BFresh Store to Close in Allston, MA
The BFresh store in Allston, Mass., will close by the end of the year, according to fellow Ahold Delhaize USA banner Stop & Shop, operator of the small-format urban concept, which offered fresh and prepared foods at affordable prices. The 8,600-square-foot store was the first to open under the banner, back in 2015.
In the years since its debut, however, the format has failed to catch on in a big way with shoppers: Locations in Fairfield, Conn., and Brighton, Mass., have closed, and plans to expand the concept to the Philadelphia area were canceled.
“Stop & Shop has made the difficult decision not to renew the lease for its BFresh store on Harvard Avenue in Allston, Mass., as the store was not meeting financial expectations,” the Quincy, Mass.-based chain noted in a statement supplied to Progressive Grocer. “Stop & Shop intends to operate the store through Dec. 28, 2019.”
The closure will leave just one BFresh store in operation, in Somerville, Mass. That location opened in 2017.
As for Allston shoppers, Stop & Shop directed them to the Allston Stop & Shop on Everett Street and the Brookline Stop & Shop on Harvard Street. “Both of these stores are located less than 2 miles from the Allston BFresh location,” the grocer explained.
Quincy, Mass.-based Stop & Shop employs more than 61,000 associates at stores throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey. Parent company Ahold Delhaize USA is No. 4 on PG’s 2019 Super 50 list of the top grocers in the United States.
