Star Market closing leaves Winter Hill hungry

By Elizabeth Bernardi

With this month's closing of the Star Market at 299 Broadway, many Winter Hill residents no longer have a grocery store within walking distance, and even more are anxiously awaiting some announcement of what will replace it on the property.

The Star Market, in a building dating back to the 1960s, announced in November that it would close at the end of January. Originally, the store was slated to close on Jan. 26, but that was moved up, as Theresa Pero discovered Saturday morning, when she and a friend tried to stop by the store.

Pero, the mother of Ward 4 Alderman Walter Pero and also one of her son's constituents, said she was disappointed to see the store close.

“I'm so bummed out!” the 81-year-old Theresa Pero said. She said she has never driven, so the Winter Hill Star Market was a convenience to her and other elderly resident pedestrians.

Now the closest grocery store is the Stop and Shop on McGrath Highway, but getting there on foot requires crossing a dangerously busy intersection. Theresa Pero is sorry to see the Star Market go, but she has lived in the same house on Medford Street for 58 years, and said she has often had to adapt to change.

“I remember too when they had a Brigham's in the front of the store,” she said, “and then they expanded the Star Market and closed [the Brigham's]. We used to walk up there to Brigham's and get hot-fudge sundaes. So, we have seen changes.”

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone has reached out to the owner of the property to learn the parcel's possible future use, said spokeswoman Lesley Delaney Hawkins. She said she believes that owner is Shaw's Supermarkets, and Curtatone intends to meet with Shaw's executives to discuss what would best serve the community in the now available space.

She said there is no truth to the rumor that originated in the fall that the city would move a police station to the site.

“That originated in the community,” said Hawkins. “That never came from the mayor's office or the city. That's not something we're looking at.”

Ultimately, she said, the decision to lease the property will be the owner's. Still, the city hopes that whatever takes over the space will serve the community well.

“My understanding is that the owners have accepted the invitation to sit down [with the mayor] and hopefully we can work with the owners to sit down and find a tenant that will meet the community need,” said Hawkins.

Chamber of Commerce President Stephen Mackey said he was not surprised to see the Star Market close, particularly since the opening of the Stop and Shop on McGrath Highway.

“I'd expect they've seen an increase in competition throughout the area and Winter Hill,” said Mackey. “And I think it was a 1960s vintage store . . . Any grocery store built in that era is maybe in the twilight, so I don't think it's peculiar to this store. I think it's a function of what's happened in that industry and with consumers.”

Mackey said that although he's certain somebody will propose that the space be used for condominiums, “I think it's important for the city's commercial tax base that it be largely business.”

Walter Pero said he is closely following the development of the property. At a Ward 4 meeting last Thursday, the Star Market was included on the agenda.

“I told the assembled neighbors that we don't have any proposals right now,” said Pero. “We don't know what's going to go there, but when we do have a proposal to consider, there would be immediately notification of the neighborhood and Ward 4 and we would call together a neighborhood meeting.”

He said his constituents are very interested in what will become of the property. They were reassured to know that the liquor store and cleaner's are not part of the parcel and will stay open. Some would like to see another grocery store, perhaps a specialty store, take Star Market's place.

“I'm sure we'll go through a community process,” he said. “Whenever there is proposed a large develop-ment in the city, the city puts together a reuse committee and we work to respond to a proposed use or a sought-out use.”

Though Pero himself said he has been using the Stop and Shop for most of his grocery shopping, he said the biggest impact of the store's closure would be on pedestrians.

“I've got a couple down the street from me,” he said, “ who moved in within the last year, and they sold their car, so they've been using the Star Market.”

And of course there is the elderly population.

Theresa Pero said she has made a number of friends while shopping at the Star Market and the Rite Aid also on that property.

“There's a lot of elderly apartments there,” she said of the neighborhood. “This one girl who's about 60, she walks with a cane, and she just said she doesn't have family.”

Theresa Pero said she's one of the fortunate ones -- her son lives just upstairs, and he and his children have always been willing to take her grocery shopping or to pick her up if she's purchased more items than she can carry. Still, she has enjoyed the freedom of walking to the store herself and socializing.

“I'm just so anxious to see what goes in there,” she said. “A lot of other people say they'd love another market. We certainly don't want condos there, but we'll see.”

