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Super 88 in Allston getting good again
By adamg on Sun, 11/29/2009 - 9:14pm
It's amazing what a change of ownership can do. Ian Lamont reports from the no longer barren Chinese supermarket:
... [W]e visited Super 88 this weekend after having lunch at the excellent Japanese ramen place adjacent to the food court, and were surprised to see fully stocked shelves, Cantopop playing in the aisles, and items like fuzzy squash, frozen duck (head on), and Cow brand body soap for sale (see pictures below) -- proof that a new chain, the Hong Kong Supermarket, was indeed taking over. ...
With photos.
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Comments
No more bankruptcy?
The last I'd heard, that takeover was being held up and Super 88 was declaring bankruptcy.
Is there anything more current than this Boston Biz Journal piece?
Back to court over ownerships
The Globe's Business Updates has this timely story today. Basically, Super 88 was defaulting on its bills to suppliers and the Luus decided to get out of town after sinking all of their money into a boondoggle back in Vietnam (hotel?). So, they basically abandoned Super 88 as it began sinking.
It seems that Hong Kong Supermarkets claimed in August that they bought all 3 of the Super 88 stores in town and will be taking them over (is that who is currently running the stores?). As soon as they said that, 2 other buyers popped up and said they'd already agreed to buy the Allston and Dorchester locations, separately and independently from each other, from Luu. This began some civil court wrangling.
While this was all going on, Super 88 declared bankruptcy...which would give Hong Kong Supermarkets higher standing in the purchasing of the entire kit-and-kaboodle, because that would satisfy a bankruptcy judge's need and desire to pay off all of the debt holders...instead of only selling 2/3rds to 2 separate buyers...but it looks like Hong Kong Supermarkets may have helped convince Super 88 to go to bankruptcy...and the bankruptcy court recognized that, so it dismissed the bankruptcy, kicking the whole mess back to the state civil courts to determine whether the 2 independent purchasers have any claim to the Allston and Dorchester locations prior to Hong Kong Supermarkets' involvement in the whole affair.
I haven't been to the Super 88 in Allston lately, but if people are noticing an improvement and if Hong Kong Supermarkets is currently running the show there for now, then I hope the independent buyer who is claiming to have already agreed to buy the Allston location from Super 88 does as good or better, because it'd be a shame to see it go down the crapper just because they might have been there first.
Dorchester Super 88's better too
I had just about given up on the Super 88 in South Bay, which was contracting into the size of a convenience store. But in the last month it's really turned around. Most of my favorite items are back, the shelves are well stocked, and it seems the customers are coming back too. It's still called "Super 88" but the bags and the receipts say "Hong Kong Supermarket" and there's a big plastic banner outside that says Hong Kong Supermarket is coming soon.
I recalled...
I recall that wasn't Super 88 an enterprise by a family in Boston? If that so, that's too bad it had to be bought up. While this is one of the better scenarios than full liquidation or being bought up and run to the ground (and much better than what's happening to Brigham's), it is a pity to see a local family try their hand, got pretty big, and end up being bought up by some firm in NYC... I hope the family is doing well somehow still...
It is a pity
"too bad it had to be bought up." More like saved from their own misdeeds. They were not exactly Saints and from my experience the workers there actually seem happy again.
From the Globe 8/27/2009:
The chain also had its problems. Last year, Luu was ordered to pay $200,000 in restitution and fines after Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office said Super 88 violated the state’s wage and hour laws, failing to pay more than 300 workers at six stores minimum wage, overtime, and holiday pay during early 2007. And the chain shuttered the three stores last year citing poor sales. Yelp and Chowhound blogs about food were filled with people who criticized the stores, saying that some seemed dirty and had a foul fishy smell.
http://www.boston.com/yourtown/malden/articles/200...
P.S.
"I hope the family is doing well somehow still..."
The "Mother" elder Luu seems to be doing just fine back in the “motherland’’.
I went by the Malden store a
I went by the Malden store a couple of weeks ago (it's about half a mile from where I live) for the first time in months. The new owners are trying to revive the place; there was a lot of construction going on, the canned goods are back, and the rice (once almost gone) is now stocked along a wall in ten-foot high piles. There were even cars in the parking lot and presumably not all of them were from people at the neighboring hardware store. It's going to be a while before the store recovers, though. Judging from what I see in the trash around here, the local Asian community is still taking the train downtown to shop at C-Mart.