

[unsi-sempai.livejournal.com]

Not having to shop there anymore is one of the best things about having moved away from Winter Hill. Terrible selection, produce that would rot within a few days of purchase, ice cream that had obviously melted and been refrozen into a horrible mushy block, high prices, extremely rude staff, expired products, etc. I am utterly unsurprised that it's closing.

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

Just to add that they also have a small selection of a lot of things. I would go looking for one type of granola bar only to find they only sell 3 out of the 8 flavors. This was for almost anything...they never had the full selection. I have the same issue with Johnnys Foodmaster which is sucky since they are so close to my house.

[an-art-worker.livejournal.com]

I was in there last Sat. and they still didn't know when it was closing or what might happen to the space. Their condo proposal got shot down by the neighbors last year so maybe they have just decided to sell it off.

Too bad - their wine prices tended to be 2-3 dollars less than Downtown Wine etc. for the same product.

Something sad about a half-filled grocery store

[lbmango.livejournal.com]

where is this super stop and shop that people are talking about?

[ron_newman]

One issue is that Kate (of Kate's Mystery Books) apparently refuses to allow any liquor sales at Pemberton Farms. She's trying to sell her place and move out, but I don't understand why she has such a veto at all.