Stop & Shop
Encyclopedia
The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company is a chain of supermarket
s located mostly in the northeastern United States
. Its main rivals are Shaw's Star Market and Hannaford
in New England, while ShopRite
and the A&P
family of supermarkets are its main competition in New York and New Jersey.
, Massachusetts by the Rabinowitz family as the Economy Grocery Stores Company. Four years later, the store introduced a new concept to retailing: the self-service, modern supermarket. The chain had grown to 86 supermarkets by 1946, when the name was officially changed to Stop & Shop, Inc.
Stop & Shop purchased the now-defunct department store
chain Bradlees
in 1961, and sold it in 1992. It also operated a chain of pharmacies named Medi-Mart, which were sold to Walgreens
in the late 1980s, as well as Perkins Tobacco Stores in the 1960s and 1970s.
Stop & Shop is now the largest food retailer based in New England. It operates more than 380 stores throughout four of the six New England states, as well as in downstate New York
and northern New Jersey
. The corporate headquarters is located in Quincy
, MA and the current distribution facility is located in Assonet
, MA. Until 2006 the firm also operated a large warehouse located off of Interstate 91
in North Haven
, Connecticut
; while the company's original warehouse was in Readville
, MA.
In the late 1980s, The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company was acquired by leveraged buyout specialists Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. Shortly thereafter, Medi-Mart was sold to Walgreens, and Bradlees was spun off as its own corporation. After a period of several years in which KKR explored merger possibilities with Safeway (which it also controlled at the time), Stop & Shop
was sold at public offering.
In 1980, Stop & Shop had supermarkets in New Jersey, New York state south of Kingston
, Connecticut
, Rhode Island
, and Massachusetts
. The stores were then typical in size at about 30000 square feet (2,787.1 m²) on average. Many were next door to their then-co-owned Bradlees Department stores. In the New York and Philadelphia metro areas, Stop & Shop was not able to compete successfully. In 1982, Stop & Shop exited New Jersey, selling most of the stores that were profitable to A & P, which would use these stores to replace their aging fleet of stores. Other stores were either sold to other chains or closed and converted to other uses. In New York State they sold some of their stores to A & P while selling others to Grand Union
and closing others, converting them also to other uses.
Also, in 1982, Stop & Shop built their first Superstore in the Springfield, Massachusetts
area. These stores would be between 45000 square feet (4,180.6 m²) and 80000 square feet (7,432.2 m²). In addition to traditional supermarket offerings, these stores feature bakeries, pharmacies, moderate selections of general merchandise one would not expect to find at a supermarket, expanded deli departments, cafes, and a salad bar. Also some of these stores would feature a bank, expanded liquor and beer, video rentals, etc. Throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, the traditional supermarkets were converted one by one into superstores. Some were remodeled, others were torn down and a new store rebuilt in the same location, while others were closed and replaced with a super store within a mile or two. By 1990, Stop & Shop operated in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Boston area, and Springfield, MA areas only except for its New York state location (which would be closed in 2000 and was joined in 1994 with a Superstore nearby in Wappingers Falls, NY). The Bradlees chain, which also had stores in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, was sold in 1992, and was liquidated after 2 bankruptcies in 2000.
The chain was acquired by the American branch of Dutch
food giant Ahold
in 1995. Ahold had previously acquired First National Supermarkets, whose Edwards and Finast
chains also had a strong presence in Connecticut, and Ahold planned to operate both the Edwards and Stop & Shop chains side by side. However, in the wake of the acquisition, Connecticut Attorney General
Richard Blumenthal
raised anti-trust questions, as Stop & Shop and Edwards combined had more than half of the grocery market share in Connecticut. Following negotiations with Blumenthal, Ahold decided to convert all of its New England stores to the Stop & Shop banner, while selling some locations to other chains such as Shaw's, Shop Rite, and Grand Union
. Ahold also began building stores under the Edwards banner in New York state and New Jersey. They also acquired 26 independent Mayfair Foodtown
stores in that area, converting them to Edwards. From 1998 to 1999, several Super Stop & Shop stores were built in the northern Hudson Valley
near the Poughkeepsie location.
