Some city councilors lamented the impending closing of Shaw’s Supermarket at 7 Railroad Ave. as a loss for people living downtown who depend on it for fresh groceries.
The councilors addressed the issued during their Tuesday meeting in City Hall one day after a Shaw’s Supermarket and Star Market spokesperson announced the supermarket and one in Concord, New Hampshire, would be closing and relocating associates to nearby locations.
The company expects store operations at the two locations to end no later than April 12.
“Total inventory blowout,” reads a sign above the entrance to the Railroad Avenue Shaw’s with signs posted throughout the store highlighting discounts.
Speaking up during the “Requests to the Mayor” portion of Tuesday’s meeting, Ward 5 Councilor and Council Vice President Sean Nolan noted Shaw’s is a private business with choices to make on the amount of money it generates.
“And one of the things I’d like to ask the people of Gloucester is, first of all, you know, calling it ‘ghetto Shaw’s’ didn’t do it any justice,” Nolan said. “And it actually kind of brought a bad name to the area. In a lot of response on Facebook is that, you know, ‘I can’t believe it’s gone,’ you know, ‘there’s so many people that depend on this place.’
“But by being derogative in its name, and then not occasionally stopping and just shopping there; if a shop or any business isn’t doing business, they’re not going to stay in business.
“If you want something to be sustainable,” he added, “for the elderly and the people in walking distance, when it’s open, how about stopping in once in a while?”
Negotiations until announcement
“As we all know now, Shaw’s on Railroad Avenue will be closing, which is most unfortunate for our downtown community,” Ward 3 Councilor Marjorie Grace said.
She said she had read the possibility the closure was “coming down the road” had been discussed with the administration last summer.
“It’s been known that this was potentially going to happen for quite some time,” Grace said. “So my question is, during that discussion was there anything done or said or anything that they could reach out to other markets to say, ‘Hey, can you come down here?’ Or is it just kind of being left to see what’s going to happen or can we be in any way proactive to try to draw somebody in here?”
Council President Tony Gross, who serves at-large, said at Tuesday’s meeting: “I knew about those discussions and actually during those discussions, the owner was under the impression that Shaw’s was going to continue as they were … and right up until last Friday, the owner, he had been negotiating with them. They said, ‘Yes, everything looks good.’”
“He went above and beyond to try to keep it there, and I get that,” Grace said.
“He did,” Gross said, adding the administration had been told: “Basically everything was OK.”
“Nick Psalidas is going to be rolling over in his grave,” Ward 1 Councilor Scott Memhard said, referring to Nicholas Psalidas, one of the founders and original owners of the former Cape Ann Super Markets that the Railroad Avenue store had operated as before it became a Shaw’s.
Gross said he had a conversation with William Thibeault, the property owner as manager of the real estate company, 7 Railroad Ave LLC.
“He gave me some great insights that they had, you know, that he had negotiated and had come down to their negotiating terms and he was completely blindsided by this,” Gross said.
“But he is actively right now pursuing new tenants and we hope he’s successful and he wants to continue the conversation about it.”
Owner working on leads
Gross said he understood why it might be difficult for a supermarket chain like Shaw’s to carry two grocery stores in a community the size of Gloucester, with a population of nearly 30,000 people, given there’s another Shaw’s across town at 127 Eastern Ave.
The city also has a Stop & Shop Supermarket on Thatcher Road, Market Basket in the Gloucester Crossing shopping plaza, and Common Crow Natural Market on Eastern Avenue.
Gross said he believed the downtown Shaw’s was far more valuable because its clientele, many of them seniors, was so dependent on it.
“Being in the neighborhood,” he said. “You just can’t have food deserts. It’s just devastating.”
Thibeault said Friday he’s advertising to lease the retail space Shaw’s occupies and working on leads. He acquired the 3-acre shopping center in 2021.
Thibeault also acquired the Cape Ann Marketplace plaza on Eastern Avenue anchored by a Shaw’s supermarket at about the same time.
An advertisement on LoopNet highlights the on Railroad Avenue Shaw’s space as having high visibility and foot traffic directly across from the MBTA Commuter Rail, with 32,597 to 41,322 square feet available with 149 parking spaces.
Ethan Forman may be contacted at 978-675-2714, or at eforman@northofboston.com.