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A wave of price cuts is coming to Stop & Shop's Boston-area stores
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Double red flags are dotting the Massachusetts coastline, as big waves and dangerous rip currents from Hurricane Erin close beaches for swimming from Scituate to Westport to Nantucket. A high surf advisory is in effect until Saturday night.
Attention customers: Stop & Shop says it will lower prices on thousands of different everyday items at its stores in Eastern Massachusetts, starting this Friday. The move is part of a multi-year effort to rebrand New England's largest grocery chain, after company leaders admitted last year that Stop & Shop's value proposition wasn't "strong enough" (and closed 32 stores). The effort includes a $1 billion investment by Stop & Shop's parent company, Ahold Delhaize, to lower prices across its U.S. brands, even as some larger economic forces push costs upward. " It's a matter of fact that inflation and tariffs are impacting grocery prices, and that's true for every single retailer in this industry," Stop & Shop spokesperson Jennifer Brogan told WBUR's Cici Yu. "But we're proud we're able to make this investment."
- According to Brogan, the price cuts affect more than 3,000 items. That's out of the 50,000 to 60,000 different products the typical Stop & Shop store has in stock. However, Brogan says the cuts — which range from 5% to 40% — include the things "our customers buy and care about most," from rotisserie chicken and Italian bread to Chobani yogurt. (Scroll below for a longer list of examples.)
- Stop & Shop's stores in central and western Massachusetts, as well as other states, have already seen similar reductions. But for its 88 locations in the eastern part of the state, the cuts will be rolled out between Friday and the end of this month.
- Brogan said the price cuts don't have an expiration date. "It's our intent to do everything we can to keep prices low, and these are here to stay," she said.
Feds fire back: The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement is promising to send more immigration officers to Boston, after Mayor Michelle Wu loudly rejected the Trump administration's request that the city eliminate policies limiting local police cooperation with federal deportation efforts. "We're definitely going to, say you've heard the saying, flood the zone, especially in sanctuary jurisdictions," acting ICE director Todd Lyons said yesterday on the Howie Carr Show. "Boston decided to stay sanctuary, so 100% you will see a larger ICE presence."
- U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi even suggested the federal government could deploy the National Guard like it has done in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. WBUR's Eve Zuckoff has more on the Trump administration's response yesterday to Wu's fiery pledge to "never back down."
On the docket: Suffolk County Steve Tompkins is denying the two federal extortion charges against him. In his first public comments since his Aug. 8 arrest, Tompkins said through his lawyer that he will plead not guilty at his arraignment hearing today in Boston. "He fully intends to mount a vigorous and effective defense to the existing accusation," attorney Martin Weinberg told WBUR's Walter Wuthmann.
- Catch up: Federal prosecutors say Tompkins pressured owners of a Boston-based cannabis company to sell him $50,000 in stock, then demanded a full refund when the stock's price went down. The 67-year-old has been sheriff for the state's most populous county since 2013 and has given no indication he plans to resign.
Panel to pedal: Massachusetts' first solar-powered e-bike-sharing station opens today in Somerville's Davis Square. Located near the Davis MBTA station, the five-bike charging dock is run not by Bluebikes, but by Metro Mobility, a Cambridge-based startup that offers e-bike rentals for $12 a day. (The company also allows low-income riders to rent their e-bikes for just $1 a day.) The only catch is that the company requires riders to return bikes to the same dock as where they got it.
- Why solar? Metro Mobility already has "several hundred" docks around Boston that are connected to the electric grid, according to CEO David Montague. But he said solar stations are much cheaper to install. "Being able to just plop a station down anywhere where there's sun is really the value added of the solar station," Montague told WBUR's Amy Sokolow. He said he hopes it's the first of many.
In sports: Red Sox rookie infielder Marcelo Mayer has officially undergone season-ending surgery after injuring his right wrist last month. The team announced the 22-year-old had a successful wrist arthroscopy performed yesterday. Red Sox manager Alex Cora recently told reporters the recovery timeline is around three months. "He should be fine if everything goes well for spring training," Cora said.
P.S.— WBUR's own Amelia Mason was the featured guest on the latest edition of NPR's New Music Friday to help parse through the latest Boston-area releases and offer some local picks across a range of genres. Listen to the podcast, or just the playlist of songs, here.