Comments

[steve]

we need a fast food place - SORRY.... I KNOW
NOBODY LIKES THE IDEA.... BUT LOOKIT - nobody
here is rich - we got the projects up the street - senior housing - the dollar menu will
sound good to a lot of people, -

were gonna hear the political back and forth piss and moan PARKING, CRIME, BLAH BLAH - plenty
of parking space and police can crack down on tresspassing - oooohhh lookit the twin city mcds

theyll use this as a lynchpin no to do this -
KFC JUST ISINT ENOUGH FOLKS W/O A CAR CANT MAKE IT TO BK ON MYSTIC AVE!!! AFTER 10 WHADDYA GOT - NOTHIN - kfc THATS IT! - primos closes at 10 - no place to siddown in leones - took my gf to khourys for dinner one night - never again - caseys too crowded - some folks just dont want to EAT IN A BARROOM with LOUD DRUNKS! who can afford the mt vernon? and 99 is great if you can find it!!! dont know what the person was on to pick that location...

shit it took 6-7 yrs to get stop and shop - wasant it worth it? market basket is good
too but tired of getting my ankles rammed by
shopping carts!!!

make us happy - wendy's bk or even mcds will do -
OPEN TIL MIDNITE!?!? OR 2AM!!!! - AND DONT TAKE 10 YEARS TO DO IT!

[joed]

A Trader Joe's would be pretty popular. I know that a lot of people that go to the Trader Joe's in Cambridge actually live in Somerville, even East Somerville, like myself. It's not expensive, and it works as a market for most grocery items. The Rite Aid would fill in the blank for toiletries and pharmacy, etc.

However, Trader Joe's is a privately held company, not a franchise, so it's up to them to decide where to expand to. And it's likely to make a decent amount of extra traffic on Broadway, but probably worth it.

If anyone agrees with me, they can contact Trader Joe's and suggest Somerville as a future store location. Mentioning the empty Star Market might not hurt either:

Click for Trader Joe's location request thing

[Imux]

Morons. There are grocery delivery services. Use those. They are not expensive at all. And they bring the stuff to your place. What's wrong with people?

[Imux]

Morons. There are grocery delivery services. Use those. They are not expensive at all. And they bring the stuff to your place. What's wrong with people?

Posted by: Imux | January 26, 2008 at 08:39 PM

Same asshat pretending to be me, though I have to be honest that I pretty much agree with everything he has posted. I guess he is just saving me some time. Much appreciated.

[steve]

trader joes is good if you like health food. my gf likes that stuff. why not a whole foods?

as far as delivery goes, who??? the only one i
know of is/was johnnies on beacon st - i worked there. if they still have the service....

other than that all i know of is peapod - stop and shop - a good amount of the stuff 1/4 you dont see on the website - and things like meat orders or deli items you cant get exact. and its not cheap.

good in a storm or for the disabled but thats it.
the fee isint cheap either. snd you need a credit or debit card. not EVERYONE has one.

home runs was great and the warehouse on inner belt before the old jordan marsh warehouse on grove st. in newton.

but they shut down. why?

[Ron Newman]

Whole Foods is very expensive. Not sure that's a good fit with this neighborhood. But it would still be better than no store at all.

[Sandra Houle]

Hi, my mother gave me an article from 1827 from the somerville journal about the old edward everett house on broadway and main street, my grandfather was born and raised there how do i find more information about it?

[it *is* funny]

I liked the article in the print edition of the paper and it reminded me of a conversation I had with Walter Pero when the new Stop and Shop went in. I was expressing my "good riddance" feeling about the shabby expensive dirty Star Market and its inevitable closing, and he was explaining how it's a godsend for seniors needing to walk to the market. I think a Market Basket could make a killing there, as could a Johnny's Foodmaster. Trader Joe's is still too niche (I need to shop at a "regular" supermarket in addition to weekly TJ runs) and Whole Foods is waaaay too expensive. I hope that the Mayor's sit-down with the former occupants will yield any results at all.

[Ron Newman]

Sandra - I suggest calling Brandon Wilson or Kristi Chase at the Somerville Historic Preservation Commission at City Hall, 617-625-6600 x2500.

(Are you sure about that 1827 date? There was no town of Somerville, and therefore no Somerville Journal, back then. This was still a rural part of Charlestown.)

