Russ Greenlaw, vice president of operations for Adam's Hometown Market, says the supermarket will be open for business on Friday — barely three weeks after it closed as the Big Y.
The shelves are once again stocked at Adam's Hometown Market.
ADAMS, Mass. — It was a race to the finish but Russ Greenlaw had a promise to keep: open the newest Adam's Hometown Market by Friday.
"There was some thought that we weren't going to make it. There was no product and the place was a wreck so I pulled the team together," Greenlaw, vice president of operations, said on Wednesday. "I told them that I made a promise and that I was going to do everything in my power to get this market open and I am super proud of this team for accomplishing that."
After the Big Y suddenly closed in February, the Connecticut grocery chain swooped in to the rescue and in early March announced it had purchased the Myrtle Street property and planned to reopen the longtime grocery market that was a cornerstone in the community.
The target opening date was March 29 and Greenlaw said every store manager from the company was brought in as well as other resources to get the bulk of the work done in 2 1/2 weeks.
"I have never opened up a store in 18 days," he said. "Our objective was to get people back to work and get food back into the community."
The Big Y's history in the Mother Town dated back a century once it bought the local Adams Supermarket in the 1980s. The Myrtle Street store opened brand new in 1969, close to where founder Jacob Wineberg had opened his first butcher shop. Big Y officials said the store was too small for it to continue and had pledged to work with a grocer that could reopen it.
Greenlaw said when they first approached the town he heard town officials and the community's discontent over losing their only market loud and clear.
"When I first met with the Selectmen I heard it from them and from the customers. The hardship has been great," he said. "Day one, 149 people applied [for jobs] with another 80 online. It was incredible to see my team respond because we did not expect such a huge welcome … We had people back to work in less than a week."
Some 90 employees had been affected by the closure.
Greenlaw said they knew they had to move quickly but it did take the time to "freshen up" the market. He said the layout has been somewhat changed to accommodate more room in the front and in the back of the store.
"Fresh is what we are really about and we want to bring fresh food to people," he said. "So we opened this up to give the customer space to linger and shop. That has been a focus."
Greenlaw said they even went as far to reseal food storage and preparation areas to make sure the market is completely food safe.
They leaned heavily on former Big Y employees to help inform them what would be the best fit for Adams, he said.
"We brought in some feedback from the managers … we figured they know best," he said. "One of the things that is really unique about us is that we are very small so we like to behave very small. We want to carry what the community needs and fill that void."
The grocery will carry fresh and premade sandwiches and soup for those on the go. He said most of the prepared foods are made in-house.
"We make the things that we sell," he said. "We boil the potatoes in our potato salad. Bill the deli manager shared with me that he makes a wonderful ham salad so we are going to sell his ham salad."
Greenlaw said there will be giveaways during the grand opening on Friday morning for the first 200 customers as well as samples.
He said judging by the welcome the market has already received, he expects Friday to be a big morning.
"We have asked a couple of veterans to assist us with our first official flag raising and we will hear some words from town officials," he said. "I am going to spend some time thanking this community for the incredibly warm welcome and, hopefully, everyone is super excited."
Activities related to the opening begin at 8:30 a.m. on Friday morning; doors open at 9 a.m.
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.
Your Comments
iBerkshires.com welcomes critical, respectful dialogue. Name-calling, personal attacks, libel, slander or foul language is not allowed. All comments are reviewed before posting and will be deleted or edited as necessary.
You have it as "Adam's" market when I believe it's actually "Adams" with no apostrophe. Your editors can be forgiven for the oversight as the company misspells it on its own web site in some places.
Adam Bozzuto died in 2002 and his obituary only mentions that he operated a company called Bozzuto's Inc., a food wholesaler. I can't find much history on the Adam(')s market. Their logo has no apostrophe. All media uses I've seen besides yours have no apostrophe. It may be that originally the business had the apostrophe and then dropped it. It would be worth asking the company for clarification.
No reason to be smug about it. It was a legitimate question, considering the lack of an apostrophe on their logo and the use of both variations on their own web site.
I contacted the company directly and the official spelling is Adams Hometown Market without an apostrophe. It may have at one time been called Adam's, but no longer. You should use the correct spelling going forward.
ADAMS, Mass. — The Board of Selectmen has begun a deep review of the fiscal 2026 budget of $19,548,441, up $717,916, or 3.7 percent over this year.
The annual budget workshops started with a preliminary review and presentation of the budget books last week and continued on Tuesday with the Executive, Finance and Technology and General Government sections.
That included the elected town clerk, assessor and treasurer/collector who all asked for a 5 percent raise to start bringing their salaries closer to other department heads and citing increased responsibilities and workloads in their offices.
Each began with reading a statement that they had emailed interim Town Administrator Kenneth Walto, Chair John Duval and Finance Director Ashley Satko on Feb. 27 requesting the raises that would amount to $7,000 total in the budget.
"This 5 percent increase would help to align these three positions with the salaries of the other department heads throughout the town of Adams. The average of these other department positions is approximately $89,000," said Assessor Paula Grover. "It would bring our salaries to $81,933, which is still well below the average salary."
Town Clerk Haley Meczywor said, "this disparity raises questions about fairness and equally, the allocation of resources."
Treasurer Kelly F. Rice noted that raises of between 4 and 10 percent had been given to other departments and positions, above the regular 2 percent cost of living.
The spending plan is up $654,917, or 2.9 percent, over this year. Out-of-district special education tuitions and a 16 percent hike in health insurance are major drivers of the increase.
click for more
Incumbent Joseph J. Nowak will face off against Jay T. Meczywor and Jerome S. Socolof for the two seats up for election on the board. Both seats are for three-year terms.
click for more
The pub was last open in 2018 and there were hopes of finding a potential buyer but none came through and the building hasn't been open since.
click for more
Ashlyn Lesure scored 18 points, and Regan Shea and Emma Meczywor added 15 and 11, respectively, as the Hurricanes successfully defended their 2024 state crown and won the program’s fourth state title in a run that has seen Hoosac Valley go to the state final nine times since 2014. click for more