Official closure dates announced for two Stop & Shop stores in Central Mass., as Congressional delegation raises alarm over alleged price gouging
Photo | WBJ File
A Stop & Shop location in Milford
Following a July announcement from Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. that it would shutter 32 stores across the Northeast, locations in Worcester and Shrewsbury are set to close at the end of October, as the company faces questions over allegations of price gouging from Massachusetts lawmakers.
Signs at Stop & Shop locations at 545 Lincoln St. in Worcester and 539-571 Boston Turnpike in Shrewsbury have notified customers both stores will shut down for good on Oct. 31. Shelves at the firm’s Lincoln Street location have gotten progressively more bare over the past few weeks, with full aisles now entirely devoid of products. Employees at both closing locations have been given the opportunity to move to other stores.
The finalization of closure dates for the two stores comes on the heels of a letter to Stop & Shop’s parent company from four Massachusetts lawmakers seeking answers to questions regarding allegations of price gouging by the company.
In a Sept. 30 letter to Ahold Delhaize, the Dutch-Belgian multinational holding company which owns Stop & Shop, Massachusetts Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey and U.S. Representatives Jim McGovern and Ayanna Pressley asked a number of questions about the firm’s process for determining pricing at its locations.
The letter references a June 2023 investigation by youth volunteers at the Hyde Square Task Force, which found higher prices for goods at Stop & Shop locations in working class and minority areas compared to stores in more affluent suburbs.
“Stop & Shop’s actions appear to reflect a problem of opportunistic and sometimes predatory pricing practices by major food and grocery corporations in the United States,” the letter reads. “During the Covid-19 pandemic, large corporations across the economy took advantage of supply chain disruptions to prey on consumers by raising prices by even more than necessary to cover increases in costs.”
The company denied the allegations in a February letter to the Hyde Square Task Force. Stop & Shop does not intend to respond to the letter from members of the state's congressional delegation, according to a statement provided by Rubenstein - Strategic Communications, a New-York firm.
"Under no circumstances does Stop & Shop consider a store neighborhood’s socioeconomic makeup when setting prices," the statement reads. "Stop & Shop, like many other retailers, has prices that may vary by store location to account for factors like whether a property is owned or leased, rent, labor costs, store size, and store offerings, among other things. For example, our Hyde Park and Roslindale stores in Boston are priced very similar to Dedham, in part due to having tenants at these locations that offset operating costs."
Stop & Shop will have 13 locations in Central Massachusetts following the closures, with locations in Acton, Bellingham, two stores in Framingham, Franklin, Grafton, Hudson, Milford, Natick, Sturbridge, Westborough, and two remaining Worcester locations at 40 West Boylston St. and 949 Grafton St.
Eric Casey is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article has been updated to include a response from Stop & Shop.
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