Daily Table is closing abruptly in Central Square

Daily Table grocery stores in Greater Boston are going out of business over this weekend, with the Cambridge store in Central Square remaining open only through Monday. Dorchester, Roxbury and Salem stores close at the end of the day Sunday, according to the website of the not-for-profit organization that owns and operates the stores.

News was sudden for shoppers and staff. “Two days ago, there was only one small hint when some deliveries didn’t get delivered,” said one anonymous employee reached by phone at a store.

The stores offer a 30 percent discount on goods Saturday and Sunday. Anything left over from Boston and Salem stores will be transported to Cambridge and sold there Monday, the staffer said.

The employee blamed tariffs imposed by president Donald Trump, at least in part, for the organization’s financial difficulties. An email sent to the community Friday pointed to that too, citing “the current uncertain and difficult funding environment” as a reason sustaining Daily Table became increasingly difficult, capping several years that have been particularly hard since “the challenges of Covid, plus the pressures of facing historically high levels of food price increases.”

“Without immediate funding to bridge us through 2025, we cannot continue. After careful consideration, we have come to the heartbreaking conclusion that we can no longer continue operations,” the letter said.

Warning came to the city several months ago that the chain was in trouble, vice mayor Marc McGovern said Friday. He connected Sasha Purpura, Daily Table’s chief executive and former executive director of the nonprofit Food for Free, with Cambridge city manager Yi-An Huang. The contribution “obviously wasn’t enough” to make a long-term difference, McGovern said.

In the most recent fiscal year, the city contributed $150,000, an increase from the two prior fiscal years: The city gave $100,000 in each of the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years. Before that, it gave $60,000 annual contributions, city spokesperson Jeremy Warnick said. Some money contributed by the city to Daily Table came from federal Covid recovery dollars. That American Rescue Plan Act was a one-time fund; all money received had to be earmarked by the end of 2024 and spent by Dec. 31, 2026.

“If they had just a little more runway, I think they were on their way to becoming more financially stable,” McGovern said of Daily Table.

The chain signed a lease for the 684 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, site in March 2020 and opened the new store Jan. 22, 2021. The store will close after 4.3 years.

Purpura told Cambridge Day that there have been “a lot of factors that have led to this. Since I joined 15 months ago, it’s been very tight financially, but we’ve found ways to keep going.”

Investment by board, cities

Purpura added that board members have “stepped up” in personally investing money into the organization, but other charitable gifts had become harder to secure. “I can assure you that the board members, who made this decision, have invested in [the Daily Table] personally,” she said. “This decision broke their hearts.“

“In this environment, funders are understandably circling the wagons,” she said.

The stores serve any customers who walk through the door, but customers with federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits could save even more. The federal government provided funds that enabled Daily Table stores to match the dollars of customers with those benefits, but the funds stopped in the fall.

That discount applied to fresh produce “for years,” Purpura said.

The City of Cambridge filled the gap, letting residents continue to buy $20 worth of produce for $10. After a pause, the City of Boston made a similar, though more limited investment for the customers of Dorchester and Roxbury stores.

Howard Brown, a crossing guard by the Morse School who was shopping for groceries Friday, said he’s been shopping at The Daily Table since the day it opened in Central Square. He’s not sure where he will shop. The nearest options are a Target, Whole Foods and H Mart, which are more expensive. “My pay is not big, the food stamps are nothing much,” he said. “H Mart is expensive, it’s for rich people.”

Unusual business model

The Daily Table’s farewell notice says the four stores served 3 million customers, returning more than $16 million in savings over the organization’s 10 years.

“I believe deeply in the model,” Purpura said of an unusual structure of a nonprofit organization that earns income from sales in stores, obtains some donations of what it sells and also receives donations.

This model’s central feature was operating real grocery stores, not food pantries, because “nearly half of the people who struggle with food insecurity won’t go to a food pantry and simply have not had the option to buy healthy food” before the launch of Daily Table, Purpura said. The organization met that need, but its model took the burden off food pantries as well, especially during the last days of every month.

The closing also leaves a 3,000-square-foot sales floor empty at a prominent place in the streetscape. Central Square Business Improvement District president Michael Monestime is already trying to find a tenant to replace a Prospect Street boxing gym and other spots on Massachusetts Avenue: A Walgreens that closed March 27 and Hilton’s Tent City that closed April 30 after an announcement in March.

“Outside of the vacancy,” the grocery store closing “is a huge loss. People need affordable food,” Monestime said. “The community is already feeling food insecurity. Now the employees no longer have a way to derive income.”

Workers left adrift

The stores also paid a living wage at Cambridge rates to its Central Square store employees, and Boston-standard living wages at all its other locations.

“The vibes are bad” among staff after they learned they would be unemployed in a matter of days. The board was poised to close in Central Square sooner, he believes, but “staff put together a plan to get as many dollars as we can over the weekend so that we can pay everybody’s severance.”

The anonymous staffer said, “We provide a meaningful service for the community, we had a positive culture, we were proud to be able to work at a place like this. People are really disappointed.”

It was shameful that White House policies forced an end to the store chain, said McGovern, the vice mayor, on Friday.

“This president is literally taking food out of people’s mouths,” McGovern said. “It’s incredibly sad.”

Monestime also called the closing “trickle-down from the federal government.”

Julia Levine contributed to this report.

A stronger

Please consider making a financial contribution to maintain, expand and improve Cambridge Day.

We are now a 501(c)3 nonprofit and all donations are tax deductible.

Please consider a recurring contribution.

Donate now