Roxbury Stop & Shop cleared to reopen after evidence of mice found

A Stop & Shop store in Roxbury reopened Wednesday afternoon after evidence of mice was found inside the store.

William Christopher, Director of the Inspectional Services Department, said Wednesday the store met all their requirements and the no-work permit at the store will be lifted.

On Monday the store, located at 460 Blue Hill Ave., was closed after Christopher said a complaint was made on Friday. According to Christopher, a customer found evidence of mice on Friday and reported it to someone. Christopher said nothing had been cleaned up when they returned Monday. 

Health officials said there were mouse droppings and dead mice found in and around the store, including the bakery and produce areas. One shopper reported seeing a loaf of bread that appeared to have bitten by mice. At least one dead rat was also found outside the building. 

Christopher said he has been the director for two years and this is the first time he has shut down a grocery store for this reason. 

"We went out again this morning as a follow up to our discussion on Friday, and we found that the mouse infestation had gotten worse, and they had not done any of the repair work or remedial plans that we had given them to make things correct," Christopher said. 

Stop & Shop representatives said the store underwent 48 hours of extensive cleaning and sanitation. Every day for the next three weeks, officials said pest control will also treat the store.

Shoppers who went to the supermarket Wednesday afternoon said they noticed a difference.

"It was nice and clean," said Dennis Fitzmeyer. "You could smell it. The floors were nice and shiny, so it looked good."

As Stop & Shop works to keep the Roxbury store clean, more complaints have been coming in about the supermarket. One person claimed her family got sick after she purchased food from the Roxbury store. Another complaint was made about the sanitary conditions at the Jamaica Plain store. 

"When everyone’s looking, of course you’ll do what’s expected," said customer Sylvia Diamond. "We’ll be here to see if it’s maintained."

Stop & Shop released this statement on Wednesday: 

Following a re-inspection of our Blue Hill Avenue store in Roxbury by the Boston Inspectional Services Department, the store will re-open at 2pm for business.  We have addressed all the concerns raised by the Department.

We understand the special role that our store has in the Roxbury community and commit to do our very best to ensure that this situation does not occur again.  We apologize for this inconvenience to our Roxbury customers.

We want to thank our customers and the Grove Hall community for their patience while we addressed the issues at the store.  We also want to thank our associates in the Roxbury store, who worked tirelessly over the past two days to help us return the store to the condition that we and our customers expect.
 

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