Star Market
 |
|
| Former type | Subsidiary of The Jewel Companies, Inc. |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Fate | Merged with Shaw's |
| Founded | 1918 |
| Defunct | 1999 |
| Products | supermarkets/food-drug stores |
| Parent | Jewel |
Star Market was a New England chain of supermarkets owned by the Mugar family and based in Greater Boston. The company was sold to The Jewel Companies, Inc. in 1964, and was later sold to Investcorp, which sold the chain to Shaw's Supermarkets. Today, the Star Market name is used along with Shaw's.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Beginning
In 1918, Sarkis Mugar, an Armenian immigrant who had arrived in Greater Boston in 1906, paid $800.00 for the Star Market, a small grocery store, at 28 Mt. Auburn Street in Watertown. His son, Stephen P. Mugar, (1901–1984), eventually went to work for him in the store.[1] In 1922, Sarkis Mugar was killed in an automoble accident, leaving his son to take over the Star Market to support his mother, himself, and his sisters. His hard work, determination and concern for his customers enabled the store to prosper. In the early 1930s he hired his young first cousin, John M. Mugar, and encouraged him to further his education at Tufts, where John went on to graduate magna cum laude in 1937 and serve as a Trustee from 1966-1989.
[edit] Pre-war expansion
The second Star Market was opened in Newtonville in 1932 and the third one was opened in Wellesley in 1937.[2] John Mugar, (1914–2007), joined Stephen in management but had to leave to serve in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
[edit] Post-war expansion
After the war ended, John Mugar returned to the Star Market management, and with wartime restrictions and shortages over, Stephen and John were ready to expand throughout Greater Boston to meet the increased affluence and consumer demand. A second Newtonville Star Market opened in 1948 and was the Mugar's first supermarket. It was the prototype of the other modern supermarkets that they opened during this period. Meats and produce were packaged in cellophane wrappers to make them more appealing to consumers. A conveyor belt carried bags of groceries to a central pickup station by the parking lot. Customers tired of no self service at stores such as A&P or self service but little else at First National Stores came from miles around to patronize the new Star Market.
John M. Mugar later followed Stephen as President and Chairman of the chain.
[edit] Sale to the Jewel Companies
In the early 1960s, Star Market acquired Brigham's Ice Cream, a popular ice cream shop in New England. In 1964, the Star Market Company was acquired by Chicago, Illinois-based The Jewel Companies, Inc., which chose not only to retain the original name and identity of Star Market, but also John M. Mugar as President and later Chairman. John Mugar stayed on as Chairman until 1978. While Jewel owned Star Market, it built many combination food-drug stores that it branded as Star-Osco, with common checkstands but separate management teams. Jewel also combined Star Market with Turn Style to form Turn Style/Star Market Family Centers, which included a Star Market, an Osco Drug, a Turn Style, and a Brigham's Ice Cream Shop.
[edit] After the Jewel Acqusition
After Jewel was acquired by American Stores in 1984, the Star-Osco stores were re-badged as Star Market, and placed under a single management team. After the Jewel acquisition, American Stores had debt to pay off. In order to pay of this debt, American Stores chose to sell its stores that did not earn as much money as the others did. American Stores decided to sell Buttrey Food & Drug and Star Market. American Stores found a buyer for Star Market, and was sold to Investcorp in 1994. The Star Market-Osco Drug connection was ended for a time. This particular sale was led by Henry Nasella, the former President of Star Market who previously spent 6 years as President and COO of Staples, before returning to Star. After the purchase by Investcorp, Nasella served as the Chairman and CEO of Star Market, and expanded the supermarket chain to include specialty brands through Wild Harvest. In 1999, Investcorp sold Star Market to Sainsbury's for $490 million. Sainsbury's merged the chain with Shaw's Supermarkets to form Shaw's-Star Market.
In 2004, Albertsons, Inc. bought Sainsbury's American supermarket assets, including Star Market. When that happened, Star Market and Osco Drug were reunited under one corporate umbrella. On June 2, 2006, a partnership of SuperValu, CVS Corporation, and several investment firms including Cerberus Capital acquired Albertsons with the intent to divy up the parts. SuperValu received Shaw's and Star Market.
In 2008, Shaw's announced that their Boston area stores were reverting to the Star Market name due to local history. On August 22, 2008, the former Shaw's at 1065 Commonwealth Avenue in Allston had its official grand re-opening as a Star Market, over eight years after its name had been changed from Star Market to Shaw's. The Brighton Mills store on Western Ave and Auburndale store on Commonwealth Avenue were also re-opened as Star Markets in July 2008 as well as a new store in Chestnut Hill. In 2009, the Star Market on Beacon Street in Somerville reopened too.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
|
||||||||||||||
