The much-loved Still River post office, which has been at its current location for about 70 years, will close its doors Oct. 31. The closure is a result of an unrenewed lease and, according to Stephen Doherty, strategic communications coordinator for the northeast region of the United States Postal Service, is temporary, though a new location has not yet been identified and a timeline for reopening is not available. Residents with post office boxes at the Still River office are being reassigned to the Harvard post office for the time being.
The Still River post office. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
According to the property’s owner, Nancy Hazel, the post office has been operating without a lease since Oct. 31 of last year, when its previous contract expired. At that time, the postal service did not have a proposal for renewal prepared. Hazel said that a representative of the postal service promised that one was in the works, but that the document was not produced for several months.
When, in January 2020, Hazel finally did receive a proposal, she said, the requested terms were unfair but the postal service was unwilling to negotiate.
By the time it became clear to Hazel that there would be no agreement for a new lease, the coronavirus pandemic was underway and the governor had signed a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures. Though the postal service continued to make monthly payments, Hazel said this left her with no legal power to evict or enforce new lease requirements.
Hazel said that she has friends in Still River and that, as part of the Harvard community, she hoped to come to an agreement, but that she would not be able to operate a business under the proposed terms.
Hazel was especially concerned about what she said was the late notice Still River residents received that their post office would be closing. “The late notice to the Still River residents and box holders received just last week is unjust. The post office department has known since last February [or] March, their clients and customers should have been notified then,” she wrote to the Press.
At this point, Hazel said she does not have plans to lease the building to another client.
Still River resident Lynn Festa expressed sadness over the closing of the post office. “We will dearly miss the post office on Still River Road. It has been great,” she wrote in a message to the Press. She said that she appreciates that there are no lines and felt that her mail was safe there. She said her family will be switching to home delivery once the office closes, explaining that the Harvard location is out of the way, and previous experiences there have been less pleasant than in Still River.
Doherty said that the closure is temporary but that the post office will not return to the same location. Additionally, a timeline for reopening will not be available until a lease has been signed. “How quickly we can reopen in Still River depends on how quickly we can find a suitable location, negotiate a lease and do the required remodeling,” he wrote in an email to the Press.
Still River residents will not need to change their mailing addresses, and any mail not collected from Still River by Oct. 31 will be redirected to the Harvard post office. In a letter delivered to Still River residents, Bolton postmaster Russell Sampson recommended that those who do not currently have a post office box but wish to obtain one do so at one of the four nearest locations: Harvard, Devens, Ayer, or Bolton.
