New lease on life for Williamsburg Market with ownership change

WILLIAMSBURG — Local residents say they are thrilled that the Williamsburg Market will be purchased by a local couple and continue to operate as a grocery store.

“I have certainly gotten a lot of hugs this past week which has been great,” Planning Board member Stephen Smith, said about his pending purchase of the popular market.

Current owners Angie and Jean Duquette have agreed to sell the business to Smith and his husband, Sean Mallari, a piano technician who owns Piano Tuning and Restoration. According to Smith, the closing on the property is scheduled for March 11.

“We absolutely intend on keeping the market open,” Smith said. “We expect all of the staff will remain and that the day we take over, it will be unchanged from that day to the next.”

This was good news to resident Jim Ayres who said that he appreciates having a convenient neighborhood grocery.

“I think that it’s great for the town that the store will remain open,” Ayres said.

Select Board Chairwoman Denise Banister agreed.

“Every one that I have talked with about it is very happy,” she said. “I know the people buying the store. They are wonderful and I think they will do a great job and be very receptive to new ideas.”

The Duquettes have owned the store for 30 years and have been hoping to retire, but they were adamant about selling to a buyer who would continue to operate the business as a grocery store.

They had received offers from buyers with intentions of turning the market into another type of business but turned those down.

“We didn’t want to sell it to someone who would turn it into a boutique or something,” Angie Duquette said. “We wanted the market to continue because that is what the people here said they needed.”

The long road to a sale

Last year, Duquette had asked several community members for input in helping them secure the future of a market in Williamsburg, and found that many residents were eager to support this cause.

In the spring, backed by a large number of residents, the Williamsburg Market Committee formed and began been investigating the possibility of turning the market into a grocery co-op.

After several months of intensive research, a final report was presented at a community meeting in the fall of 2019, where it was revealed that a co-op would likely not be viable. Hopes were dashed and the Duquettes returned to square one in their search for a buyer.

Smith said he had donated to the campaign to fund the research on the Williamsburg Market becoming a co-op.

“I had been interested as a citizen, but I hadn’t considered buying it at that point,” he said. “The final presentation had been very well done though, and it got my gears turning.”

He also noted that the “extraordinary community support” for the market was a factor in his decision to buy the store.

Smith contacted the Duquettes at the end of 2019 and little by little began to learn more about the market. According to Duquette, serious negotiations began in January.

“We are all proud, pleased and feel very supportive,” Williamsburg Market Committee member Lisa Bertoldi said about the upcoming purchase.

On Tuesday, Smith praised the Duquettes for the way they have managed the store over the years.

“I have to give them a lot of credit — they run a very good business and they have a very good team there,” Smith said.

In addition to general groceries, the market has a deli and butcher shop offering local meats, along with local produce and baked goods, including fresh breads.

Smith and Mallari have lived in Williamsburg for 14 years.

“We are very happy to be part of Williamsburg,” Smith, who has served for nine years on the Planning Board, said.

A former mechanical engineer, the 54 year-old noted that the move to grocery store owner is a definite career change, but it is one that he says he is really looking forward to.

“I have left my job and I am stepping away from my career in industrial work because I want something different and more local,” he said. “I am very optimistic about this.”

Still, Smith is not a total newcomer to the grocery environment. During his engineering career he had spent five years working on systems for various departments in supermarkets, so he is familiar with the industry.

“I think that he is going to do well here,” Duquette said, noting that she and her husband would be staying on for a couple of months after the purchase goes through. “We have waited so long to find the right buyer, we want to make sure he has a good start.”

Duquette said she believes Smith will be able to bring in new ideas, new energy, and a more savvy understanding of social media and “electronic-y stuff” that will help bring the store into the future.

“I hope the town gives them their full support,” she said. “I think they will because they really do want to keep the market here.”

Smith said that there will be no immediate changes at the market, though some future changes are likely.

“The Duquettes have done a wonderful job with the market. Now it’s my job to build on that,” he said.