I hate to see people put out of work, and I hope that most will be rehired when WF opens. However, Johnnies was persistently empty of customers - it appears that most of the people complaining about how terrible it is that the place is closing in fact didn't shop there. This is a market economy, and if a store offers low prices, or quality goods, or some other distinctive attraction, people will shop there. Johnnies had none of those things. RIP

Whole Foods is going to face the uncertanty, and the confusion, that maybe Johnnies did not want to face. Obamacare, and what to do with the workers. Starting Jan 1 2014, employers with 50 or more full time employees, must offer healthcare. Not so, for their part time workers. As of now, many companies are deciding whether to downsize their full time workers, to part time workers. This will force workers to buy their own healthcare, with no help from the company that they work for, and also be forced to get another job, to make up for their lost wages.
You have no idea what you voted for.

Whole Foods reported $112 mil. profit last quarter; perhaps there is room for some health insurance support in that sum. Approximately 40% of Walmart employees receive food stamps because of their poverty-level incomes. Not in Massachuseets, but in most states, low wage people end up at emergency rooms for health care. This is inefficient, and we all pay the price.

I'm pretty sure the profits are going to go to the shareholders. The corporate mentality is the the company has a bigger responsibility is to the shareholders, not the workers.

Uhm...Whole foods *already* provides excellent healthcare and full benefits to employees who work 35 hours a week.

If anything, they are a model of how a business can be profitable...and still treat their employees like human beings >.>

I stopped in the other night for the last time. It was devastating to see the bare shelves, and the employees had no idea if they would be rehired. My guess is they won't, because it will take time to remodel the store to conform to WFM's ersatz green corporate image. What a wonderful holiday season gift for all those Johnnie's employees at the 10 closing stores.

Lots of farewells in Arlington lately ...Johnnies closing , The Boss's Boss Political career and last but not least The Creeper looks like he is going back to jail .... Sad to see Johnnies go . But the other Two good riddance ... With any luck they can share a cell together ..... Road Runner the Coyote is after you .... Beep Beep

Sad to see it all end. I worked at Johnnies for 14 years. I understand the owner John Dejesus is getting older and it was probably in his best interest to close now, however he could have gone about it a nicer way. We were sent very straight to the point in-formal letters. Actually kind of rude to be honest & obviously written by a lawyer. We were given no information on unemployment. In fact I heard he is telling people to not collect because it looks bad on a resume. Managers & full times who have worked for this company for years (some 25+ years) were given nothing in terms of a severance package. Just a "Don't let the door hit you on the you know what on the way out" The health insurance is gone also. Right before the holidays no less. I heard John Dejesus father put his blood, sweat and tears into this business. He would be ashamed at how employees were treated. We were given nothing but a 2 week notice! John didn't even having the decency to show his face, be a man and face the hundreds of workers he's letting go. Not to mention our FEMBA money. For those of you who don't what Femba is.. It's a $1.00 a week contribution for discounts on things such as; Ski passes, The Circus, Canopy Lake park, Six flags etc. There was over $45,000.00 in that account and John Dejesus wanted to give it to charity instead of giving us our money back. Not sure what caused the change of heart but it is now being distributed as a raffle for dining gift certificates. Shame how it went down.

That's awful that you all were treated so poorly and I pray that WF will make an effort to hire all of you who lost jobs. I hate to say it, but Johnny's was so pitiful compared to other grocery stores. It was dark, dirty and the produce was terrible. I'm all for supporting local businesses, but not if they provide sub-par customer experience and treat their employees like dirt. I will keep my fingers crossed for those who worked at Johnny's and hope you can find work/support soon.

I won't miss anything about Johnnie's! But I do hope Whole Foods will be thoughtful about the traffic and parking in this congested area. A design like their River Street store in Cambridge might be a good place to start with the store raised up one story under which they situated their loading area and some customer parking. Very sorry to hear about the last days of the Foodmaster employees who certainly deserved better than Jbaby's reported treatment. Whole Foods should, and probably will offer jobs to those people first. Good luck to all of them.

They will pay their employees less with the least amount of employees possible to barley get the job done like all their other places... Charging customers more claiming "organic" with less options to go elsewhere. Paying more for everything while we earn less, plus more taxes. And you hope their thoughtful? You should be very sorry Johnnies is leaving>>>Where are you gonna get your Twinkies now?
Who is celebrating this?

I will miss going into the store and knowing the people who work there and being able to make small talk with them while shopping. I will also miss shopping at a store that always had short check-out lines.

i am going to miss Johnnies. I will especially miss seeing the DUDE with the beard, who wore the mini-skirt, and the hat with the feather in it. always was a real treat seeing him/her occasionally.

I will miss Johnnie's fish department.

I'll miss the easy parking and the convenience...

the pleasant staff, the personal service (not self-scan impersonal often broken computers), the grocery baggers (did yuoi know hta at some other grocery stores the staff is forbidden to bag for those going through self-scan???)... I'll miss that it still felt a bit like the old First National. Remember that one?

