Shaw's and Star Market

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Shaw's and Star Market

Independent (1860–1987) J Sainsbury (1987–2004) Albertsons (2004–present)
Website	shaws.com starmarket.com

Shaw's and Star Market are two American supermarket chains under united management based in

in 1999.

Shaw's and Star Market are wholly owned subsidiaries of the Boise, Idaho–based Albertsons. The combined chain has the largest base of stores that operate in New England, but is the third-largest New England–based grocer behind Quincy, Massachusetts-based Stop & Shop and Scarborough, Maine-based Hannaford; Hannaford operates stores in upstate New York, while Stop & Shop's operations extend through downstate New York and into New Jersey; only Shaw's does business solely in New England.

As of July 5, 2013, Shaw's and Star Market no longer use loyalty cards at their stores, as a way to compete with other local stores that do not have them.^[3] However, like most of Albertsons' chains, Shaw's and Star Market participate in the just for U rewards program, which does not use a physical card.

History

Beginning

In 1860, George C. Shaw opened a small teashop in Portland, Maine. Meanwhile, Maynard A. Davis established a group of small downtown grocery stores in Brockton and New Bedford, Massachusetts, called the Brockton Public Market (BPM) food retailers. In 1919, Davis purchased the George C. Shaw Company and made it a subsidiary of BPM.

Expansion

As George C. Shaw and BPM continued to grow, it was decided that a central warehouse would be needed for the two companies. In 1961, a warehouse in Brockton was purchased.

By 1965, George C. Shaw had begun to expand northward, into New Hampshire. This expansion, combined with BPM's growth in southern Massachusetts, moved the companies to build a distribution center in 1972 in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts. In the 1980s, a warehouse was built in Wells, Maine, and in January 1991, Shaw's opened a distribution facility for perishable food items in Methuen, Massachusetts.

In 1978, BPM stores in Massachusetts became Shaw's Supermarkets, Inc. to maximize advertising. It was the first step towards merging the two companies.

In November 1983,

, then the UK's largest supermarket group, purchased 21% of Shaw's outstanding stock. In June 1987, Sainsbury's acquired controlling interest.

Acquisitions

J Sainsbury plc acquired stores from four New England food retailers: Iandoli's (1987), Cerretani's (1993), Star Market (1999) and Butson's (2003).

In 1995, Shaw's entered Connecticut, opening five stores. The next year, Sainsbury purchased 12 former Edwards supermarkets and two future sites from Royal Ahold.

In 1999, Shaw's made its largest acquisition by acquiring the

in 1984 and Jewel had acquired Star Market in 1964. The acquisition strengthened Shaw's position as the second-largest supermarket company in New England. Like Shaw's, the Star Market Company had humble beginnings, and many "firsts" in the supermarket industry. Star was the first New England supermarket to have air-conditioned stores, the touch method of ringing registers, in-store check verification, refrigerated cooked foods, self-service wrapped meats, and packaged produce.

Distribution center closings

In November 1999,

, at the time.

Albertsons and SuperValu

In 2004,

] however, Shaw's footprint has been reduced except in Vermont, and has pulled out of Connecticut altogether.

The first round of closings was announced in late August 2006, when Shaw's announced it would be closing six in October. These stores were in New Britain, Southington, and Bridgeport, Connecticut; and in Worcester and New Bedford, Massachusetts.^[6][7][8] In September 2007, Shaw's closed its stores in Providence and Pawtucket, Rhode Island; and Waterbury, Connecticut, because of poor sales. The closings left Shaw's with 204 stores. A total of 224 workers were laid off or transferred.

On July 25, 2009, Shaw's closed its

In addition to the store closures, in late March 2010, Shaw's eliminated about 4% of its full-time workforce, which amounted to nearly 650 jobs spread out over the about 120 non-union stores.

