Arlington's Johnnie's Foodmaster to Become a Whole Foods

It's official: Johnnie's Foodmaster in Arlington will become a Whole Foods.

According to an announcement sent by Foodmaster Friday morning, the supermarket chain has agreed to transfer six of its 10 locations in the Boston area to the Texas-based upscale supermarket company.

In addition to the supermarket in Arlington, Johnnie's Foodmasters in Somerville (on Beacon Street), Charlestown, Brookline, Melrose and South Weymouth will be transferred to Whole Foods.

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Are you excited about the change? Or are you sad to see Johnnie's go? Let us know by posting a comment below.

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According to the announcement, those supermarkets will likely close sometime before Nov. 30, when the transfer is scheduled to be officially completed.

The announcement says Whole Foods will remodel the buildings and hopes to reopen them at the end of its 2013 fiscal year. Because the company's fiscal year ends at the end of September, that would mean the markets would reopen in late summer or early fall of 2013.

According to a separate announcement from Whole Foods, the two supermarkets are not disclosing the terms of the agreement.

Whole Foods also said: "Whole Foods Market has guaranteed interviews to all Johnnie’s Foodmaster employees at the six acquired locations with the goal of hiring as many as possible."

Once the plan is complete, the closest Johnnie’s would be in West Somerville, just over the Arlington town line at 105 Alewife Brook Parkway.

Johnnie’s is a family-owned grocery store that John DeJesus Sr. started in East Cambridge in 1947. In June, Johnnie’s president, John A. DeJesus, was lauded at an Arlington Board of Selectmen’s meeting for withdrawing his liquor-store license in order to support another small-business owner’s new venture.

Reports that Whole Foods was interested in the Johnnie's Foodmaster sites surfaced in August.