Quincy, Mass.-based Stop & Shop Supermarket Co.'s $140 million capital investment in New York City stores will have thousands more items from around the world and highlight value for local customers. The supermarket also pledges $1 million to fight hunger in the city.
The goal is to improve the shopping experience for local customers by ensuring the assortment at each store reflects the diversity of the neighborhood it serves, according to a news release.
Store remodels will deliver a fresh new look and feel for customers and will also showcase value with deal bins and the addition of the Flashfood program, which offers fresh foods at up to 50% off.
Stop & Shop's Bay Plaza store in the Bronx borough has been remodeled first, and the team celebrated with a grand opening June 10. More store upgrades across the city's five boroughs will happen the next two years.
Besides remodeling, Stop & Shop has committed $1 million to fight food insecurity across the city in 2022 through several local initiatives and community partnerships.
Stop & Shop began operating in New York City more than two decades ago and today operates 25 stores in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, according to the release. The grocery retailer offers home delivery in all five boroughs, including Manhattan. Stop & Shop employs more than 3,300 associates in the city.
Almost half of that $1 million will go toward the city's public schools and colleges to ensure local students have consistent access to healthy food, which helps them succeed in the classroom and beyond, Stop & Shop President Gordon Reid said in the release.
“We're proud to make such a significant investment in New York City, and we're excited to show customers that we can be the one-stop shop for everything they need and that we're delivering great value, particularly in this current economic environment,” he said.
Feeding diversity
Central to Stop & Shop's store enhancements are thousands of new items across store departments.
For example, the Bay Plaza store in the Bronx will feature a new Global Market with products from 14 regions tailored to its neighbors and for those looking for unique products for globally inspired cooking. The regions include West Indian and Caribbean products, especially food specific to Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica, plus Halal meat, dairy and grocery items.
As part of the Maspeth, Queens, remodel, the store will expand its Chinese and South American offerings. And Brooklyn's Sheepshead Bay customers will enjoy more Eastern European and Kosher foods. Stores will also offer hundreds of items locally made in the New York metro area.
Stop & Shop's New York City stores will have a renewed focus on value, as well, offering more sale bins and special values on relevant products highlighted in a New York City-specific weekly circular ad.
Reducing food waste
Stop & Shop is the first retailer in New York City to offer Flashfood, according to the release, which gives customers access to fresh produce, meat, dairy, bakery and other items nearing their best-by date at discounts up to 50% off.
The mobile app can help consistent shoppers save more than $500 a year on their grocery bills, but it also furthers the retailer's commitment to reduce food waste by 50% by 2030. Flashfood launched at the Bay Plaza store in June and will expand to other New York stores later in 2022.
Fighting hunger
A decades-long partner of Food Bank for New York City, Stop & Shop will once again sponsor the food bank's Mobile Pantry – an eight-week-long distribution of fresh produce and pantry staples – that kicked off June 24, in Ozone Park, Queens.
Stop & Shop is also launching a new food security initiative with Montefiore Hospital and Quincy Asian Resources, set to begin at the South Bronx elementary school, PS199X.
And the supermarket is significantly expanding its own School Food Pantry Program in the boroughs. The program was established to help limit barriers impacting students' ability to succeed in the classroom by making sure that they have consistent access to food. By the end of 2022, Stop & Shop will have helped more than 30 in-school pantries across the city.
This multi-faceted investment in New York City was celebrated in June at the Bronx's Bay Plaza store with a ribbon-cutting ceremony with community leaders and elected officials at 2136 Bartow Avenue in the Bronx.
About the companies
The Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. is an Ahold Delhaize USA company that operates more than 400 stores throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey.
And Flashfood is a mobile app tackling the mounting problem of food waste by connecting local shoppers with grocery items nearing their best before date. Founded in 2016, Flashfood is live in more than 1,210 grocery stores throughout Pennsylvania, Ohio, Massachusetts, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Wisconsin, and Canada. The app has diverted 40 million pounds of food, saved shoppers millions of dollars on their groceries, and fed hundreds of thousands of families more affordably, according to the release. Flashfood partners include Meijer, The Giant Co., Tops Friendly Markets, SpartanNash, Giant Eagle and Loblaw Corp. Flashfood is available on iOS and Android.