Foodmaster closing update

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

I just got back from my local Foodmaster's (Fellsway West and Salem Street, Medford) and it also, sadly, had the omnious STORE CLOSING banner, everything 10% off, sadness.  Employees told me that TODAY (Nov 2) they got word that Stop and Shop had bought the leases of the remaining Foodmasters that Whole Foods didn't want.  One employee (a newer clerk) said he wasn't so sure that a new Stop and Shop store would open in that location, he thought that it was likely they bought the lease just so competition didn't buy it.  Another employee (a long term employee) said she was absolutely certain, because it was in the memo she got, that Stop and Shop was indeed opening in all the locations, and all Foodmaster employees had jobs at this new store, all they had to do was to run through the application.

So the word is varied, but the consensus is that Stop&Shop at least bought the leases.

Comments

[littlecitynames.livejournal.com]

I think the one on Broadway at 16 is quite small for a Stop & Shop, but I would be okay with it going in. It'll be more expensive than Foodmaster though. I really hope this rumor about all employees having jobs at the new store is true though. Whole Foods has their own specific application process so I doubt they'll be willing to make the same deal, so it would be nice if at least some of the current Foodmaster employees could be guaranteed a continued job.

[josephineave.livejournal.com]

The issue will be how long will they have to wait. If it takes 4-5 months to reconfigure the store, you might as well head somewhere else.

[josephineave.livejournal.com]

According to today's Globe, S&S only bought the Medford store & will try to reopen by the end of the year.

[ron_newman]

Great news if true, but it surprises me. Stop & Shop has been getting away from small urban stores for quite a while. They used to have non-"Super" stores at Fresh Pond in Cambridge, Cambridge Street in Boston, and next to Symphony Hall; these are all Whole Foods now.

They had another one on Memorial Drive in Cambridge, which is now Micro Center. In Somerville, their former store was next to what's now Target (then Bradlees); it's now CW Price, after having earlier been Fretter electronics superstore and then AJ Wright.

The only old-style Stop & Shop I can think of that's still open is on Mass. Ave. in Arlington.

[jicama]

It seems very unlikely that Stop&Shop would want the Arlington Foodmaster since they already have a store about a block away.

[cowgrrl.livejournal.com]

I just got back from the Broadway & Route 16 Foodmaster, where I chatted with a manager (after shopping). Stop & Shop has only bought the Medford Foodmaster. They still don't know what's going to happen to the Broadway & Route 16 Foodmaster. We're all hoping for another supermarket, of course.

I overheard two employees there talking about how this sort of thing always seems to happen right before the holidays. :(

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

Also, I chatted with one guy at the Alewife store who said he'd been working there for 20+ years and that even if Whole Foods hired him there was no way they'd offer him comparable hourly pay and benefits to cover all of the seniority-based raises, vacation time,etc. 4-5 months, then starting on a way lower rung at another store...

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

Isn't the Arlington one one of the ones WF bought, though?

[ron_newman]

Whole Foods is buying the Arlington Foodmaster, and all of the others except Medford, Alewife, Lynn, and Whitman.

[charolastra00.livejournal.com]

It seems strange that Stop and Shop bought the Medford Foodmaster (which is also the one I go to). There's a Super Stop and Shop in a much newer building about a mile down the Fellsway. The boy and I were really crossing fingers and toes that some act of G-d would bring a Trader Joe's or Market Basket.

[redcolumbine.livejournal.com]

I actually emailed Wegman's and asked if they thought it would be a good location for them. They replied "we'll run it by Real Estate, but we only open 1-2 stores a year."

[ron_newman]

Does Wegman's ever open stores that small?

[redcolumbine.livejournal.com]

Not yet.

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

I think the one on Broadway at 16 is quite small for a Stop & Shop, but I would be okay with it going in. It'll be more expensive than Foodmaster though.

I'm not sure about that. I live in Arlington, between the Foodmaster and the Stop & Shop, so I did a lot of direct comparison shopping. Foodmaster always LOOKED like they should be cheaper. But their prices were actually higher for quite a few items. Even at the going-out-of-business sale, with the 10% off, a lot of things were still more expensive than the same things at the Stop & Shop.

(Their meat may be cheaper, and I know meat is a big part of the food budget for some people. It isn't for me.)

[littlecitynames.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I usually look at some key things that I buy often and know the prices for by heart - coffee, canned soup, milk, eggs, hummus, rice cakes, fruits and vegetables, peanut butter, etc. Foodmaster was lower for all of this than other places I've looked at. I had zero problem with Foodmaster's produce unlike other people I've heard from, and it was much cheaper than at other places I've gone. Although I also admit that I haven't compared with Stop & Shop in a while since the nearest one is still pretty far away.

[meramoo.livejournal.com]

They are planning to in Newton (http://www.wegmans.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10052&catalogId=10002&productId=731672).

[redcolumbine.livejournal.com]

1. Cool.

2. Damn and blast! So we DEFINITELY won't get one.

3. Thanks!

[ron_newman]

That's a "smaller, urban store" than other Wegman's, but it's still 70,000 square feet. I don't think the Alewife Foodmaster is anywhere near that size.

ETA: Just for the heck of it, I looked up all of Somerville's supermarket buildings in the online Assessor's Database. The square footage of the first floor:

Foodmaster, 105 Alewife Brook Pkwy: 25,338 (includes adjoining liquor store)
Foodmaster, 47 Beacon St: 13,972
Star Market, 275 Beacon St: 30,280 (includes adjoining laundromat)
Star Market, 299 Broadway (closed): 27,132
Shaw's, Twin City Plaza: 73,937
Market Basket, 400 Somerville Ave: 46,795
Super Stop & Shop, 771 McGrath Hwy: 76,188

I don't know how much of the square footage is sales floor, and how much is storage or other non-sales use.

[ron_newman]

See my new comment below for a comparison of supermarket sizes.