In 1999, Ahold announced its plan to acquire Pathmark
supermarkets. Under that deal all the Edwards stores would be renamed Pathmark along with the Giant Stores of both Carlisle and Landover. Late in 2000, after Grand Union
was about to enter Chapter 7 bankruptcy and liquidate, Ahold walked away from the Pathmark deal and proposed acquiring many of the Grand Union locations instead.
At that point, Ahold continued the transition of its Edwards stores, converting all of its New York and New Jersey locations to the Stop & Shop format late in 2000. In 2001, Ahold acquired most of the Grand Union locations in New Jersey and New York state south of Kingston. These were all renamed Stop & Shop. Other locations went to other supermarket chains, non food chains, or closed altogether. In 2003, Ahold acquired many of the A & P Foodmart locations in the Hartford, Connecticut
area, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and the one remaining New Hampshire store. Other A & P locations in that region closed or were sold to other supermarket chains. In 2004, Ahold integrated Stop & Shop Supermarkets with Giant Food LLC
and created one combined company with the name of Stop & Shop/Giant-Landover
.
In 1994, Giant-Landover began northern expansion by opening stores in Pennsylvania
, Delaware
and New Jersey
under the Super G trade name. This was done to differentiate itself from future sister company Giant Food Stores of Carlisle, Pennsylvania
. During 2005, the newly formed Stop & Shop/Giant made the decision to phase out the Super G name in New Jersey and Delaware. In New Jersey, four Super G stores were shuttered and the remaining eight stores were converted to the Super Stop & Shop banner and became a part of Stop & Shop's New York Sales Division in an attempt to revive sales at the stores. These stores continued to underperform and were subsequently sold in 2007 to Shoprite Supermarket owners. The Delaware Super G stores were to be remodeled under the Super Stop & Shop format and reopened as Super Giant. Super G stores in Pennsylvania were close to Giant Food Stores locations and were also closed.
In 2006, Stop & Shop signed a contract with Starbucks
, placing the coffee shop chain's licensed stores inside certain supermarkets. Many Stop & Shop stores currently feature Dunkin' Donuts
outlets inside the store. Also in May 2006, Stop & Shop began piloting the Shopping Buddy program in select stores in Massachusetts and Connecticut. The Shopping Buddy is a personal shopping assistant that allows customers to track their purchases and to do in-cart bagging as they move through the store.
In October 2007, Stop & Shop launched an advertising campaign which was intended to have users submit stories and videos to a website (stopandshop.tv) detailing their grocery store experiences. The campaign was significant in that it is an early example of a regional traditional brand employing Web 2.0
concepts such as user-generated content
to promote their stores.
On August 22, 2008, Stop & Shop changed its logo as a re-branding project along with its sister company, Giant-Landover.
In August 2009, Stop & Shop announced closures and re-brandings for a large portion of the licensed Starbucks stores opened in 2006.
In 2007 Stop & Shop made an attempt to expand further into northern New England. They built, but did not operate, a single Vermont
store in Rutland before selling it to rival supermarket operator Delhaize. Delhaize opened the store under its Hannaford
banner in February 2008.
Also, in July 2007 Stop & Shop opened a single Maine
store in Kennebunk. The store was closed in October 2009, citing slow sales as the primary reason. At the same time, they abandoned plans to build a second Maine store in Portland. Delhaize purchased the vacant Kennebunk location in December 2009 and will reopen the property under the Hannaford
banner in Spring 2010.
In 2010, Stop & Shop's parent company, Ahold USA, plans to relocate its corporate headquarters which is currently based in Quincy, Massachusetts to Carlisle, Pennsylvania in order to centralize Ahold's US operations in one location.
Currently (as of late 2010), Stop & Shop operates stores in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island in particular have a very strong Stop & Shop base - almost to the point of saturating the market - and are far beyond their competitors in number of stores.
Stop & Shop also has numerous in-house brands including:
During the market realignment phase, the following products became private label items, and no longer carry their original names:
These are now simply "Stop and Shop" brand products.
benefits, union workers threatened to strike. It was understood that no strike would occur until at least Thursday, February 22, 2007. If a new contract was not signed by then, workers could begin the walk out as early as Friday, February 23, 2007. Stop & Shop wanted employees to share the cost of healthcare, but union workers believed Stop & Shop should pay it in full.
