File photo
Market Basket, whose Rock Row location in Westbrook is shown here, plans its third Maine supermarket in Topsham.
August 18, 2020
Westbrook Market Basket opens Friday, first phase of Rock Row development
Photo / Maureen Milliken
Chris Sturzo, left, manager of the new Westbrook Market Basket, and David McLean, manager of store operations, at the Westbrook store Monday. The store, the first completed part of the Rock Row mixed-use development, opens Friday.
By Maureen Milliken
Market Basket is slated to open in Westbrook Friday, the Massachusetts supermarket chain's second store in Maine, and the first piece of the Rock Row development going up on the Portland-Westbrook line.
The 80,000-square-foot store's opening was delayed about two months by the coronavirus pandemic, said David McLean, manager of Market Basket store operations.
"We won't know until Friday" whether health concerns will keep shoppers away, he said. "But we're going to be here a long time. Not everybody has to come the first day."
Under the state's guidelines, which limit stores to five people per 1,000 square feet, the store could accommodate 400 people, but McLean said they'll limit the number inside to less than that. "We want people to feel comfortable," he said.
So far, people have felt comfortable applying for jobs — the store has 320 employees and is still hiring, McLean said. Those applying for jobs range from high school and college students to retirees, to those looking for a second job during the pandemic uncertainty, he said.
On the corner of Larrabee Road and Main Street in Westbrook, the site also has pads on Main Street that will soon host a Starbucks, a Chick-fil-A restaurant and a bank.
The store will anchor Rock Row, a development by Waterstone Properties on 100 acres that was previously part of a quarry. The complex will eventually will include a retail and restaurant village, a hotel, residential and office space, and is still on track, said Josh Levy, Waterstone Properties cofounding principal, earlier this summer.
Location, Waterstone relationship
Market Basket has opened or is opening four stores this year — the others are in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. In all, it has 82 stores in four states.
"We've been looking, and continue to look, for locations," McLean said.
McLean said Market Basket's longstanding relationship with Waterstone was one thing that made the Westbrook project attractive. But location, and the popularity of the Biddeford store, which opened in 2013, were also factors.
Rock Row "is an exciting development," he said. "They're taking this dormant piece of land and turning it into something really great."
Previous developers had planned a retail complex with Walmart as an anchor, but Waterstone scrapped that plan and partnered with Market Basket when the development company bought the property in 2017.
The location right off the Maine Turnpike, between exits 47 and 48, as well as the fact its on the Portland Metro Husky Line, made the spot a good one as well. The Westbrook-Portland border is a "metropolitan pocket" that can handle a multitude of grocery stores, including a nearby Shaw's.
"Competition is good," McLean said.
The company's real estate division is always looking for viable locations, he said, and he didn't discount another Maine store sometime in the future. "We're humbled that customers invite us to their towns," he said.
For now, though, the focus is on the Westbrook opening.
Photo / Maureen Milliken
The cafe at the Westbrook Market Basket will be open with the store opens Friday, and offers coffee, smoothies, soft-serve ice cream and baked goods. The seating area will be limited to half capacity per COVID-19 restrictions.
A long tradition, history
Store Manager Chris Sturzo has been with the company 41 years, beginning with the company at its Tewksbury, Mass., store in 1979, when it was still DeMoulas. McLean, too, came up with the company. Like Sturzo, he began working for DeMoulas as a teenager, In his case, it was as a 16-year-old grocery bagger in the Billerica, Mass., store.
The two say the biggest change they've seen is the variety of products available — some 50,000 items — and the focus on organic and fresh food.
"What consumers looked for 30 or 40 years ago isn't the same as what they're looking for now," McLean said. "They want variety. Would would've thought back then there'd be 52 feet of nothing but yogurt?"
Sturzo said, too, the inclusion of local products, particularly fresh farm produce, is one of the biggest changes he's seen. The Westbrook store does business with Backyard Farms, in Madison; Bell Farm, in Auburn; Green Meadow Farm, in the Aroostook County town of Chapman; and Mousam Farm, in Springvale, to name a few.
Another change from the old DeMoulas is the cafe, which serves coffee, smoothies, soft-serve ice cream and baked goods. The tables in the sunny section overlooking the parking lot will be open when the store opens Friday, but with COVID-19 restrictions, McLean and Sturzo said.
Those familiar with DeMoulas know its history, including the struggle for ownership within the Demoulas family in 2014. The board had ousted Arthur T. Demoulas in favor of his cousin, Arthur S. Demoulas in June of that year, prompting a boycott by employees and customers of what was then 71 stores, including the newly opened Biddeford one.
Arthur T., and the employees, ultimately prevailed,and McLean said the loyalty of workers and customers is a tribute to how the family-owned company has treated employees. Benefits include profit-sharing, bonus pay and other perks.
The history of the chain, which began in Lowell, Mass., as a small store in the Greek section of town, in 1917, is reflected at the Westbook store in reusable bags that feature photos that range from the original market to modern-day Market Basket.
"We're proud of that history," McLean said. "It's about a single word: respect. We treat the customers who shop with us with respect and there's tremendous respect for the people who serve those customers."
He said a store opening during a pandemic has been new territory this year for the chain. "People always like to go where they're comfortable," he said. "We're hoping they come and see for themselves."
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Anonymous
August 18, 2020
Welcome Market Basket! Your loyal fans have been waiting a long time for this awesome event!
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