Whole Foods Market has purchased six leases from Johnnie’s Foodmaster for an estimated cost of $30 million.
Thomas Grillo
Real Estate Editor- Boston Business Journal
Whole Foods Market (Nasdaq: WFM) has an agreement to purchase six leases from Johnnie’s Foodmaster, the Chelsea, Mass.-based family-owned grocery chain.
Terms of the agreement are not being disclosed, but a commercial real estate source estimated the sale at about $30 million.
The transaction, which includes the Johnnie’s stores in South Weymouth, Arlington, Charlestown, Brookline, Melrose and Somerville, is expected to close on Nov. 30. Johnnie’s plans to shutter the 31,000-square-foot stores in the six locations prior to the closing date. Johnnie’s will keep its Medford, Whitman, Lynn and Alewife store in Somerville open.
Texas-based Whole Foods Market said it intends to remodel each location, with the goal of reopening all six stores before the end of its 2013 fiscal year. The deal brings the number Greater Boston Whole Foods stores to 26.
“Like Foodmaster, Whole Foods Market has a long history of supporting the communities we serve and we are excited to bring our fresh, quality foods at affordable prices to these six new market areas,” said Laura Derba, president of Whole Foods Market’s North Atlantic region, in a statement.
But Katherine Greenough, a member of the Audubon Circle Neighborhood Association and a shopper at Johnnie’s in Brookline for 40 years, said she is concerned at Whole Foods’ high prices. “The food quality at Whole Foods is excellent, but the prices are so high and we’re worried that the neighborhood is losing an affordable market,” she said. “Food prices have been rising and Whole Foods is even more expensive.”
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