Workers were paying co-payments for office visits and medical procedures, as well as deductibles of $300 for health care costs and $2,500 for hospital costs. The grocery chain wanted to implement weekly contributions of between $5 and $21 on top of the co-payments. These fees would increase over the course of the three-year contract.
At midnight on February 23, 2007, grocery workers at the Stop & Shop supermarket chain in Connecticut, Rhode Island
and Massachusetts had voted overwhelmingly to reject a contract proposal and to authorize a strike
against the grocery chain. The contracts for United Food and Commercial Workers
Locals 328, 371, 919, 1445 and 1459 expired on February 17 and extended to cover until February 22, but the union and the grocery chain agreed to expand the deadline two more days, to midnight of Saturday, February 24, 2007.
Officials with Stop & Shop and the United Food and Commercial Workers continued negotiating through Friday, March 2, 2007, extending the contract until 12:01 am Saturday, March 3, 2007, given that talks were scheduled to continue through Friday. Both sides extended the negotiations, which resumed Monday, February 26, 2007.
On Saturday, March 3, 2007, the five unions involved gave the company a very complicated and comprehensive contract proposal that covers every aspect of their five agreements and identifies what they believe to be a fair and equitable contract for everyone. On Wednesday, March 7, 2007, the five locals representing workers in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts scheduled voting on a new contract for Sunday, extending the strike deadline for Monday, March 12, 2007. The locals delivered a comprehensive contract to Stop & Shop negotiators Saturday and the two sides took a break from bargaining to allow the company to go over the proposal. Approximately 43,000 unionized Stop & Shop workers in three states could have either had a new contract that Sunday or begun walking picket lines possibly that Monday, according to union officials.
The contentious stop-and-go negotiations between Stop & Shop and its five unions came to a conclusion with a three-year contract overwhelmingly ratified by union members across New England, and a strike was averted. All full-time workers receive an increase of $25 per week retroactive to February 17, when the previous contract expired; then another $20 weekly increase in March 2008 and March 2009, the second and third years of the contract. Part-timers receive an immediate 35¢-an-hour increase, also retroactive, and 35¢ yet again in years two and three of the contract. On the issue of health care, full-time workers who are single must now contribute $5 per week toward their health insurance premiums; married workers with spouse must pay $10, and a worker with a family $15. Part-time workers will make no contributions toward health care premiums, retaining the current practice which covers union workers' health insurance entirely except for co-payments and deductibles.
On January 15, 2010, Mark McGowan and Ron Onorato sent a letter to employees notifying them that negotiations had begun with five UFCW Local Unions (Locals 328, 371, 919, 1445,1500, and 1459). On March 7, 2010, Stop and Shop and the five UFCW Local Unions agreed to a new three-year contract.
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...
s located mostly in the northeastern United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Its main rivals are Shaw's Star Market and Hannaford
Hannaford Bros. Co.
Hannaford is an American supermarket chain based in Scarborough, Maine. Founded in 1883, Hannaford now operates stores in New England and upstate New York. Formerly known as Shop 'N' Save, Hannaford is owned by the American subsidiary of the Belgian Delhaize Group, Delhaize America, which owns over...
in New England, while ShopRite
ShopRite (United States)
ShopRite Supermarkets is a retailers' cooperative chain of supermarkets in the northeastern United States, with stores in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania...
and the A&P
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, better known as A&P, is a supermarket and liquor store chain in the United States. Its supermarkets, which are under six different banners, are found in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. A&P's liquor stores, known as...
family of supermarkets are its main competition in New York and New Jersey.
History
Stop & Shop's roots can be traced back to 1892, when Solomon and Jeanie Rabinowitz opened a grocery shop, called the "Greenie Store", at 134 Salem Street, in Boston's North End. This store lasted at this location until 1908. According to the company's web site, Stop & Shop was founded in 1914 in SomervilleSomerville, Massachusetts
Somerville is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located just north of Boston. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 75,754 and was the most densely populated municipality in New England. It is also the 17th most densely populated incorporated place in...
, Massachusetts by the Rabinowitz family as the Economy Grocery Stores Company. Four years later, the store introduced a new concept to retailing: the self-service, modern supermarket. The chain had grown to 86 supermarkets by 1946, when the name was officially changed to Stop & Shop, Inc.
