Price Chopper to close a Worcester store

[marketreportblog]

Price Chopper is closing one of their stores in the city of Worcester, MA. The store, in Main South, opened in 2003 replacing an acquired Big D just to the north. (Here's my tour of the Price Chopper from a while ago.)

This was one of my local stores when I lived in Main South. Its closure is not a surprise at all, as it really started declining years ago. On my blog post, I have a couple pictures of things like broken doors and the usual empty shelves, but I was always finding expired items and things like flat sodas. There are quite a few supermarkets in the immediate area, including an enormous Shaw's about 2/3 of a mile west (that was my usual store for shopping) and a Big Y a little more than a mile north. There are smaller grocers, Plaza Supermarket and Asian Supermarket, along with a Price Rite discount store. Main South is one of the lower-income neighborhoods of Worcester, but it's also very ethnically diverse (hence the various international stores) and home to Clark University -- where most students shop at Big Y. I imagine most of this store's traffic will be split between Shaw's and Price Rite, and I doubt another supermarket will take the whole building. It's possible the space will be subdivided with an ALDI or some form of international grocer taking a smaller amount of space, but the building is so large it's unlikely it stays as-is.

Two of the remaining Worcester Price Choppers are smaller-format, coming in at 40,000 square feet (Sunderland Rd.) and 35,000 square feet (Park & Highland). There's also a 55,000 square foot store in the southern end of town (SW Cutoff), and a 65,000 square foot Market 32 in the far northern part of the city. Worcester also has two Shaw's, two Price Rites, two Stop & Shops, a Walmart Supercenter, a Big Y, and a Gala Foods (independent/small chain Latin stores affiliated with Key Food). In the suburbs, there's Market Basket, an independent called Park 'n Shop, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's, so it's an area with a fair amount of competition. Stop & Shop recently closed one of their Worcester stores and another in a suburb. But it's on the eastern edge of Price Chopper's MA territory -- their farthest-east MA stores are all in Worcester County.

[cathandler]

Thanks for documenting store conditions; looks like this PC has been at death's door for some time. Interestingly, the landlord is Red Apple Group, owned by Gristedes owner John Catsimatidis. I wonder if he's interested in opening his own supermarket there...

[BillyGr]

Thanks for documenting store conditions; looks like this PC has been at death's door for some time. Interestingly, the landlord is Red Apple Group, owned by Gristedes owner John Catsimatidis. I wonder if he's interested in opening his own supermarket there...

Seems unlikely as they are more or less only in NYC and the few other places they had stores over time seem to have all been closed. But one never knows

This was one of my local stores when I lived in Main South. Its closure is not a surprise at all, as it really started declining years ago. On my blog post, I have a couple pictures of things like broken doors and the usual empty shelves, but I was always finding expired items and things like flat sodas. There are quite a few supermarkets in the immediate area, including an enormous Shaw's about 2/3 of a mile west (that was my usual store for shopping) and a Big Y a little more than a mile north. There are smaller grocers, Plaza Supermarket and Asian Supermarket, along with a Price Rite discount store. Main South is one of the lower-income neighborhoods of Worcester, but it's also very ethnically diverse (hence the various international stores) and home to Clark University -- where most students shop at Big Y. I imagine most of this store's traffic will be split between Shaw's and Price Rite, and I doubt another supermarket will take the whole building. It's possible the space will be subdivided with an ALDI or some form of international grocer taking a smaller amount of space, but the building is so large it's unlikely it stays as-is.

Two of the remaining Worcester Price Choppers are smaller-format, coming in at 40,000 square feet (Sunderland Rd.) and 35,000 square feet (Park & Highland). There's also a 55,000 square foot store in the southern end of town (SW Cutoff), and a 65,000 square foot Market 32 in the far northern part of the city. Worcester also has two Shaw's, two Price Rites, two Stop & Shops, a Walmart Supercenter, a Big Y, and a Gala Foods (independent/small chain Latin stores affiliated with Key Food). In the suburbs, there's Market Basket, an independent called Park 'n Shop, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's, so it's an area with a fair amount of competition. Stop & Shop recently closed one of their Worcester stores and another in a suburb. But it's on the eastern edge of Price Chopper's MA territory -- their farthest-east MA stores are all in Worcester County.

Interesting they'd close a newer store rather than one (or even both) of the smaller ones, as they have done in other areas (see North Adams and Lee for MA). But, I guess if it wasn't doing so well (with the competition) that might be the major factor.

And, of course, if you include Park 'n Shop, we can't forget the most hopping market in the region (though technically a bit further out than either Park 'n Shop)
OK, that one is just a (kind of) funny name for a store, what can I say

[marketreportblog]

Thanks for documenting store conditions; looks like this PC has been at death's door for some time. Interestingly, the landlord is Red Apple Group, owned by Gristedes owner John Catsimatidis. I wonder if he's interested in opening his own supermarket there...

