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National co-op of food co-ops looks into buying Harvest co-op
By adamg on Tue, 07/24/2018 - 9:11am
Jamaica Plain News gets the scoop: the National Co+op Grocers, a co-op owned by food co-ops, has started talking to the financially troubled Harvest Co-Op about possibly buying Harvest's assets.
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Comments
Compare food costs at Harvest and Market Basket...
Compare food costs at Harvest Co-op Market and Demoulas Market Basket supermarket... For example, bread.
Can you do it and just tell us how they compare
The suspense is killing me
How many miles does one have
How many miles does one have to drive to find the nearest Market Basket near the Harvest Co-op?
One point Six
From the Central Sq Harvest to the Union Sq Market Basket is about 1.5 miles.
No idea about the JP one.
Union Square is also the closest one to JP.
And a pain in the butt to get to from JP, unfortunately, or I'd shop there regularly.
If this helps Harvest survive, I'm all for it. I've been shopping at Harvest since they had the store near Sully's in Allston. They have my loyalty because the co-op bulk section + Haymarket were the only reasons I didn't live only on ramen & cigarettes during my early 30s. Also, they're great about responding to special requests, which is almost impossible elsewhere; my partner is unfortunately on a super restrictive diet now.
8 miles from Forest Hills to Union Square
Give or take.
But then again, why not just go to Roche Brothers, or Stop and Shop, or if distance is the driver, Village Market in the Square?
Market Basket's prices beat S
Market Basket's prices beat S&S JP and Roche Bros, though Roche has better quality goods in general, and the S&S JP has a better Latin section.
They all have their good points, and I shop at all of them for different purposes, including Harvest. But Harvest in particular is in my regular rotation, because it carries some stuff I cannot get elsewhere.
Example, please!...
>"stuff I cannot get elsewhere."
Example, please!...
Translating from finance-ese
The phrase "buying Harvest's assets" is code for Harvest declaring bankruptcy and National buying things like inventory, equipment, and leases or real estate from the bankrupt company, rather than actually buying the company itself.
It sounds like the employee-owners and member-owners will pretty much get wiped out on their equity no matter what if you read through the letter from the Harvest board. I feel bad for anyone who might have contributed equity recently in the hopes of rescuing Harvest.
Things have changed a lot in Central Square since Bread & Circus/Whole Paycheck and that awful Poverty Extreme (honestly the most disgusting supermarket I have ever stepped into) were the only other nearby supermarkets after the Stop & Shop on Memorial Drive (in the building MicroCenter now occupies) closed. Grocery retailing is notoriously tough.
Forgive the question
but what is "Poverty Extreme" referring to?
Poverty Extreme a.k.a.
Purity Supreme
Maybe Purity Supreme?
n/t
Food Basket makes defunct PS
Food Basket makes defunct PS look like WholeFoods.
Never set foot in one.
LOL
Thanks for filling in the gaps. I always wondered what MicroCenter was before it was MicroCenter. That building existed long before MicroCenter ever occupied it. What was where the Trader Hoe's nearby is? Seems to be very supermarket-y looking building.
Also, where was the Purity in Central? And I agree.. Most purity's I ever went into sucked ass. Seemed like it was a bastard child Stop & Shop.
The Purity Supreme was on
The Purity Supreme was on Mass Ave, between Magazine and Perl. It was pretty grungy. Even when I lived just a few blocks away, I hardly ever went there.
I don't remember what that Trader Joe's used to be. Whatever it was, I guess I didn't go there much even when I lived nearby. It definitely was not a supermarket, at least not in the early-mid 90's before the Stop&Shop closed.
What else is in Central Square
besides Whole Foods, Harvest, and H-Mart? The nearby Star Market closed.
Some people actually like to shop there.
I'm one of them.
I like that I can breeze in and out in 20 minutes, that I can get good deals on bulk bin items, and get the produce I need for the week that I wasn't able to get at the farmers market. Plus, I can pick up beer and wine while I am there.
They may not have as a large a selection as Market Basket or Stop and Shop, but they have what we shop for on a regular basis. I will miss the co-op terribly if/when it closes.
JP N-Overpass project killed Harvest
First they were priced out of JP just as Whole Foods moved in. Then the Forest Hills kill-the-cars clusterf- I mean project cut them off from the rich people who now live in JP.
Don't quite buy it
And I wanted an overpass replacement.
The move to the south side of Forest Hills looks to have been a very bad move. They ended up splitting the area customer base with the South Street store. Then the closed the more walkable (and to be honest, transit friendly) store. Whole Foods, both the JP and Dedham stores, probably hit them bad, but the increased traffic around Forest Hills, in of itself, didn't kill them.