Stop & Shop purchased the now-defunct department store
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
chain Bradlees
Bradlees
Bradlees was a chain of discount department stores which operated primarily in the Northeastern United States. The chain went bankrupt in 2000 and all of its stores were closed by March 2001.-History:...
in 1961, and sold it in 1992. It also operated a chain of pharmacies named Medi-Mart, which were sold to Walgreens
Walgreens
Walgreen Co. , doing business as Walgreens , is the largest drugstore chain in the United States of America. As of August 31st, the company operates 8,210 locations across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1901, and has since expanded...
in the late 1980s, as well as Perkins Tobacco Stores in the 1960s and 1970s.
Stop & Shop is now the largest food retailer based in New England. It operates more than 380 stores throughout four of the six New England states, as well as in downstate New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and northern New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. The corporate headquarters is located in Quincy
Quincy, Massachusetts
Quincy is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Its nicknames are "City of Presidents", "City of Legends", and "Birthplace of the American Dream". As a major part of Metropolitan Boston, Quincy is a member of Boston's Inner Core Committee for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council...
, MA and the current distribution facility is located in Assonet
Assonet, Massachusetts
Assonet is one of two villages in the town of Freetown, Massachusetts in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. An original part of the town, Assonet was settled in 1659 along with the city of Fall River, then a part of Freetown. It rests on the banks of the Assonet River...
, MA. Until 2006 the firm also operated a large warehouse located off of Interstate 91
Interstate 91
Interstate 91 is an Interstate Highway in the New England region of the United States. It provides the primary north–south thoroughfare in the western part of New England...
in North Haven
North Haven, Connecticut
North Haven is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut on the outskirts of New Haven, Connecticut.North Haven is less than ten miles from downtown New Haven and Yale University. It is near Sleeping Giant State Park and home the Quinnipiac University School of Health Sciences, the School of Nursing,...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
; while the company's original warehouse was in Readville
Readville, Massachusetts
Readville, called Low Plains from 1655 until renaming in 1847 after Mr. James Read originally part of Dedham until 1867 but now a part of Boston, is considered either a part of the Hyde Park neighborhood, or a neighborhood in its own right. It is served by Readville station on the MBTA Commuter Rail...
, MA.
In the late 1980s, The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company was acquired by leveraged buyout specialists Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. Shortly thereafter, Medi-Mart was sold to Walgreens, and Bradlees was spun off as its own corporation. After a period of several years in which KKR explored merger possibilities with Safeway (which it also controlled at the time), Stop & Shop
was sold at public offering.
In 1980, Stop & Shop had supermarkets in New Jersey, New York state south of Kingston
Kingston, New York
Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, USA. It is north of New York City and south of Albany. It became New York's first capital in 1777, and was burned by the British Oct. 16, 1777, after the Battles of Saratoga...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
, and Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. The stores were then typical in size at about 30000 square feet (2,787.1 m²) on average. Many were next door to their then-co-owned Bradlees Department stores. In the New York and Philadelphia metro areas, Stop & Shop was not able to compete successfully. In 1982, Stop & Shop exited New Jersey, selling most of the stores that were profitable to A & P, which would use these stores to replace their aging fleet of stores. Other stores were either sold to other chains or closed and converted to other uses. In New York State they sold some of their stores to A & P while selling others to Grand Union
Grand Union
- Transport :* Grand union, a four-way, double track rail junction often found on tram systems* Grand Union Canal, a waterway running from London to Birmingham in the United Kingdom...
and closing others, converting them also to other uses.
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...
area. These stores would be between 45000 square feet (4,180.6 m²) and 80000 square feet (7,432.2 m²). In addition to traditional supermarket offerings, these stores feature bakeries, pharmacies, moderate selections of general merchandise one would not expect to find at a supermarket, expanded deli departments, cafes, and a salad bar. Also some of these stores would feature a bank, expanded liquor and beer, video rentals, etc. Throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, the traditional supermarkets were converted one by one into superstores. Some were remodeled, others were torn down and a new store rebuilt in the same location, while others were closed and replaced with a super store within a mile or two. By 1990, Stop & Shop operated in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Boston area, and Springfield, MA areas only except for its New York state location (which would be closed in 2000 and was joined in 1994 with a Superstore nearby in Wappingers Falls, NY). The Bradlees chain, which also had stores in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, was sold in 1992, and was liquidated after 2 bankruptcies in 2000.