Seems unlikely as they are more or less only in NYC and the few other places they had stores over time seem to have all been closed. But one never knows

I agree with Billy here -- I strongly doubt Red Apple will want to open one of their own locations here, especially given that their largest store is currently around 20,000 square feet and all of their locations, as far as I know, are within NYC. In fact, there's only one outside Manhattan, a Gristedes in Brooklyn. And despite the rapid expansion of smaller grocers in NYC like the Key Food brands and Lincoln Market and Dumbo Market and any number of others, Red Apple hasn't opened a new store since acquiring a Food Emporium or two in 2015 from A&P. I just don't see any reason they'd want to open a new store several times the size of their largest, over a hundred miles away. But it might mean they look for another grocer to replace all or part of the space. As I said, I think it's most likely a discount or international grocer takes part of the building (maybe the rest could go to someone like Ocean State Job Lot).

Interesting they'd close a newer store rather than one (or even both) of the smaller ones, as they have done in other areas (see North Adams and Lee for MA). But, I guess if it wasn't doing so well (with the competition) that might be the major factor.

And, of course, if you include Park 'n Shop, we can't forget the most hopping market in the region (though technically a bit further out than either Park 'n Shop)
OK, that one is just a (kind of) funny name for a store, what can I say

True, although I think perhaps the smaller ones are profitable because they're smaller and therefore cheaper to run with lower rent. There's also a big difference between Main South, where this store is located (larger immigrant population, lower income, more urban, more walkers as opposed to drivers), and the neighborhoods where the Park Ave and Sunderland Rd locations are (higher income, smaller immigrant population so less likely to frequent an international grocer also, suburban, people who drive to the store). It's possible theft was a factor, although I haven't really heard that that was the case.

Big Bunny! Yes, Southbridge is definitely in the greater Worcester area but people really aren't traveling that far for their food shopping. (On the other hand, I do know of people who live in that area and commute to Worcester, including my former boss.)

My best guess is that they took a big risk on a big store that was a new-build, moving from a smaller and older one in a suburban residential area to a larger new one in a more urban commercial and light industrial area, hoping they'd attract big business and it just didn't pan out. They never quite figured out how to merchandise to the many ethnic groups in the area -- the only thing they really had was some Latin packaged foods, but the bustling Gala Foods downtown is the clear favorite for Latin foods followed by Plaza in Main South. There are significant Vietnamese, Albanian, and African communities (specifically from Ghana, Senegal, and a few other countries) in the area that Price Chopper didn't even attempt to appeal to. And just 2/3 of a mile north, where the old store was, is a very different neighborhood that's suburban and generally fairly white, ethnically. That community, by and large, seems to have switched to Shaw's when PC moved out, rather than following PC. I don't think PC quite knew what they were getting themselves into when they made the move that probably looked really good on paper but didn't end up working out for them long-term.

[BillyGr]

True, although I think perhaps the smaller ones are profitable because they're smaller and therefore cheaper to run with lower rent. There's also a big difference between Main South, where this store is located (larger immigrant population, lower income, more urban, more walkers as opposed to drivers), and the neighborhoods where the Park Ave and Sunderland Rd locations are (higher income, smaller immigrant population so less likely to frequent an international grocer also, suburban, people who drive to the store). It's possible theft was a factor, although I haven't really heard that that was the case.

Big Bunny! Yes, Southbridge is definitely in the greater Worcester area but people really aren't traveling that far for their food shopping. (On the other hand, I do know of people who live in that area and commute to Worcester, including my former boss.)

My best guess is that they took a big risk on a big store that was a new-build, moving from a smaller and older one in a suburban residential area to a larger new one in a more urban commercial and light industrial area, hoping they'd attract big business and it just didn't pan out. They never quite figured out how to merchandise to the many ethnic groups in the area -- the only thing they really had was some Latin packaged foods, but the bustling Gala Foods downtown is the clear favorite for Latin foods followed by Plaza in Main South. There are significant Vietnamese, Albanian, and African communities (specifically from Ghana, Senegal, and a few other countries) in the area that Price Chopper didn't even attempt to appeal to. And just 2/3 of a mile north, where the old store was, is a very different neighborhood that's suburban and generally fairly white, ethnically. That community, by and large, seems to have switched to Shaw's when PC moved out, rather than following PC. I don't think PC quite knew what they were getting themselves into when they made the move that probably looked really good on paper but didn't end up working out for them long-term.

It is sort of odd that Price Chopper hasn't figured some of these things out, as Schenectady (where they are headquartered) has quite a few immigrant groups as well.
Then again, while they have remodeled the couple stores in Albany into the Market 32 format, they don't have much within Schenectady proper (while three are listed with that address, two are technically in Niskayuna or Rotterdam). I see they did apparently redo the one actual Schenectady store to Market 32 (wasn't sure they had).

Makes perfect sense not to include Big Bunny (just figured it was an interesting name for those on here who may not have seen your postings), and it also makes sense people in those areas would be commuting to Worcester proper for work as it is not really all that far and depending where in that town would have access via either 84/Mass Pike or 395 to get there.

[marketreportblog]

Here's my post on the store's closure, including pictures as it prepares to wind down.