And please excuse all the typos in the entry above... too late to type well!

I hear A local Blog Is going out of business also. Not sad to see that blog is going out.

I will miss Johnnie's bakery, which is much better than WF's, the old-timey feeling and the cheap seasonal items, like 99c Christmas napkins. The store reminds me of my granny in a good way, and I'm sorry to see it go. I like Whole Foods too, and I'm sure I'll get used to it, but it's too bad. And I'm very sorry to see Johnnie's employees, who are very pleasant, lose their jobs right before the holidays.

Johnnie's bakery deceptively appeared to be a high point, because it was in the store, but the finished goods weren't all that great. And, sorry, but by high New England seafood standards, you were taking a real chance on the fish, And lastly, as I said before - yes it was uncrowded and therefore had fast checkout and easy parking, but a store cannot survive if that's the only perks thay can give the customers.

Good luck to all the employees. I hope everyone is proud of their election choices.

Matt: The people who voted for Obama have no clue what Obamacare is going to do to them.
But on a bright note, Obamacare may force workers, who are downsized by Obamacare, to Unionize, and force businesses to hire full time workers.
They have no idea what is going to happen to their jobs.

Sit back and watch the show Saul. The complete lack of respect America has now around the world is why so much unrest is taking place in the world. Between all the businesses closing and the world on the edge of a world war I hope people realize what this election has done to each and every one of us.

Saul I agree that the Obama voters have 0 clues, especially about business. How can unemployed Union members force business to hire full time when the business can't or have no need to hire FT? Even then business will be forced to probably would opt out of offering health care altogether. Any potential employees will have Obama care and business will just absorb penalties. At an extra $1.80 plus per hour per employee that would be nuts to hire more full timers. especially in the low profit retail food biz. And with more & continued crushing regulations (RIP most small family owned business)
Obama care was always a job killer, along with it's other costly issues... I'm sorry to say, but that was the intended miserable plan all along.
We could all have had the classic Caddy, but instead picked the 1977 "Dodge Dent" with the blown engine...We have big problems

I will miss the choice.
If I want star fruit, I go to Stop and Shop, if I want organic escargots, I go to Whole Foods and I deal with what is involved in shopping at those places.
If I want a USDA Choice, Black Angus, 12 oz. New York Strip, six English muffins, and a four pack of Scott toilet paper for under $15 and be in and out in five minutes, I went to Johnnies.
Clean, friendly, no non-sense, good selection, easy to get to, easy to park, no long walks around a huge store, no long lines, every item has a price tag on it and good music to listen to.

Every day, everywhere I go, things cost more, Johnnies was one place where everything cost less.

It’s not the end of the world, it’s just things won’t be as good as they used to be.

I wish the best to all the people who made Johnnies such a fine place to shop.

Now that's news

Well the people that worked at johnnies have something in common with the blogger . They are all unemployed ... Good Luck to the Johnnies workers

Hannah: I am not predicting, I am reading what companies are saying on the internet. The internet is full of stories from major employers, about their Obamacare options. The options are not favorable to the employees and their future.
You have no idea what you voted for.

Here are 3 for starters. google keywords OBAMACARE FULL TIME WORKERS
You have no idea what is in store for employment

http://www.obamacarewatch.org/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/13/john-metz-hurricane-grill-wings-dennys_n_2122412.html

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2012/11/05/obamacare-drops-full-time-employment/

As I assume that Thanksgiving and Christmas are quite profitable for grocery stores I was puzzled by the rush to close down. My insta-theory: Dejesus's tax advisors wanted an exit before expiration of the Bush tax cuts on high incomes.

Puzzling? Not really...Wrong assumption Ben...
You have to think as a business and then the mass of regs and the other land mines planted in the small business path, not as an individual filer...Which BTW also promises to suck whether they settle up or not down in Washingmachine DC.
Now if you think that business owners appear heartless and cold, that's the figgin plan! Still puzzled?
If you think that employees are getting the shaft, surprise also part of the plan...
This is plane old, to some obvious to others puzzling, assualt on small business.
And you haven't seen anything yet...Small to medium guys are selling or closing now to save what assets they have left. If only to pay lawyers, the State, feds, etc less in the longer run.
If you think that a class war is on, step back and look at this for a longer second. It's really not. It's the LACK of class that's going on.
Don't be puzzled... Never mind it's to late...Look around now while you can. You'll see less and less, paying more and more and owing more and more, with less choices.
Congratulations you are now up to speed.

Think Little Johnnies is ducking out early for obvious reasons?...See Walmart...Every Mbat is is on their shit for Thanksgiving black Friday opening a little early Why? Unions of course, and has nothing to do with shopping or traditions...
So we looked into it, and found out this rush for Christmas, while annoying to the traditionalist in all of us, is nothing new. And the person to blame? Someone who actually moved Thanksgiving to get more people out shopping for Christmas?

Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
http://outfront.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/08/wal-mart-pushes-black-friday-to-8pm-on-thanksgiving-is-nothing-sacred/

Johnnie's was great, and I will miss it