The chain was acquired by the American branch of Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
food giant Ahold
Ahold
Ahold is a major international supermarket operator based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Ahold is listed on Euronext Amsterdam and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.-History:...
in 1995. Ahold had previously acquired First National Supermarkets, whose Edwards and Finast
Finast
Finast was a retail supermarket brand that existed in the northeastern United States until being absorbed by Edwards and its Dutch parent Royal Ahold in the mid-1990s. Finast was an acronym for First National Stores. Despite the acronym, many referred to the store as "The First National"...
chains also had a strong presence in Connecticut, and Ahold planned to operate both the Edwards and Stop & Shop chains side by side. However, in the wake of the acquisition, Connecticut Attorney General
Connecticut Attorney General
The Connecticut Attorney General is the state attorney general of Connecticut.The Attorney General is elected to a four-year term. The current Attorney General is George Jepsen, a Democrat serving since January 5, 2011.-List of Attorneys General:...
Richard Blumenthal
Richard Blumenthal
Richard Blumenthal is the junior United States Senator from Connecticut and a member of the Democratic Party. Previously, he served as Attorney General of Connecticut....
raised anti-trust questions, as Stop & Shop and Edwards combined had more than half of the grocery market share in Connecticut. Following negotiations with Blumenthal, Ahold decided to convert all of its New England stores to the Stop & Shop banner, while selling some locations to other chains such as Shaw's, Shop Rite, and Grand Union
Grand Union
- Transport :* Grand union, a four-way, double track rail junction often found on tram systems* Grand Union Canal, a waterway running from London to Birmingham in the United Kingdom...
. Ahold also began building stores under the Edwards banner in New York state and New Jersey. They also acquired 26 independent Mayfair Foodtown
Foodtown
| area_served =| key_people =| industry = Retail| products =| services =| market cap =| revenue =| operating_income =| net_income =| assets =| equity =| owner =...
stores in that area, converting them to Edwards. From 1998 to 1999, several Super Stop & Shop stores were built in the northern Hudson Valley
Hudson Valley
The Hudson Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in New York State, United States, from northern Westchester County northward to the cities of Albany and Troy.-History:...
near the Poughkeepsie location.
In 1999, Ahold announced its plan to acquire Pathmark
Pathmark
Pathmark is a supermarket chain headquartered in Montvale, New Jersey. It was founded in 1968 when its then parent, Supermarkets General Corporation, pulled out of the ShopRite retailers' cooperative...
supermarkets. Under that deal all the Edwards stores would be renamed Pathmark along with the Giant Stores of both Carlisle and Landover. Late in 2000, after Grand Union
Grand Union
- Transport :* Grand union, a four-way, double track rail junction often found on tram systems* Grand Union Canal, a waterway running from London to Birmingham in the United Kingdom...
was about to enter Chapter 7 bankruptcy and liquidate, Ahold walked away from the Pathmark deal and proposed acquiring many of the Grand Union locations instead.
At that point, Ahold continued the transition of its Edwards stores, converting all of its New York and New Jersey locations to the Stop & Shop format late in 2000. In 2001, Ahold acquired most of the Grand Union locations in New Jersey and New York state south of Kingston. These were all renamed Stop & Shop. Other locations went to other supermarket chains, non food chains, or closed altogether. In 2003, Ahold acquired many of the A & P Foodmart locations in the Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
area, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and the one remaining New Hampshire store. Other A & P locations in that region closed or were sold to other supermarket chains. In 2004, Ahold integrated Stop & Shop Supermarkets with Giant Food LLC
Giant Food of Landover, Maryland
Giant Food LLC is a supermarket chain with 202 stores in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.. It is headquartered in unincorporated Prince George's County, Maryland, near Landover. Giant often is known as Giant-Landover to avoid confusion with sibling company Giant-Carlisle...
and created one combined company with the name of Stop & Shop/Giant-Landover
Stop & Shop/Giant-Landover
Stop & Shop/Giant-Landover is a company owned by Ahold USA, a subsidiary of Royal Ahold. The company was formed in 2004 by a merger of Giant Food and Stop & Shop, two formerly separate companies within Ahold USA...
