Shaw’s Supermarket at 7 Railroad Ave. will be closing next month, leaving some concerned this will only create a downtown food desert.
“Today, Shaw’s announced it will be closing its Gloucester, MA store location, located at 7 Railroad Ave., and the Concord, NH store location, located at 20 Fort Eddy Road,” a statement from the Shaw’s Supermarket and Star Market spokesperson Teresa Edington said.
“Like all retailers, we’re constantly evaluating the performance of our stores. Closing a location is always a tough decision, but we’re focused on continuing to provide the products and services our customers value most. Our goal is to relocate all associates to nearby locations.”
A March 7 announcement from Shaw’s and Star Market President Ken Rinaldi to team members states: “While Shaw’s/Star Market is successful, it is occasionally necessary for us to close locations that are not meeting company goals.”
The company expects store operations at the two locations to end no later than April 12.
“I’m concerned that the core of downtown could become a food desert,” said Ward 2 City Councilor Dylan Benson, who said word of the store closing was devastating.
He said he would do everything he could to get another grocery store at that location. He planned to propose a zoning ordinance calling for mandatory mixed use in the area with commercial on the ground floor and any housing on the upper floors to make sure the plaza retains its commercial component.
The supermarket sits within walking distance to homes downtown and about a block from the Gloucester Housing Authority’s 97-apartment McPherson Park complex for seniors or those with disabilities on Prospect Street.
On Monday morning, Calogero Sanfilippo was walking with a bag of groceries to his apartment there. He said he is able to take a shuttle to Market Basket across town on Gloucester Crossing Road.
“This is more convenient,” he said of Shaw’s.
“I don’t want Shaw’s going out of here,” said Francesca Loiacono, also a resident of McPherson Park. She said others like her come to the Shaw’s to shop.
“I come every time here,” she said.
Efforts to keep market
The small shopping center that includes a liquor store and a CrossFit gym is owned by 7 Railroad Avenue LLC, a Boston real estate company managed by developer William Thibeault of Thibeault Development.
Thibeault’s company acquired the 3-acre shopping center for $6.2 million in late 2021. It’s assessed at more than $5.4 million, city records show.
Thibeault said he bought two shopping plazas, each with a Shaw’s Supermarket, the one on Railroad Avenue and the Cape Ann Marketplace plaza at 127 Eastern Ave. toward Rockport.
The developer said he believes in the area and owns a summer home in Gloucester. He bought the plazas as investments, “just to keep it as an annuity,” with the intention of keeping both supermarkets as tenants.
Thibeault bought the properties with five-year lease options on the supermarkets.
Over the summer, he said he was sent a termination letter for the Railroad Avenue Shaw’s. He spoke with Shaw’s about reducing the rent for the grocery store he described as struggling and losing money the last couple of years.
In December 2022, the Shaw’s on Eastern Avenue held a ribbon cutting on its refresh and grand re-opening. The Railroad Avenue Shaw’s was not renovated.
Thibeault said he met with Mayor Greg Verga and Chief Administrative Officer Jill Cahill about the possibility of tax increment financing for the store, but the effort did not pan out.
About three weeks ago, Thibeault said he thought he had come to an agreement with Shaw’s on reduced rent.
“I thought we had a deal,” he said, but he was informed last Friday the Railroad Avenue store would be closing.
“We did everything we could to keep them there,” he said.
Options for space
Thibeault said it was not his intention to put housing at the Railroad Avenue plaza. Although he’s like to bring in another grocery store, he will look at all his options for the space.
Verga said he met with Thibeault last fall, but the idea of a TIF didn’t fit because such tax breaks are based on improvements to the property and job creation. When the market was purchased, there was a jump in its appraisal by the city from $3.3 million to $5.4 million, but an abatement request was denied by the state Appellate Tax Board, Verga said.
The mayor emphasized the Railroad Avenue Shaw’s plaza does not sit in the Multi-Family Overlay District of by-right multifamily zoning changes passed last fall to comply with the controversial MBTA Communities Act known as Section 3A.
The zoning passed unanimously on Oct. 1, but a citizen referendum petition drive, per the City Charter, gained more than enough signatures to suspend the zoning rules, forcing the City Council to call for a special election on the zoning on April 24.
“Yes for Gloucester is extremely disappointed that the Railroad Ave. Shaw’s grocery store is closing,” Jack Clarke, the group’s chairperson, wrote in an email. “We strongly encourage the city to quickly find an appropriate replacement to fill this food security gap for many downtown residents.”
Clarke also emphasized that Railroad Avenue is not in Gloucester’s 3A compliant zoning district and residential housing is not allowed in the Railroad Avenue Extensive Business district.
Ethan Forman may be contacted at 978-675-2714, or at eforman@northofboston.com.