Star Market
Opened: 1953
Welcome to the Mount Auburn Star Market! This is one of two Star Markets in Cambridge, and Somerville also has two locations. Although the store looks fairly new, it dates back to 1953. The store is irregularly-shaped, in part due to the former rail line that runs diagonally behind it (now a rail trail). The building hasn't been expanded, but the store's present 58,000 square feet would be awfully large for a 1950s supermarket, so it's possible at some point Star Market expanded into a neighboring storefront. And although we've got several different levels here, there's no elaborate parcel pickup system as the store is entirely at ground level where the entrance and exit doors are. But the parking lot is sloped down, meaning that the other small storefronts in this strip mall are actually below the supermarket, not next to it.
You enter out here by the street, but the grand aisle is actually on the opposite side of the store (on the right side). The registers line this front wall facing the parking lot, with dairy/frozen and pharmacy on the left side by the street.
Unlike many of the Star Markets in the Boston area, this one never became a Shaw's, or if it did it would've had to be very briefly and very early, converting to and back from Shaw's between 2000 and 2007. In fact, going back on Google Street Views shows a Premium Fresh & Healthy white and green Star Market, a real rarity (although some other stores were also not converted).
Produce and floral are in the front-right corner, with the rest of the grand aisle behind that. Prepared foods and deli line the right-side wall on the outside of the grand aisle with bakery in an island facing. Cheese and meat/seafood counters are at the back. The first few aisles are a liquor store, with the remainder of the aisles divided in half front-to-back. Frozen foods are in the middle of the store, with dairy and meats on the back wall. Additional dairy is in one of the aisles in the back-left, with the last few aisles being HABA and nonfoods. Pharmacy is in the front-left corner.
This store has been nicely renovated with the standard Star Market decor package, but it's also very obviously an older building that's been fixed up over the years.
One notable difference between Shaw's and Star Market, although there are not that many these days: Shaw's sells Dietz & Watson deli meats, and Star Market sells Boar's Head. To the south, ACME traditionally sold Dietz & Watson, but some added Boar's Head since the acquired A&P stores sold Boar's Head. Then again, a handful of acquired A&P stores are now selling Dietz & Watson. I don't honestly know what makes the decision.
Bakery in an island here definitely is a somewhat unusual layout, and it makes me think perhaps this layout dates back to the days before American Stores Company owned Star Market (American Stores being ACME, as stores built or expanded in the American Stores days used ACME layouts).
Cheese and meat/seafood at the back of the grand aisle. Star Markets typically have expanded cheese departments compared to Shaw's, but some Shaw's also have large cheese departments.
Meat/seafood now consolidated down to one counter at the back of the grand aisle.
Packaged meats and dairy (in the distance) on the back wall of the store, which is slanted slightly because of the former railroad.
The first few grocery aisles are a very attractive liquor store. I particularly like the shelving and flooring here.
It looks like this store was most recently remodeled around 2017, so it would've been not that long before I visited. Obviously, it's been kept up rather well.
A look across the middle dividing aisle from the frozen aisles in the middle of the store...
Of note is the fact that the original Star Market was also on Mount Auburn Street, although it was in neighboring Watertown at 28 Mount Auburn. That's a good two miles west, so I assume this store didn't replace that location (although there's no longer a Star Market in Watertown), but it's right in the same area.
An unfortunate picture of the Creamery in the back-left corner...
Dairy lines the outside of the store in this corner, which is actually out by the street but is the back of the store since it's oriented to face the parking lot rather than the street.
Dairy is also in the back half of one of the grocery aisles.
Looking back across the back wall. You can tell the store's age from the low ceiling and the beams, but it still looks good. You certainly wouldn't know this has been continuously operating as a Star Market for 70+ years by visiting.
The rest of dairy and beverages in the back part of the last aisle, and HABA is in the front half.
You can definitely tell something else used to be going on in parts of the store. I wonder if perhaps originally it was oriented to face the street, so this area would've been the front-end. I don't know why the ceiling would've been designed like this, though!
A look across the middle of the store back towards the grand aisle...
And a pharmacy in the front-left corner, near the entrance.
This store and the Newtonville location are roughly equidistant to the original Star Market in Watertown, but today Star Market stores are run by the Shaw's office in West Bridgewater.
Owner: Albertsons Companies
Previous Tenants: industrial
Cooperative: none
Location: 699 Mt Auburn St, Cambridge, MA
Photographed: July 27, 2019
We're all the way on the western edge of Cambridge here, just below Fresh Pond. Tomorrow we're headed up towards Fresh Pond to see a now-closed independent grocer in that area!
Perhaps if that area WAS the front end way back, Star had some kind of fancy decor (think Grand Union's ceiling over the checkouts) as well?
ReplyDeleteOn the deli stuff, Boar's Head themselves has certain rules that stores must follow if they are going to carry their items. I know for a time Price Chopper was carrying them, but not in all locations, so that is likely the same thinking, that they don't have enough interest in some areas to do the extra work that Boars Head would require.