Walmart Market coming to Somerville

[msr-tim.livejournal.com]

 Not really in Davis Square I know. It's going to be in the old Circuit City location next to Home Depot.

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2011/07/22/wal_mart_to_debut_market_grocery_store_in_massachusetts/

Seems like we have a lot of supermarkets here already. Star, Market Basket, 2 Johnny's Foodmasters, Stop and Shop and Kmart (OK that's a stretch). Also a Whole Foods and a Shaws right on the city lines.

Comments

[ron_newman]

That's a lousy location -- very hard to reach from any Somerville neighborhood. Wonder why they chose this instead of moving into the former Winter Hill Star Market?

(I don't think our K-Mart sells food, though there are larger K-Marts elsewhere that do include a supermarket)

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

it's readily accessible by car and the highway, which is a lot more important for a box store.

[ron_newman]

Mystic Avenue is one-way northbound, so I don't see any way to get there from any residential part of Somerville without first going to the intersection of Broadway and Mt. Vernon. Seems a lot easier to just keep going to Market Basket.

Also, this isn't a big-box Walmart, it's just a grocery store.

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

But I think Walmart is claiming that this will help the "food desert" "issue" in this area... which given how not walkable that location is, seems hard to believe. Frankly if you have a car and you are already driving to a grocery store, you might as well go to the shaws (or is it stop and shop) that is just beyond there as the parking lot is easier to get in and out of.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

It's also a few blocks over from the far more accessible (in all respects) Stop and Shop. As in, all of Somerville will have to drive past that Stop and Shop in order to get the Wal-Mart Market.

I'm happy for the jobs, such as they'll be, and also for the gleeful schadenfreude to be had as the Anti-Wal-Mart drones roll out, but if this thing happens, it's got two years max.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

We may have a lot of supermarkets, but we don't have enough. Since the Winter Hill Star Market closed, that area is poorly served. Though I don't see how a new Walmart right across from the Stop & Shop is going to help.

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

Eww. I am actually surprised at the poll results at that link. I personally will not shop at Walmart and will not check out the grocery store.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

This times a thousand. I just recently discovered that there's a Wal-Mart closer than I realized (in Lynn) and still won't shop there.

Should you decide you desperately want a walmart...

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

That one in Lynn is pretty much impossible to get to. It's actually faster from Somerville to drive up 93 to one of the Walmarts in the North Shore than it is to drive to Lynn.

[freedmam.livejournal.com]

Once Wegmans opens in Burlington, I'll never stop at a another grocery store again.

Yes off topic...but I'll take any opportunity I can find to talk about Weggies!

[amy-s1.livejournal.com]

Wait - you live in Somerville and you are planning to buy all of your groceries in Burlington? Wow, must be an amazing place.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

It's especially impressive since he means Burlington, VT.

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

I lived in Medford and I generally drove up to the Market basket in Woburn because it had better produce, less parking issues and wasn't jam packed with people - and the prices were still wicked cheap. It helped that I was generally going by it anyway, but at only 15 minutes a drive since I was just off 93, it was faster to get to Woburn than the one at union square!

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

I think they suspect it will get a lot of driving home from work and weekend traffic. I dunno if that's true.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of wondering how that would work. It's pretty much inaccessible by car, it's even worse on foot, and one lone bus...

:::facepalm::: When's the IKEA opening again? That's why they're opening this: they think they can get the train traffic.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

It's right off the exit from 93N, no?

[littlecitynames.livejournal.com]

That's what I was thinking, but that train station isn't due to be there until 2014 (so maybe it'll be in by 2020?).

[ron_newman]

This won't be within a reasonable walk of the new train station, though. If anything it's closer to Sullivan station (and still an unpleasant walk)

[pywaket.livejournal.com]

Who'd have thought it possible: the space is being filled by a company with even worse customer service and employee relations than Circuit City.

I'll keep shopping at Market Basket, thanks. I suspect most of Somerville will do the same. I suppose it is slightly more accessable on foot for a small part of East Somerville, though the walk there is incredibly unpleasant.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

While I have no love for Walmart, I note grocery prices in most places here are really high by my standards, with TJ and Market Basket (somewhat) as the two exceptions.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

Interesting. If they're aiming at convenience, a lot of folks will be going to the stop&shop at the old somerville lumber location. If they're aiming at price, they've got a ways to go to beat Market Basket. If you're already at the Home Depot or (eventually) Ikea, then it might be easier than looping around to the stop&shop, but, eh.

I'd love to see some kind of food store to come to the old Winter Hill Star location. It's got parking and bus access and is in one of the denser parts of the city. Is there a Brazilian equivalent of the Super 88 or H-mart?

[pywaket.livejournal.com]

I've never understood why TJ's doesn't want to open there. Seems like a perfect location. Now that there's one at Fresh Pond, it's slightly less annoying (the one on Memorial drive is a total PITA to get to without a car). Still, I can't imagine they wouldn't do incredibly well there.

[ceelove.livejournal.com]

It was reported that they (and many other companies) declined because it's too small. Given that I live behind the empty-several-years lot, I find this a huge bummer.

[ron_newman]

Brazilian equivalent of the Super 88 or H-mart?

Perhaps Seabra Foods, now on Somerville Avenue near Sacramento Street? Link is to Yelp because I can't find a web page for them. The chain they're supposedly part of doesn't list them on their web site.

[tlaad.livejournal.com]

I can't remember the name off the top of my head, but there is a small-time Brazilian/Portugese grocery store across from the former Star Market. They do sell produce, and mostly have produce you'd want or need or would do in a pinch. I go there a lot.