Johnnie's Foodmaster

Last updated
Johnnie's Foodmaster
Private
Industry Retail grocery store
Founded East Cambridge, Massachusetts 1947
DefunctNovember 18, 2012 (2012-11-18)
Headquarters Chelsea, Massachusetts
Key people
John A. DeJesus, president
Website foodmasterinc.com
Foodmaster in Arlington, Massachusetts Johnnies Foodmaster Arlington.jpg
Foodmaster in Arlington, Massachusetts

Johnnie's Foodmaster, more commonly known as simply Foodmaster, was a chain of supermarkets in the Boston Metro Area. It had its headquarters in Chelsea, Massachusetts and all stores were located in the state. On November 18, 2012, all ten stores closed, with six leases being transferred to Austin, Texas based Whole Foods Market, and two to Quincy based Stop & Shop; the future of the remaining locations was unknown at the time of closure.

Contents

Operation

Foodmaster operated in a grocery marketplace that has a high degree of competition and many competitors, including Shaw's, Stop & Shop, and Market Basket among others. Foodmaster supermarkets were primarily located in shopping centers with other stores. It was unique in terms of its employee dress code. Cashiers and service and grocery clerks were required to wear a black apron, a white collared shirt, and a black bow tie. Also unique was its use of a conveyor belt/rollers for customers’ purchases in early years. Paper bags of groceries were loaded into Postal Service type baskets and sent through a front opening to customers’ cars with the help of employees.

History

John DeJesus Sr. opened his first store in East Cambridge, MA in 1947. [1] At the time of the chain's closure, it was controlled by his son, John DeJesus. [2]

The chain operated eleven stores simultaneously at its peak. A location in Swampscott, MA ran from 2000 until 2004, which was converted to a Whole Foods Market upon its closure. As competition in the region increased, Johnnie's experimented with ways to better cater to its clientele. [3] The Revere location was subsequently converted in 2010 to a Save-A-Lot, a discount supermarket brand under license from SuperValu. [4] Johnnie's management intended to review each of the other store's shoppers to determine if any other locations in the chain would be good candidates for conversion as well. [3] Citing the economy and competition from nearby Stop & Shop, PriceRite, and DeMoulas Market Basket locations, the Revere Save-A-Lot closed on February 12, 2012. [4]

Closure

The Melrose store during liquidation. MelroseFoodmaster.png
The Melrose store during liquidation.

In late August 2012, it was announced that Austin, Texas based Whole Foods Market was in the early stages of talks to acquire the leases of six of the 10 Johnnie's locations to expand its presence in the region. The fate of the remaining four locations was not disclosed at the time. [3] On October 26, 2012, Johnnie's announced that it had finalized its agreement to sell the leases for its Arlington, Brookline, Charlestown, Melrose, South Weymouth, and Beacon Street Somerville. [5] A week later, it was announced that the remaining stores in Medford, Lynn, Whitman, and Somerville (Alewife Brook Parkway) would be closing as well, with the Medford store becoming a Stop & Shop. [6] Hilco Merchant Resources, an Illinois-based company, was retained to conduct all liquidation sales. [7] The lease for the Alewife Brook Parkway store in Somerville was acquired by Stop & Shop in February 2013. [8]

Former locations

  1. Arlington 808 Massachusetts Avenue
  2. Brookline (Johnnie's Fresh Market) 1026-1028 Beacon Street
  3. Charlestown Bunker Hill Mall
  4. Lynn 50 Boston Street
  5. Medford 471 Salem Street
  6. Melrose 880 Main Street
  7. Revere 651 Squire Road
  8. Somerville (Alewife) 105 Alewife Brook Parkway
  9. Somerville (Beacon Street) 45 Beacon Street
  10. South Weymouth 35 Pleasant Street
  11. Swampscott 331 Paradise Road
  12. Whitman 688 Bedford Street
  13. West Medford - 491 High Street

Related Research Articles

Somerville, Massachusetts City in Massachusetts, United States

Somerville is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of 2019, the United States Census estimated the city to have a total population of 81,360 people. With an area of 4.11 square miles, the city has a density of 19,893 people per square mile, making it the most densely populated municipality in New England, and the 16th most densely populated incorporated municipality in the country. Somerville was established as a town in 1842, when it was separated from Charlestown. In 2006, the city was named the best-run city in Massachusetts by the Boston Globe. In 1972, in 2009, and again in 2015, the city received the All-America City Award. It is home to Tufts University, which has its campus along the Somerville and Medford border.