A recent round of closings was in early 2011; on January 5, Shaw's announced that three Massachusetts and two Rhode Island stores that were unprofitable would close by February 17.[12] After the closures, Shaw's was left with 169 stores.^{[citation needed]}

In November 2012, Shaw's and its then-parent company, SuperValu, announced that Shaw's would lay off 700 employees in an effort to re-group and end financial losses. It also disclosed it had been looking for a buyer.^[13]

In January 2013, Cerberus Capital Management announced a deal to acquire 877 stores in the Albertsons, ACME, Jewel-Osco, and Shaw's and Star Market chains from SuperValu for $100 million and acquisition of $3.2 billion on SuperValu debt.^[14] The deal closed on March 21, 2013.

Store count

According to their website, as of January 2018, Shaw's and Star Market operated a total of 154 locations: 79 in Massachusetts (21 as Star Market), 8 in Rhode Island, 19 in Vermont, 27 in New Hampshire, and 21 in Maine.^[15] This is compared to January 2010, and shortly before the Connecticut stores were sold, Shaws operated 194 stores: 12 in Rhode Island, 18 in Connecticut, 19 in Vermont, 22 in Maine, 34 in New Hampshire, and 89 in Massachusetts (including 12 operating as Star Market at the time).^[16]

Shaw's store footprint extends (south to north) from the village of

).

Amidst the closings, SuperValu remodeled and updated many Shaw's stores, which has continued under Albertsons ownership. In late 2010, SuperValu introduced a newly redesigned website for Shaw's; the website design is shared with sister store Jewel-Osco. Shaw's also, during that time, increased their marketing efforts, partnering with the New England Patriots and the Boston Red Sox Radio Network as their "official supermarket", airing advertisements frequently on New England radio stations, and maintaining a Facebook page with more than 93,000 fans.

In December 2013, plans were announced for a new Star Market store in the city of Boston at the site of the Boston Garden redevelopment.^[17] The store opened on September 20, 2019.^[18] In July 2017, Shaw's announced the opening of a new store in Hudson, Massachusetts, replacing a former Hannaford.^[19] The Hudson store is the first new Shaw's store to open in nearly a decade, and marks its first expansion under Albertsons ownership.

Also under Albertsons recent ownership, several Shaw's stores in the immediate Boston area were remodeled and re-opened as Star Markets, with the idea of increasing the number of locations of that brand to a possible 30 over the next few years. As of March 2014, four stores had made the switch,^[20] which brought the total number of Star Market stores to 18. As of January 2018, there were 21 Star Market stores.^[21]

Osco Drug

Before it was acquired by Shaw's, Star Market Company had been part of

group. When American Stores sold Star Markets in 1994 to Investcorp, the Osco connection was ended, or so it seemed.

When Albertsons bought Sainsbury's American supermarket assets in 2004, including Star Markets, Star and Osco were reunited under one corporate umbrella. By 2005, the signs on the front of all of Albertsons-owned grocery stores with in-store pharmacies were changed, adding either "Osco" or "Sav-On" to the stores' logos, to emphasize the one-stop shopping available inside. The drug store name chosen reflected which of Albertsons' drug chains operated in the specific marketing area. Because New England had previously been an Osco market area, the Shaws and Star Market stores with pharmacies were renamed "Shaws-Osco" and "Star-Osco". As of January 2018, Osco Pharmacy has 55 locations within Shaws and Star Market stores.

Brands

Shaw's and Star Market has gradually acquired brands, including:[22]

• Osco Drug
• Equaline
• Chill
• Wild Harvest
• "O" Organic
• Open Nature
• Shoppers Value
• Home Life
• Market Fresh
• Signature Select (acquired with Safeway; formerly known as Safeway Select under Safeway ownership. Replaced Culinary Circle.)
• Signature Home (acquired with Safeway; formerly known as Safeway Home under Safeway ownership.)
• The Snack Artist

SuperValu announced in May 2011, that its national brand equivalent products (including Shaw's) would be renamed "Essential Everyday" in line with its plans to phase out own-brand products carrying the names of its banners nationwide.^[23] Some of these private label products are now produced by Richelieu Foods.^[24]

References

External links

• Shaws.com official website
• StarMarket.com official website