.
In 1994, Giant-Landover began northern expansion by opening stores in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
and New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
under the Super G trade name. This was done to differentiate itself from future sister company Giant Food Stores of Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Carlisle is a borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The name is traditionally pronounced with emphasis on the second syllable. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2010 census, the borough...
. During 2005, the newly formed Stop & Shop/Giant made the decision to phase out the Super G name in New Jersey and Delaware. In New Jersey, four Super G stores were shuttered and the remaining eight stores were converted to the Super Stop & Shop banner and became a part of Stop & Shop's New York Sales Division in an attempt to revive sales at the stores. These stores continued to underperform and were subsequently sold in 2007 to Shoprite Supermarket owners. The Delaware Super G stores were to be remodeled under the Super Stop & Shop format and reopened as Super Giant. Super G stores in Pennsylvania were close to Giant Food Stores locations and were also closed.
In 2006, Stop & Shop signed a contract with Starbucks
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...
, placing the coffee shop chain's licensed stores inside certain supermarkets. Many Stop & Shop stores currently feature Dunkin' Donuts
Dunkin' Donuts
Dunkin' Donuts is an international doughnut and coffee retailer founded in 1950 by William Rosenberg in Quincy, Massachusetts; it is now headquartered in Canton...
outlets inside the store. Also in May 2006, Stop & Shop began piloting the Shopping Buddy program in select stores in Massachusetts and Connecticut. The Shopping Buddy is a personal shopping assistant that allows customers to track their purchases and to do in-cart bagging as they move through the store.
In October 2007, Stop & Shop launched an advertising campaign which was intended to have users submit stories and videos to a website (stopandshop.tv) detailing their grocery store experiences. The campaign was significant in that it is an early example of a regional traditional brand employing Web 2.0
Web 2.0
The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web...
concepts such as user-generated content
User-generated content
User generated content covers a range of media content available in a range of modern communications technologies. It entered mainstream usage during 2005 having arisen in web publishing and new media content production circles...
to promote their stores.
On August 22, 2008, Stop & Shop changed its logo as a re-branding project along with its sister company, Giant-Landover.
In August 2009, Stop & Shop announced closures and re-brandings for a large portion of the licensed Starbucks stores opened in 2006.
In 2007 Stop & Shop made an attempt to expand further into northern New England. They built, but did not operate, a single Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
store in Rutland before selling it to rival supermarket operator Delhaize. Delhaize opened the store under its Hannaford
Hannaford Bros. Co.
Hannaford is an American supermarket chain based in Scarborough, Maine. Founded in 1883, Hannaford now operates stores in New England and upstate New York. Formerly known as Shop 'N' Save, Hannaford is owned by the American subsidiary of the Belgian Delhaize Group, Delhaize America, which owns over...
banner in February 2008.
Also, in July 2007 Stop & Shop opened a single Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
store in Kennebunk. The store was closed in October 2009, citing slow sales as the primary reason. At the same time, they abandoned plans to build a second Maine store in Portland. Delhaize purchased the vacant Kennebunk location in December 2009 and will reopen the property under the Hannaford
Hannaford Bros. Co.
Hannaford is an American supermarket chain based in Scarborough, Maine. Founded in 1883, Hannaford now operates stores in New England and upstate New York. Formerly known as Shop 'N' Save, Hannaford is owned by the American subsidiary of the Belgian Delhaize Group, Delhaize America, which owns over...
banner in Spring 2010.
In 2010, Stop & Shop's parent company, Ahold USA, plans to relocate its corporate headquarters which is currently based in Quincy, Massachusetts to Carlisle, Pennsylvania in order to centralize Ahold's US operations in one location.
Currently (as of late 2010), Stop & Shop operates stores in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island in particular have a very strong Stop & Shop base - almost to the point of saturating the market - and are far beyond their competitors in number of stores.