Wegmans Supermarket chain in the northeastern United States

Wegmans Food Markets, Inc., is a privately held American supermarket chain; it is headquartered in Gates, New York. As of November 2020, Wegmans has 104 stores in the mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions. The company has stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, Virginia and North Carolina, with planned expansions into Delaware and the District of Columbia. Founded in 1916 in Rochester, Wegmans has appeared on Fortune's annual "100 Best Companies to Work For" list since the list first appeared in 1998. In 2020, the company was ranked at number three on the Fortune List of the Top 100 Companies to Work For in 2020 based on an employee survey of satisfaction.

Whole Foods Market American supermarket chain specializing in natural and organic foods

Whole Foods Market, Inc. is an American multinational supermarket chain headquartered in Austin, Texas, which sells products free from hydrogenated fats and artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. A USDA Certified Organic grocer in the United States, the chain is popularly known for its organic selections. Whole Foods has 500 stores in North America and seven in the United Kingdom as of March 4, 2019.

Davis Square

Davis Square is a major intersection in the northwestern section of Somerville, Massachusetts where several streets meet: Holland Street, Dover Street, Day Street, Elm Street, Highland Avenue, and College Avenue. The name is often used to refer to the West Somerville neighborhood surrounding the square as well.

Acme Markets American supermarket chain

Acme Markets Inc. is a supermarket chain operating 164 stores throughout Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania and, as of 1999, is a subsidiary of Albertsons, and part of its presence in the Northeast. It is headquartered in East Whiteland Township, Pennsylvania, near Malvern, a Philadelphia suburb.

Stop & Shop Supermarket chain in the northeastern United States

The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, known as Stop & Shop, is a chain of supermarkets located in the northeastern United States. From its beginnings in 1892 as a small grocery store, it has grown to include 415 stores chain-wide.

ShopRite (United States) Supermarket chain owned by Wakefern Corporation

ShopRite Supermarkets is a retailers' cooperative of supermarkets with stores in six states: Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.

Teele Square

Teele Square is at the intersection of Broadway, Holland Street, and Curtis Street in Somerville, Massachusetts, a half-mile from Davis Square and the Davis Square stop on the MBTA Red Line, as well as a half-mile from Alewife Brook Parkway and Powder House Square. The square sits on Clarendon Hill, one of the seven hills of Somerville. The square is named after Jonathan W. Teele, who resided in an early portion of Charlestown that eventually became Somerville in 1842.

Winter Hill is a neighborhood in Somerville, Massachusetts. It gets its name from the 120-foot hill that occupies its landscape, the name of which dates back to the 18th century. Winter Hill is located roughly north of Medford Street, west of McGrath Highway, and east of Magoun Square.

Alewife Brook Reservation

Alewife Brook Reservation is a Massachusetts state park and urban wild located in Cambridge, Arlington, and Somerville. The park is managed by the state Department of Conservation and Recreation and was established in 1900. It is named for Alewife Brook, which was also historically known as Menotomy River, a tributary of the Mystic River.

Big Y US supermarket chain in Massachusetts and Connecticut

Big Y Foods, Inc. is an American, family-owned supermarket chain located in Massachusetts and Connecticut. It operates under the trade names "Big Y World Class Market" or "Big Y Supermarket."

King Kullen Grocery Co., Inc. is an American supermarket chain based on Long Island. The company is headquartered in Hauppauge, New York and was founded by Michael J. Cullen on August 4, 1930.

