EASTHAM — The Eastham Superette will change hands in the coming months, but not much else may be different at the store on the corner of Route 6 and Samoset Road.
“Our plans are not to change anything at all,” prospective new owner Jigar Patel told the select board Monday.
Manan, Bhavya, and Jigar Patel, who also have ownership stakes in the Cape Point Hotel in West Yarmouth, have an agreement with Sarah and Eddie Wilcox, the current owners, to take over the business. They will also be purchasing the property, which is still owned by David Brown, whose parents opened the original Superette in 1952.
According to documents filed with the state, the Patels paid $1.85 million for the business and $1.5 million for the property.
Sarah Wilcox said she did not want to discuss the sale until the deal has been finalized.
Patel introduced himself to the select board and laid out his plans for the store. “Sarah and the Wilcox family have been a staple in Eastham for a long time, and we want to continue all the same traditions,” Patel said. “We want to keep everyone there that wants to stay on,” he added.
The select board voted unanimously to approve a liquor license transfer to the new owners. Members also took the opportunity to wish both the incoming and outgoing shopkeepers success, and commended the Wilcoxes for their work, particularly during the pandemic.
“It was so comforting to be able to call, have someone run around the store, find what you wanted, go pick it up, and not have to interact,” said board member Aimee Eckman, “because early on we didn’t know what was safe.”
“Now I think they get their break,” said board member Jared Collins.
The documents indicate not everything about the Superette will stay exactly the same. They show the store’s hours will shift to 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sundays. Currently, the Superette is more attuned to early birds: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays.
The Wilcoxes have owned and operated the Superette since 2012, though Sarah began working there years earlier, in 1988. They took over the business from David Brown, who had inherited it from his parents.
The Browns purchased the property from Otis and Bernice Barton in 1952. The Bartons had operated their own store, the Barton Store, for over a decade. According to records kept by local historian Marston E. Daley and found at the Eastham Historical Society, the building that now houses the Superette was built by Harvey Moore, the carpenter who constructed the Fo’castle, Henry Beston’s Outermost House.
What distinguished the Superette from its predecessor and other local markets was the fact that it was open 365 days a year, even opening for a short time on Christmas Day.
The Wilcoxes continued that tradition when they acquired the business. For over 68 years now — roughly 25,000 consecutive days — the Superette has opened its doors to the people of Eastham and those passing through.
And it has kept Eastham from becoming a food desert. In 2019, the Independent reported the closure of five small markets on and near the Outer Cape in recent years: Bradford Natural in Provincetown, Soul Food Natural Food Market and the South Wellfleet General Store in Wellfleet, Nauset Market in Eastham, and Phoenix Fruit in Orleans.
Of the three SNAP-authorized stores in Eastham, the Superette offers the most grocery options, the other two retailers being Cumberland Farms and 7-Eleven.
