Star Market
Opened: ca. 2008
Happy Wednesday, and now we're down to the last two stores of Boston! Today's tour is the Star Market on Western Avenue in Brighton, a spacious store of around 60,000 square feet. It was built as a Star Market in 1997, but as with most of the Boston Star Markets, it briefly became a Shaw's from the early 00s to around 2008 -- making it one of the earlier conversions back to Star Market. It's going on 30 years old but still feels relatively new, as it's been renovated several times in its life.
The store likely got a renovation during its time as a Shaw's to the Premium Fresh & Healthy decor package -- there are some curved overhangs that seem to resemble that deocr package -- and was renovated to the current decor package when it switched back to Star Market. It looks like there have been a few incremental changes over the years, too, with some new fixtures going into the grand aisle shortly before I visited in 2019.
The store is similar to (but roughly a mirror image of) the Dorchester Star Market. Here, the grand aisle is on the right side, with a Starbucks to the left of the entrance and produce in the front-right corner. Deli and prepared foods are in an island facing produce, with bakery in the back-right corner and meat/seafood on the back wall. Frozen foods are on the left side, with dairy in the back-left corner and pharmacy/HABA in the front-left corner.
You can see the rounded overhang here that presumably previously looked like this. (That's Paoli, PA's ACME.)
Each service department is the same way. But I don't know what decor package it would've opened with as a Star Market in 1997. Since basically none of the Star Markets made it past the early 00s, that decor package is all but gone now.
Like Allston's Star Market, the bakery here is kosher.
A combined seafood and meat counter is up next on the back wall.
Today, this store most directly competes with the new Allston Yards Stop & Shop, which is all of four blocks south on Everett Street. I was wondering if they'd be renovating this store in response to the Stop & Shop's opening, but as of my latest visit last summer, it still had this decor package -- but it didn't really look outdated. Since the new Stop & Shop isn't yet available on Placer.ai, I don't have a real frame of reference as to how much traffic each store gets.
The grocery aisles are then behind the deli island. The half-wall you can see above is the back of the deli island.
A moment to point out that this was Halloween candy in the store's seasonal department, and these pictures are from July. Sigh.
Another PF&H-era rounded overhang in the meat department. It looks like a lot of the refrigeration is probably original to the store. The store, quite simply, isn't that old, but some of the fixtures may need to be replaced the next time it's redone.
Cold cuts and milk in the back-left corner.
HABA and pharmacy are in the front-left corner. On the left side of the store, the aisles are divided, with shorter aisles for HABA in the front and dairy/frozen in the back.
Looking back towards the grand aisle...
Interesting that the milk signage here is Fresh Dairy when I'd expect to see Creamery.
Frozen foods in the last few aisles. I wouldn't be surprised if these freezers were original to the store, and while they seem to be in pretty good shape, they'll probably need to be replaced fairly soon. You can see, though, that maintenance at this store is first-rate.
Dairy on the left side of the store, continuing down the last aisle.
And a look across the front-end. I love the high ceilings and arched windows here, which let in a lot of light.
You can see that there's another room beyond the front-end, which is home to the managers' offices, customer service, and a liquor store that's an outside business.
Opened: ca. 2008
Owner: Albertsons Companies
Previous Tenants: Star Market (1997-early 00s) > Shaw's (early 00s-ca. 2008)
Cooperative: none
Location: 370 Western Ave, Brighton, MA
Photographed: July 27, 2019
And that's all for this Star Market! Tomorrow is the final supermarket in Boston, so be sure to come back and check it out!
Beautiful store! It does seem really dead though. Were you there at an off-time? The nearby Stop & Shop is a mystery to me. Why build a new store up on a second floor when you had a store on ground level? I just can't imagine choosing the hassle of the new Stop & Shop over pulling into a good old fashioned parking lot like this place has. And while S&S's new decor is light years better than anything they've done previously, I still prefer the color and lighting of the Star Market. I've tried to embrace S&S more later but their product mix is about as bland as it gets. Produce is still a staggering weakness and bakery prices are nuts considering nothing is made in-store anymore.
ReplyDeleteSaturday morning... not exactly an off-time but then again I don't know when the busy times are for shoppers in this neighborhood. Placer.ai doesn't have data for the new Stop & Shop, but it says this Star Market is getting ~54,000 visits/month -- nothing to write home about volume-wise, but perfectly adequate for a store of this size in this location.
DeleteI've heard a few people with similar thoughts about the parking situation at the S&S, but I think there are still enough people in this neighborhood who aren't driving and are walking or on public transit that the parking situation isn't a dealbreaker. But there are still plenty of negative reviews online that mention parking hassles.