[steve]

star was too small, compared to todays superstore" design. look at stop and shop = pharmacy, bank, and dunkin's - under one roof!

star was old, shabby, out of date with its orig.
1967 design (when the place opened - and a brighams... well! and the rite aid was the dept.
store turn-style. the kid who brought in carts
worked there for years. i hope they have the decency to transfer him to another store ,pref. twin city.

they knew they were finished when s&s opened!
market basket needs bigger space - we couldnt handle the traffic. johnnies is small and expensive.

fast food with drive up service like a wendys
i say! wanted to put one where the clinic is and they shot it down. now we have the space and we can have dinner on the cheap - late! winter hill
and e.somerville folks arent rich - the dollar menu would look pretty good!

we dont have much fast food at all here - mcdonalds twin city and davis - thats it.

[ck]

$9.95 a pop for groceries delivered (that's what Peapod charges) is pretty expensive for people who make less than that an hour...

[kate]

it is funny - I, also, would love a Market Basket or Johnnie's, but I'm not holding my breath.

If they decide on a fast-food retaurant(s), I'd vote for Boston Market. I know many don't consider BM the classic fast-food place, but the food is very good and much healthier than the burger joints. I realize that we had one where the pancake house is currently located. However, I thought they closed that one, among many others, after BM realized they had opened way too many stores. Now, it couldn't have been one of there busiest stores, either, but I alwasy waited in line, when I went there. Could it be time to bring BM back? Also, a Wendy's, if there is enough space for both?

Steve - the few Star employees I spoke with had all been reassigned to either the McGrath or Medford stores. So, I'm hoping he went to one of those. Personally, although I love the Super Supermarkets, I also love the outdated, smaller supermarkets. I hated losing that Stop & Shop that was on Memorial Drive in Cambridge, and I frequently go to the Star on Beacon St., Somerville. I do see your point, however.

Ron - I agree that Whole Foods is better than nothing. I used to buy the sale items at the Winter Hill Star, and also for many it was so convenient to get off the bus and pick up bread, milk, etc., on the way home.

[Ron Newman]

I think a fast-food restaurant would be a big step downward in the usefulness of that property, not to mention tax revenue. And a national chain here would compete with many nearby locally-owned restaurants and sub shops.

[Real Food]

We need real food, not fast food. Fast food is no substitute for a supermarket. Replacing a grocery store with a fast food joint is the beginning of the end for a neighborhood. What's next? A million liquor stores and check cashing place and pawn shops.

Trader Joe's would be great, but a Market Basket would be the best! Market Basket sells real food for real people at the lowest prices.

[Tricky]

A new Market Basket here would virtually eliminate any chance of the Stop & Shop raising their prices with their competition gone. But I'm having a hard time imagining *any* "regular" supermarket moving into that spot, what with a larger Stop & Shop less than half a mile away. Plus they'd only be a mile from their other store on Somerville Avenue.

Any chance Trader Joe's could run a larger version of one of their stores, with a few added products here and there? It's wildly inexpensive food, but there's not a wide selection of anything? I think they'd generate a fine amount of business, given that their nearest stores are in Arlington Heights and Cambridgeport - the trouble is, aren't they looking for spaces the size of Rite Aid?

Whole Foods is not a good fit for that area, I agree.

[Ron Newman]

Perhaps the space could be subdivided, with Trader Joe's taking part of it and some other retailer the remainder? In any event, I filled out the Trader Joe's Location Request form and also publicized the form on LiveJournal.

[Lori]

Would love to see another supermarket replace it. Perhaps Roche Brothers? Their stores are very clean, well stocked, have an excellent enviromental record, encourage recycling and they hire their employees from the immediate neighborhood first.

[steve]

for all we know - we may end up with office space or condos - or just a fenced off ugly store and parking lot - the rite aid is just as old and the liquor store isint pretty either -

they may just rip them all down and leave one big ugly fenced off lot!!!!

make wh look even worse... what do we have anyway? dunkin's - walgreens mall w/a bickfords that closes when- 3pm - 4? whyd that happen?
they did pretty good - oh yes the new citibank -lest i forget - a BIG influx of those lately-
primos - which has seen better days - good food tho - leones - subs - you cant even sitdown and mama ginas. thats all we have. and the keno junkies at wh variety. the 350 mart. ya know that was breifly a 7-11? was eating at bickfords one day and saw them change the sign. oh and foss park.

[Kate]

My brother and his wife have been raving about Roche brothers for years.

[Ron's smart brother]

The problem is no grocery store will go near that spot as there is a mega-super Stop & Shop a few blocks away. Location is everything and Stop & Shop locked up that area. The attitude is tough luck if you have to walk a few blocks more now to get your groceries.