National Register of Historic Places listings in Massachusetts Wikipedia list article

This is a list of properties and districts in Massachusetts listed on the National Register of Historic Places. There are over 4,300 listings in the state, representing about 5% of all NRHP listings nationwide and the second-most of any U.S. state, behind only New York. Listings appear in all 14 Massachusetts counties.

Andronicos

Andronico's Community Markets, known locally as "Andronico's", was a supermarket chain based primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area. Its first store was founded in 1929 on Berkeley's Solano Avenue by Greek immigrant Frank Andronico.

Acme Fresh Market Grocery store chain in Ohio, US

Acme Fresh Market is a grocery store chain based in Akron, Ohio, that has 16 locations in Summit, Portage, Stark, and Cuyahoga counties of Northeast Ohio. It was established in 1891.

Alewife Brook Parkway

Alewife Brook Parkway is a short parkway in Cambridge and Somerville, Massachusetts. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It begins at Fresh Pond in Cambridge, and heads north on the east bank of Alewife Brook, crossing into West Somerville and ending at the Mystic River on the Medford town line, where it becomes Mystic Valley Parkway. The entire length of Alewife Brook Parkway is designated as part of Massachusetts Route 16 (Route 16), while the southernmost sections are also designated as part of Route 2 and U.S. Route 3 (US 3). It is managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation responsible for bridge maintenance.

Fells Connector Parkways United States historic place

The Fells Connector Parkways are a group of historic parkways in the cities of Malden and Medford, Massachusetts, suburbs north of the city of Boston. The three parkways, The Fellsway, Fellsway West, and Fellsway East serve to provide access from the lower portion of the Mystic River Reservation to the Middlesex Fells Reservation. The latter two parkways continue northward, providing access to the interior of the Fells and providing a further connection to Lynn Fells Parkway. Significant portions of these parkways south of the Fells, which were among the first connecting parkways designed to be part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston by Charles Eliot, were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.

Hills Supermarkets, owned by H. Frederick Hill, was a New York based grocery store chain which was popular in the 1960s. In May 1977 it was sold as a subdivision of Pueblo International Inc., to Food Fair.

Route 16 is a 59.8646-mile-long (96.3427 km) east–west state highway in Massachusetts. It begins in the west at an intersection with Route 12 and Route 193 in Webster, just north of the Connecticut state border. It runs in a generally southwest-northeast routing through a number of Boston's suburbs and runs to the west and then north of the city before ending in Revere at an intersection with Route 1A and Route 60.

Hannaford Brothers Company Supermarket chain in the northeastern United States

Hannaford is a supermarket chain based in Scarborough, Maine. Founded in Portland, Maine, in 1883, Hannaford operates stores in New England and New York. The chain is now part of the Ahold Delhaize group based in the Netherlands.

References

  1. "About Us". Johnnie's Foodmaster, Inc. Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. Retrieved October 28, 2012.
  2. Sacco, Jessica (October 26, 2012). "Whole Foods to purchase 6 Johnnie's Foodmasters (Updated)". Melrose Free Press. GateHouse Media . Retrieved November 29, 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 Abelson, Jenn and Casey Ross (August 29, 2012). "Whole Foods has its eye on Johnnie's Foodmaster". Boston.com . The Boston Globe . Retrieved November 29, 2012.
  4. 1 2 Daniel, Seth (February 10, 2012). "Save-a-lot Food Store Closing Its Doors". Revere Journal .
  5. Abelson, Jenn; Reidy, Chris (October 27, 2012). "Foodmaster stores will become Whole Foods". Boston Globe .
  6. Finaldi, Laura (November 3, 2012). "Johnnie's Foodmaster to shut all locations". Boston Globe. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
  7. Orchard, Chris (November 2, 2012). "Johnnie's Foodmaster to Close All 10 Stores: Liquidation sales have already begun". Arlington Patch. Archived from the original on July 6, 2013.
  8. Reidy, Chris (2013-02-08). "Stop & Shop buys lease for Somerville Johnnie's". Boston Globe .