Brands
As part of Stop & Shop's market realignment, they have introduced new private-label products to their stores.Stop & Shop also has numerous in-house brands including:
- CareOne (Health and Beauty Care)
- Acadia (Spring Water Products)
- Nature's Promise (Natural and Organic Foods)
- Orchard Perfect (Limited Produce Label)
- Pure Power/Pure Softness (Cleaning Supplies)
- Companion Essentials (Pet Products)
- White Gem (Chicken)
- Cottontails (Diapers and Accessories)
- Guaranteed Value (Value Priced items)
- Smart Living (General Merchandise)
- Simply Enjoy
During the market realignment phase, the following products became private label items, and no longer carry their original names:
- Sun Glory (Value Priced items, now discontinued)
- Main Street (Soda)
- Zazz (Seltzer)
- Javana (Coffee)
- MiCasa (Hispanic Items)
- KaPop (Popcorn)
- Festingos (Tortilla Chips)
- Clear Splash (Carbonated Beverages)
These are now simply "Stop and Shop" brand products.
Recent contract negotiations and complications
On February 17, 2007, the contract with Stop & Shop employees expired after three years. In an attempt to maintain their current health careHealth care
Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...
benefits, union workers threatened to strike. It was understood that no strike would occur until at least Thursday, February 22, 2007. If a new contract was not signed by then, workers could begin the walk out as early as Friday, February 23, 2007. Stop & Shop wanted employees to share the cost of healthcare, but union workers believed Stop & Shop should pay it in full.
Workers were paying co-payments for office visits and medical procedures, as well as deductibles of $300 for health care costs and $2,500 for hospital costs. The grocery chain wanted to implement weekly contributions of between $5 and $21 on top of the co-payments. These fees would increase over the course of the three-year contract.
At midnight on February 23, 2007, grocery workers at the Stop & Shop supermarket chain in Connecticut, Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
and Massachusetts had voted overwhelmingly to reject a contract proposal and to authorize a strike
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
against the grocery chain. The contracts for United Food and Commercial Workers
United Food and Commercial Workers
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union is a labor union representing approximately 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada in many industries, including agriculture, health care, meatpacking, poultry and food processing, manufacturing, textile, G4S Security, chemical...
Locals 328, 371, 919, 1445 and 1459 expired on February 17 and extended to cover until February 22, but the union and the grocery chain agreed to expand the deadline two more days, to midnight of Saturday, February 24, 2007.
Officials with Stop & Shop and the United Food and Commercial Workers continued negotiating through Friday, March 2, 2007, extending the contract until 12:01 am Saturday, March 3, 2007, given that talks were scheduled to continue through Friday. Both sides extended the negotiations, which resumed Monday, February 26, 2007.
On Saturday, March 3, 2007, the five unions involved gave the company a very complicated and comprehensive contract proposal that covers every aspect of their five agreements and identifies what they believe to be a fair and equitable contract for everyone. On Wednesday, March 7, 2007, the five locals representing workers in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts scheduled voting on a new contract for Sunday, extending the strike deadline for Monday, March 12, 2007. The locals delivered a comprehensive contract to Stop & Shop negotiators Saturday and the two sides took a break from bargaining to allow the company to go over the proposal. Approximately 43,000 unionized Stop & Shop workers in three states could have either had a new contract that Sunday or begun walking picket lines possibly that Monday, according to union officials.
The contentious stop-and-go negotiations between Stop & Shop and its five unions came to a conclusion with a three-year contract overwhelmingly ratified by union members across New England, and a strike was averted. All full-time workers receive an increase of $25 per week retroactive to February 17, when the previous contract expired; then another $20 weekly increase in March 2008 and March 2009, the second and third years of the contract. Part-timers receive an immediate 35¢-an-hour increase, also retroactive, and 35¢ yet again in years two and three of the contract. On the issue of health care, full-time workers who are single must now contribute $5 per week toward their health insurance premiums; married workers with spouse must pay $10, and a worker with a family $15. Part-time workers will make no contributions toward health care premiums, retaining the current practice which covers union workers' health insurance entirely except for co-payments and deductibles.
On January 15, 2010, Mark McGowan and Ron Onorato sent a letter to employees notifying them that negotiations had begun with five UFCW Local Unions (Locals 328, 371, 919, 1445,1500, and 1459). On March 7, 2010, Stop and Shop and the five UFCW Local Unions agreed to a new three-year contract.
Slogans
- "Stop & Shop"
- "It's time to Stop & Shop"
- "All the Ingredients"
- "Great Food. Low Prices. Friendly Service."
- "Honest Values Are What We're All About"