By Elizabeth Bernardi

With this month’s closing of the Star Market at 299 Broadway, many Winter Hill residents no longer have a grocery store within walking distance, and even more are anxiously awaiting some announcement of what will replace it on the property.

The Star Market, in a building dating back to the 1960s, announced in November that it would close at the end of January. Originally, the store was slated to close on Jan. 26, but that was moved up, as Theresa Pero discovered Saturday morning, when she and a friend tried to stop by the store.

Pero, the mother of Ward 4 Alderman Walter Pero and also one of her son’s constituents, said she was disappointed to see the store close.

‚ÄúI’m so bummed out!‚Äù the 81-year-old Theresa Pero said. She said she has never driven, so the Winter Hill Star Market was a convenience to her and other elderly resident pedestrians.

Now the closest grocery store is the Stop and Shop on McGrath Highway, but getting there on foot requires crossing a dangerously busy intersection. Theresa Pero is sorry to see the Star Market go, but she has lived in the same house on Medford Street for 58 years, and said she has often had to adapt to change.

‚ÄúI remember too when they had a Brigham’s in the front of the store,‚Äù she said, ‚Äúand then they expanded the Star Market and closed [the Brigham’s]. We used to walk up there to Brigham’s and get hot-fudge sundaes. So, we have seen changes.‚Äù

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone has reached out to the owner of the property to learn the parcel’s possible future use, said spokeswoman Lesley Delaney Hawkins. She said she believes that owner is Shaw’s Supermarkets, and Curtatone intends to meet with Shaw’s executives to discuss what would best serve the community in the now available space.

She said there is no truth to the rumor that originated in the fall that the city would move a police station to the site.

‚ÄúThat originated in the community,‚Äù said Hawkins. ‚ÄúThat never came from the mayor’s office or the city. That’s not something we’re looking at.‚Äù

Ultimately, she said, the decision to lease the property will be the owner’s. Still, the city hopes that whatever takes over the space will serve the community well.

“My understanding is that the owners have accepted the invitation to sit down [with the mayor] and hopefully we can work with the owners to sit down and find a tenant that will meet the community need,” said Hawkins.

Chamber of Commerce President Stephen Mackey said he was not surprised to see the Star Market close, particularly since the opening of the Stop and Shop on McGrath Highway.

‚ÄúI’d expect they’ve seen an increase in competition throughout the area and Winter Hill,‚Äù said Mackey. ‚ÄúAnd I think it was a 1960s vintage store . . . Any grocery store built in that era is maybe in the twilight, so I don’t think it’s peculiar to this store. I think it’s a function of what’s happened in that industry and with consumers.‚Äù

Mackey said that although he’s certain somebody will propose that the space be used for condominiums, ‚ÄúI think it’s important for the city’s commercial tax base that it be largely business.‚Äù

Walter Pero said he is closely following the development of the property. At a Ward 4 meeting last Thursday, the Star Market was included on the agenda.

‚ÄúI told the assembled neighbors that we don’t have any proposals right now,‚Äù said Pero. ‚ÄúWe don’t know what’s going to go there, but when we do have a proposal to consider, there would be immediately notification of the neighborhood and Ward 4 and we would call together a neighborhood meeting.‚Äù

He said his constituents are very interested in what will become of the property. They were reassured to know that the liquor store and cleaner’s are not part of the parcel and will stay open. Some would like to see another grocery store, perhaps a specialty store, take Star Market’s place.

‚ÄúI’m sure we’ll go through a community process,‚Äù he said. ‚ÄúWhenever there is proposed a large develop-ment in the city, the city puts together a reuse committee and we work to respond to a proposed use or a sought-out use.‚Äù

Though Pero himself said he has been using the Stop and Shop for most of his grocery shopping, he said the biggest impact of the store’s closure would be on pedestrians.

‚ÄúI’ve got a couple down the street from me,‚Äù he said, ‚Äú who moved in within the last year, and they sold their car, so they’ve been using the Star Market.‚Äù

And of course there is the elderly population.

Theresa Pero said she has made a number of friends while shopping at the Star Market and the Rite Aid also on that property.

‚ÄúThere’s a lot of elderly apartments there,‚Äù she said of the neighborhood. ‚ÄúThis one girl who’s about 60, she walks with a cane, and she just said she doesn’t have family.‚Äù

Theresa Pero said she’s one of the fortunate ones — her son lives just upstairs, and he and his children have always been willing to take her grocery shopping or to pick her up if she’s purchased more items than she can carry. Still, she has enjoyed the freedom of walking to the store herself and socializing.

‚ÄúI’m just so anxious to see what goes in there,‚Äù she said. ‚ÄúA lot of other people say they’d love another market. We certainly don’t want condos there, but we’ll see.‚Äù