They should just toss a strip joint in there and at least make some of us happy. They could easily recruit from the neighborhood... except will anyone speak english? We'd have to bring pesos in to tip.

[Ron Newman]

Trader Joe doesn't directly compete with traditional grocers, though. Much of what they sell is their own private brand. In the Back Bay, a Trader Joe's and a huge Shaw's sit a few blocks from each other.

[joed]

Yeah the empty Star Market is a larger building than any Trader Joe's I've ever seen. Possibly it could be divided up. In California and Nevada they end up in strip malls sometimes.

I'm hoping for a Trader Joe's in that location for pure self interest of course, since it's blocks away from me. But I also think it would be widely used by all of Somerville, not just Winter Hill, but Charlestown, Medford, and Boston -- since it's right off of 93.

And I agree that the Stop & Shop wouldn't affect a Trader Joe's, since they have a lot of their own food, not what the other grocery stores sell. And if you shop at Trader Joe's, you usually have to go to some other store to get everything you need. So they compliment each other more than anything else.

Steve is right, there aren't too many places to eat near Winter Hill -- mostly Leone's and some pizza places. But a fast food place doesn't excite me very much. Leave that for the suburbs. I'd much prefer locally owned restaurants. Neither are practical unless they divide up the Star Market building into a strip mall (although it doesn't seem the right shape for that) or tear it down and build a new strip mall / buildings.

[John]

your not going to get any supermarkets there somerville already has too many thats why STAR closed it was not profitable i do not think another supermarket will take the chance of the same location it will most likely be a office/condo development with small storefronts

[Whole Foods]

The crunchy granolas would trip over themselves if a Whole Foods moved into there. A little too pricey for regular Somerville residents but not for the, ride your bike, walk to work, cars are evil crowd.

[Gwendolynne]

I think it's been aptly stated that the _only_ delivery service in town - which is Stop n' Shop's PeaPod service - is nearly ten bucks a shot; and the outfit only delivers grocercies if you've purchased 50 bucks or more. That's a stretch for cost-conscious consumers. (There are online coupon offers, too, from time to time, but not everybody has a computer nor internet access within their reach, to order the groceries, much less download and print coupons to offset the burden of the delivery costs). On The other hand,Stop N' Shop's "in-store" new savings system is cheaper...all you have to do is just use your foot power and your personal push cart to do the shopping, no pollution necessary. Of course, if you're unable to get to Stop N' Shop without assistance and you can't access that assistance when you need it, excuse my french, but you're screwed....in every way, as far as shopping is concerned.

It's my two-cents-worth that a Trader Joe's would add a little "spice" to the rest of this side of Somerville that still has culture and character. I think people are inclined to go to Market Basket, for the cheapest of the cheap they can't get at Stop N' Shop, but I believe that shoppers won't be put off with shopping at TJ's, if they fancy something that one can't get a Stop N' Shop. I think it'd be fun and worth a go.

I also found what another poster said quite compelling: I've only been in and out of Somerville since 1990 to the present, and I never knew a Brighmas was in that lot. If anyone has photos and cares to put it all on photobucket or something, let me know - I'd like to see them.

[Gwendolynne]

RE: Fast Food Replacement?

NO.

As far as cheaper food is concerned, I live nearby and just because I live nearby, doesn't mean I can't put together a healthy and gourmet Ratatouille dish under five bucks, 'cause I can.

[Suggestion]

Here's a suggestion. Why not build a new main police station at that location? It's on Broadway, convenient to access of McGrath, I-93, East Somerville, the Projects and really not that hard to get to Union Square or anywhere else in the city. It's only across the street and a little ways up Winter Hill from the main fire station. Then we could use the large piece of property in Union Square for for profit developers who could pay to clean up any potential problems as have been aledged there. I think there should be a commitee appointed to study this. The property is available and the realty market is kind of weak right now.

[Lori]

In an earlier post I suggested a Roche Brothers in the former Star Market, Broadway location, and stand by my suggestion.

They need a supermarket for the elderly in the area. Alot of elderly do their own shopping, or "computer or delivery friendly" Roche Brothers has a superb reputation. They're cleaner than your average supermarket, have an excellent environmental reputation (including 5 cents back everytime you reuse a sack, they've done that for years), they're community oriented, they hire from the local community first, and they deliver.

I think Somerville would be best served by a company that is involved in the community.