Friends’ Marketplace Eyes Brewster Location, But Not Yet A Done Deal

BREWSTER – It’s not a done deal, but Brewster could get a new store that offers groceries and prepared food — plus much more — on Millstone Road. It would be a sister store to an Orleans business that has operated for almost three decades.

The owners of that store, Friends’ Marketplace, are looking into buying Millstone Liquors and expanding it into a second Friends’ Marketplace, which offers a variety of food products and catering.

The owners are Brian and Monila Junkins, and their plan cleared a hurdle at the July 27 Brewster Select Board meeting. 

After a brief public hearing at that meeting, the select board unanimously backed the transfer of Millstone Liquors’ annual all alcoholic beverages license to the Junkinses.

Select board members and Town Manager Peter Lombardi said they were happy to work with the Friends’ Marketplace ownership, even though Junkins is careful to say the project’s future is not certain.

Still, Brian Junkins, who with his wife has co-owned Friends’ Marketplaces in Rochester, Mass., and Orleans for the past decade, acknowledged much progress has been made.

“We’re still going through our feasibility stuff,” Junkins told the board. “We’re a long way along on that, to see if we could build [Millstone Liquors] into a full-fledged Friends’ Marketplace offering.”

Its Orleans website lists nine departments: bakery, beer and wine, butcher shop, cheese, deli, garden center, grocery, prepared foods and catering and produce. Brewster’s outlet would add liquor if the Junkinses’ plan comes to fruition.

Select Board member Mary Chaffee said she hoped it does. 

“This is really exciting for the community, and I’m glad to support this first step in the process,” Chaffee said.

Select Board Chair Amanda Bebrin weighed in by praising the Junkinses’ store’s “incredible prepared food,”

Lombardi said he and other town employees have been working with the store owners on permitting and other project details, and were happy to do so.

“We’re very pleased to go down this road. It’s not very often Brewster has a new business like this,” Lombardi said. “I anticipate it would be very well received in the community.”

In a later phone interview, Brian Junkins said he appreciated the enthusiasm of town officials, but was not ready to discuss further specifics about the project or its potential timetable. He cited uncertainties typical of any real estate and business deal. 

“I can’t give more details until I know for certain what is happening,” he added. “The deal’s not done until the deal’s done.”

He and his wife and business partner see opportunity in their neighboring community given the lack of similar options in the town. 

“We’re just interested in Brewster,” Junkins said. “We’ve been looking at opportunities. So I think that our store would provide a great sense of community, and give people in the community a great value, or add value to the community overall. So that’s why we’re interested there. But, again, everything has to be right.”

Junkins said he went public with the July 27 liquor license transfer because he didn’t want the licensing question to crop up later as a “bottleneck” that could slow down progress if things were going well.

Junkins also described what a Friends’ Marketplace might look like in Brewster.

“It wouldn’t be a copy-paste, but it would have all the standout elements,” he said. “We would definitely focus on fresh foods. We would definitely focus on prepared food, produce, butcher shop, that kind of stuff. We’d want to make it a Friends’ format.”

Their plans for a second Friends’ Marketplace would likely reflect the decisions they’ve made since taking over the two stores a decade ago.

“We expanded our grocery section into more natural and organic products. We did a lot of specialty products. We focused a lot on building up our prepared foods, catering, expanding our deli and sandwich and salad options. We put in a sushi bar. We put in a lot of produce. We focused a lot on local farmers markets,” Junkins said. “We’ve expanded our bakery offerings. We’ve really tried to focus on prepared and fresh foods.”