Star Market

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Star Market was a New England chain of supermarkets owned by the Mugar family and based in Greater Boston.

[edit] Humble beginnings

In 1916, 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.^[1] In 1922, Sarkis Mugar was killed in an automoble accident, leaving his son to take over the Star Market to support his mother, himself, and his sisters. His hard work, determination and concern for his customers enabled the store to prosper. In the early 1930's he hired his young first cousin, John M. Mugar, and encouraged him to further his education at Tufts, where John went on to graduate magna cum laude in 1937 and serve as a Trustee from 1966-1989.

Stephen's sisters also worked for the stores, Alice and Mary Mugar worked in the meat and produce departments and Helen Mugar worked as the head cashier and at the customer service counter for the chain at the Watertown store as well as others.^[2]

[edit] Pre-war expansion

The second Star Market was opened in Newtonville in 1932 and the third one was opened in Wellesley in 1937.^[3] John Mugar, (1914-2007), joined Stephen in management but had to leave to serve in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

[edit] Post-war expansion

After the war ended, John Mugar returned to the Star Market management, and with wartime restrictions and shortages over, Stephen and John were ready to expand throughout Greater Boston to meet the increased affluence and consumer demand. The second Star Market in Newtonville opened in 1948 and was the Mugar's first supermarket. It was the prototype of the other modern supermarkets that they opened during this period. Meats and produce were packaged in cellophane wrappers to make them more appealing to consumers. A conveyor belt carried bags of groceries to a central pickup station by the parking lot. Customers tired of no self service at stores such as A&P or self service but little else at First National Stores came from miles around to patronize the new Star Market.

John M. Mugar later followed Stephen as President and Chairman of the chain.

[edit] After Sale by Mugar family

1n 1964 the Star Market company was merged into Chicago’s Jewel Tea Company, which chose not only to retain the original name and identity of Star Market, but also John M. Mugar as President and later Chairman. John Mugar stayed on as Chairman until 1978. While Jewel owned Star Market it built many combination food-drug stores that it branded as "Star-Osco," with common checkstands but separate management teams. After Jewel was acquired by American Stores in 1984, the Star-Osco stores were re-badged as Star Markets, and placed under a single management team. In 1999 Albertsons acquired American Stores.

When American Stores sold Star Markets in 1994 to Investcorp, the Osco connection was ended for a time. This particular sale was led by Henry Nasella, the former President of Star Markets who previously spent 6 years as President and COO of Staples, before returning to Star. After the purchase by Investcorp, Nasella served as the Chairman and CEO of Star Markets, and expanded the supermarket chain to include specialty brands through Wild Oats. In 1999, Investcorp sold the Star Markets to Sainsbury's for $490 million. But when Albertsons bought Sainsbury's American supermarket assets in 2004, including Star Markets, Star Market and Osco were reunited under one corporate umbrella. By 2005, the signs on the front of all of Albertsons-owned grocery stores with in-store pharmacies were changed, adding either "Osco" or "Sav-On" to the store's logos, to emphasize the one-stop shopping available inside. The drug store name chosen reflected which of Albertson's drug chains operated in the specific marketing area. Because New England had previously been an Osco market area, the Shaw's and Star Markets with pharmacies were renamed "Shaw's-Osco" and "Star-Osco."

On June 2, 2006, a partnership of Supervalu, CVS Corporation, and several investment firms including Cerberus Capital acquired Albertsons with the intent to divy up the parts. Supervalu received what is generally thought of as the best-performing assets, which included Shaw's and Star Market.

[edit] References