- Duddie Diamond on Park Ave--- we have mentioned this many times on this blog but it is red hot right now.
- Here is the new one--- old Spags in Shrewsbury
They nail down these three locations, they own Worcester. They could theoretically knock out Shaws, Stoppy, Price Chopper and Big Y. Stay tuned, but what does this silly blogger know?
13 comments:
Just a rumor... all Shaw's in Worcester County will be closed and relabeled as Star Markets...not all stores will reopen though... just a rumor.
Harry T
Worcester,MA
PS
...and yes, this does have to do with the strike, labor relations...
Have not heard that one harry, but it makes sense. Of all the grocery store chains, Shaw's is the weakest and not looking to fight right now. Looking to get out.
Hearing the Webster Square Shaws is a ghost town right now.
The Market Basket in Oxford is wonderful. I used to save my shopping until I'd be in the Fitchburg/Leominster area so that I could shop at MB & Hannaford. Both of those chains are far better than any of the Worcester ones -- and NO "LOYALTY CARDS"!
I wrote to Hannaford about 10 years ago and *begged* them to put a store in Worcester to compete with the rip-off chains here. They declined. MB is nearly as good, so I hope they'll take up the challenge. PC, S&S, BY & Shaw's all need to go down in flames.
We went to the Market Basket in Ashland a few times when we lived in Framingham. It struck me as dirty and sketchy every time.
I'm eagerly awaiting the Wegmans that's going into Northborough.
Growing up in southern NH, close to the MA border, I am familiar with both Market Basket and Hannafords, both wonderful supermarkets/grocery stores. I would be thrilled if one, or both, ventured into Worcester.
I thought Shaws store workers voted in a unoin a few years ago and then de-certified the union? Or maybe it never got in there in the first place?
Isnt the union beef only at the warehouse level up in the Lowell/495 area somewhere? If the union stands firm look for Shaws to relocate the facility just like C&S grocers in Worc and New England grocers in Northboro did years ago. Local 170 basically drove C&S up to Brattleboro, Vermont.
Arent the trucks that deliver to Shaws store actually owned and operated by Clifford Perham Co out of Maine, a subsidiary of Shaws? I was led to believe that Perham is also non union.
I am also reasonably certain De Moulas and Hannaford are non union stores. Clearly Joe Obrien and Rick Rushton will only shop at the all union Stop & Shop......right???
I think Worc has had on average one new supermarket or new replacemnt market per year since the late 1990's. Just When does it reach the saturation point? Maybe when a brand new closed up supermarket facility is razed to make way for a freight yard?
Regardless bring on the competition....!!!!!!! If the restaurant business is hurting, part of the reason is that more people are opting to eat at home.
BTW what happened to Jerry Ellis's (Building 19) plans to make the Spags site over into a retail/residential mix including low income housing. That project almost came to fruition before things started tanking in late 2007. Maybe 100% private money cannot do low income housing w/o gubmint subsidies? Maybe the town told them to take their low income housing ambitions to Worcester? Maybe a supermarket there is the 1st step? Many geezers will roll in their graves the day the wrecking ball hovers over Spags. Frankly, I too will be saddened
it is very sad to go into Shaws at Webster Square, think they are losing out to Walmart in Leicester. Also, Shaws inherited the extemely middle class patrons of Iandolis and Hodes who have died or moved away
How do Hannaford's/Market Basket compare to Price Rite? I currently shop mostly at PR with stops at Shaw's for sale items or those PR doesn't stock.
I generally prefer to pay for quality over buying cheap crap, but with supermarkets I tend to have a hard time seeing differences in quality between PR and pricier stores on most goods. Mostly wider selection, I guess.
not sure but Price Rite on Southbridge Street getting killed by Walmart
As someone that lives in southern newhampshire and is a vendor in southern newhampshire and northern mass I can tell you that if market basket builds more stores in western mass which they intend to also (Connecticut)(maine) and northern newhampshire and southern mass they will absolutely bury all rivals(shaw's, stoppy walmart price chopper and any others. They're rule is slightly lower margin than all the rest of the chains but they make it up with serious volume the average store does about 300 to 500 thousand a week the average market basket does welll over a million with the top stores doing 3 to 4 mill a week. just know that if a market basket shows up in your neighborhood you can expect at least another 3 to 4 thousand dollars a year in your wallet
Rumor has it that Market Basket is considering locating at the former Big Y,at 50 Southwest Cutoff, that recently closed, Can anyone confirm officially? Would love to see that happen as it would put S&S, Price Chopper and Shaw's into heavy competitive mode. We could use asutomatice lower prices in lieu of gas points and loyalty cards. L
The Market Basket in Ashland was "sketchy" because it was the Manager who is now in Oxford, who could kindly be called a douche. Old folks love him, kids fear him, and his employees and most shoppers find him at least mildly annoying, especially with his incessant and inane babbling on the PA. He has allowed what was a great store at its opening to become a lot like its shelves that are mostly fronted with wrong items. they spent a lot on training employees who have left in droves, only to be replaced by kids who couldn't safely flip a burger. If all Market Baskets were this mismanaged, they wouldn't be overexpanding so rapidly.
Wow, starting at the end:Oxford is my favorite MB. I like the babbling manager. If only the kids learned to bag correctly & the deli learned to slice thin. Ashland is okay, but it is low volume & not stocked well at the end of the day. Star was never big in Worcester; there is an opportunity for Star to go upscale & compete w/Whole Food or the Big Y's, move Shaw's downmarket. MB is much better than PriceRite as it is a full-line supermarket; I've been dissapointed with PriceRite lately. MB, Walmart & PriceRite are similar prices, with MB having the better quality/selection. S&S will lower their prices & compete w/MB, shaw's will close rather than compete. MB needs competition, otherwise they don't put any money into their stores. Shaw's used the Star merger as leverage to get rid of their unions, while not allowing Shaw's union employees from divested stores to apply to non-union Star. I've been to one of their sister chains in Ohio and it was much nicer than Shaws.
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