Star Markets is a New England chain of supermarkets based near Boston, Massachusetts. Star Markets are full-service grocery stores with produce, meat and seafood, deli, frozen, wine and beer, pets, floral, pharmacy, and more departments.
In 1915, Sarkis Mugar, an Armenian immigrant to the U.S., paid $800.00 for the Star Market, a small grocery store in Watertown, just outside of Boston. The Mulger family held onto the company for nearly 50 years before selling it to Jewel Companies, Inc. in 1964. Throughout the mid-20th century, Star Markets expanded and led the grocery industry with innovation. But the company stopped growing in the '80s and '90s, and in 1999, Shaw's Markets, a competing supermarket chain, acquired Star Market. Over the next decade, Shaw's remodeled and rebranded most of the stores, leaving only a handful of Star Market stores operating by the late 2000s. In 2004, Albertsons, Inc. bought Star Market and Shaw's. Today, Star Market operates 20 stores in the greater Boston area as part of the Shaw's division.