Shaw's and Star Market

Shaw's and Star Market are two American grocery store chains based in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts, employing about 30,000 associates in 154 stores. 132 stores are operated under the Shaw's banner in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, while Star Market operates 22 stores in Massachusetts. Until 2010, Shaw's operated stores in all six New England states and as of 2011 Shaw's remained the only supermarket chain with stores in five of the six after it sold its Connecticut operations. The chain's largest competitors are Hannaford, Market Basket, and Stop & Shop. Star Market is a companion store to Shaw's; Shaw's having purchased the competing chain in 1999.

Shaw's and Star Market are wholly owned subsidiaries of the Boise, Idaho–based Albertsons. The combined chain has the largest base of stores that operate in New England, but is the third-largest behind Quincy, Massachusetts-based Stop & Shop and Scarborough, Maine-based Hannaford Brothers Company; Hannaford operates stores in New York while Stop & Shop's operations extend into New Jersey; only Shaw's does business solely in New England.

Star Market

Star Market was a New England chain of supermarkets based in Greater Boston. It was owned by the Mugar family and started in 1915. The company was sold to The Jewel Companies, Inc. in 1964 and later to Investcorp, which in turn sold the chain to Shaw's Supermarkets. As stores were remodeled, many adopted the Shaw's name, leaving only a handful of Star Market stores operating by the late 2000s. In 2008, Shaw's began to revive the name, a trend which was expedited after the parent company of both chains was sold to Cerberus Capital Management. Today, both Shaw's and Star Market are administered as a single division.

History

Beginning

In 1915, 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. In 1922, Sarkis Mugar was killed in an automobile accident, leaving his son to take over Star Market to support his mother and sisters. In the early 1930s, Stephen hired his first cousin, John M. Mugar, who later became president and chairman of Star Market.