Star Market
Opened: ca. 2015
From yesterday's Roche Brothers, we're moving across West Roxbury -- about three-quarters of a mile -- to the Star Market, the other big supermarket in the neighborhood. This store has the look of a 90s-build American Stores location -- see a 90s ACME like this -- and it's true that American Stores was responsible for the store's current appearance. But it actually predates American Stores' ownership of Star Market, having opened in the 1970s as a Star Market, then receiving a major remodel between 1995 and 2001. It looks like the store expanded into a neighboring storefront, increasing its size from its original 28,000 square feet to its present 55,000 square feet. Around 2000, the store was converted to Shaw's, then back to Star Market around 2015. At the same time, it underwent a very light remodel to the standard Star Market decor package. About three years later, it was remodeled again, this time more extensively with new fixtures and flooring, and that probably coincided with Roche Brothers' remodel.
It's immediately next door to a private high school's sports fields, and a mural of athletes covers the wall facing the school -- a very nice touch.
If the Roche Brothers is the gourmet choice in this neighborhood, Star Market is the everyday choice. It's a very standard supermarket, but appears well-run and has a lot to offer.
The layout is similar to the 90s ACME stores I referenced above, with a few modifications. The grand aisle is on the right side of the store, with produce in the usual place in the front-right corner. But deli and bakery are switched from where I'd expect to see them in stores of this era. Deli lines the right-side wall along with prepared foods, with bakery and cheese on the back wall. I'd expect the reverse, like we saw in Quincy. Service meat and seafood are up next on the back wall, with packaged meats lining the rest of the back wall. Frozen and dairy are on the left side, with pharmacy and HABA -- here called "lifestyle" -- in the front-left corner. There's a customer service counter, cafe, and Starbucks on the front-end, too.
While the store of course isn't as beautiful as Roche Brothers is, every Star Market I saw in Boston was well-stocked, clean, and pretty recently-renovated. Some are extremely nice, others are just fine, but they all seem extremely well-run. The majority of Shaw's stores I visit in the suburbs are generally well-run too, but I think the Star Markets are a bit tighter-run.
It probably also helps that they all tend to be rather high-volume stores, with a couple exceptions, so the perimeter is generally quite good at Star Market.
Here's an overview of the grand aisle. Prepared foods are on the right-side wall with more in the middle, although I don't know if any of that has changed since the coronavirus.
You can also see that Star Market uses slightly more upscale offerings and display cases than some of the other Albertsons Companies stores, such as these rectangular glass display cases -- which look almost invisible -- rather than the usual ones. That's at one of the Shaw's in Brockton.
Shaw's also sells Dietz & Watson cold cuts, while Star Market sells Boar's Head. As I mentioned, this store received a light renovation (just cosmetic) when it switched from Shaw's to Star Market, but shortly thereafter got more extensive work. Here you can see a look at the store before the most recent renovation.
The cheese and bakery departments are at the back of the grand aisle.
Shaw's stores also typically don't have the cheese departments like this, although some have quite large cheese selections.
I don't know if it's still there, but there was a bulk foods department at the back of the grand aisle, too. Again, something not found in Shaw's.
The substantial meat and seafood counter was added in the ca. 2018 remodel. Previously, I don't know whether there was a seafood counter, but there was only a meat window. The window is actually still there, it looks like, and you can see it below. It also looks like the somewhat off-center department sign here is actually a result of the fact that the "& Fresh Seafood" was simply added to the wall, next to the existing "Butcher Block" sign.
The grocery aisles are very straightforward, with nothing much to remark on.
But you can see they're exceptionally clean and very well-stocked.
This area was reworked in the ca. 2018 remodel because it looks like the pharmacy actually was previously in the middle of the aisles here. It was moved to the front wall.
Dairy in the back-left corner...
The rest of the dairy department lines the last aisle in what look like practically brand-new cases.
HABA and the new pharmacy are in the front corner.
And frozen foods are next to that, I believe in the last few grocery aisles.
Again, these cases look very new and probably were installed in the ca. 2018 remodel.
Here's an overview of the last few aisles, and you can see the pharmacy on the left.
Floral and the front-end, with the Starbucks and cafe area on the far left side.
This bank of express registers, similar to what ACME was installing around 2016-17, is likely gone and replaced with self-checkouts by now.
The Starbucks actually faces the front wall, not into the supermarket, with the seating area opposite.
Once again, I don't know if the seating area survived the coronavirus -- most Albertsons Companies in-store cafes I'm familiar with didn't -- but it was going strong in 2019.
Opened: ca. 2015
Owner: Albertsons Companies
Previous Tenants: Star Market (1970s-ca. 2000) > Shaw's (ca. 2000-ca. 2015)
Cooperative: none
Location: 75 Spring St, West Roxbury, MA
Photographed: July 4, 2019
That's it as far as supermarkets in West Roxbury go, but there's one more spot we have to check out before we leave the area. Come back Monday to see it, and this weekend come back for a few newsworthy stores in New York and New Jersey!
P.S. I have a new policy on AI, just in case you'd like to read more about it. Bottom line: everything here on the blog, I've written myself. But there are a few very specific situations that I use generative AI for. I always want to be clear about what I'm doing and how I'm doing it!
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