![]() ![]() In addition to its two warehouses in Cheshire, Bozzuto’s also has a distribution center in North Haven.įurther east along the Interstate 95 corridor, Harry Garafalo owns five ShopRite locations in Milford, Orange, Stratford, Hamden, and East Haven.įurther north, Waverly Markets is owned by the Cohen family and operates ShopRites in Manchester, Vernon and East Hartford. That is one more than Adams Hometown Supermarkets which is owned by the Cheshire-based wholesale grocery distributor Bozzuto’s, with locations in Canterbury, Deep River, East Lyme, Lisbon, Milford, Portland, Shelton, Terryville, Thomaston and Watertown. The Cingari family is the largest ownership group with 11 ShopRite stores in Fairfield and New Haven counties under the Grade A Markets corporate name. Wakefern serves as the logistics, distribution and merchandising arm for ShopRite, which has eight ownership groups that operate ShopRite stores in Connecticut, according to Wakefern spokesperson Megan Annecchiarico. ![]() Such is the case with ShopRite stores, which in Connecticut are owned by local families, but which operate with help of the New Jersey-based Wakefern Food grocery cooperative. While some of Connecticut’s supermarkets are family owned and other are run by large national companies, some grocers in the state operate in what essentially is a hybrid model. Other Connecticut newcomers range from Whole Foods planned for Old Saybrook and South Windsor to Amazon Fresh in Brookfield, Westport and Orange to the rebirth of the small Peter’s Weston Market under the Lily’s moniker. ![]() But smaller chains and independent markets have been able to thrive in close proximity to the larger chains, competing on familiarity over generations, discounts, selection, service, vibe, environmental impact, or other shopper preferences.Ĭaraluzzi’s is not the only company in expansion mode, as it looks to hire 170 people for its new Danbury store. Stop & Shop dominates the Connecticut market today with 88 locations, more than double the number for ShopRite and Big Y World Class Market. Rivals were quick to pounce on the former Shaw’s stores, with ShopRite and sister chain Price Rite taking over several locations along with Stop & Shop, and The Fresh Market opening an upscale store in Westport. Shoppers continue to cite proximity as the biggest factor influencing their shopping, according to a McKinsey poll last year, followed by prices for name-brand products.Ĭonnecticut has more than 300 grocery stores stocking the broad product mix of a supermarket, excluding any number more big-box options like BJ’s Wholesale Club, Costco, Target and Walmart specialty food outlets neighborhood convenience stores country markets and farmers markets.Įxcluding A&P’s exit as part of a bankruptcy dissolution, only one major chain has missed the post-pandemic surge in Connecticut - Shaw’s, which elected to close its Connecticut stores several years ago to focus on more than 125 locations in the other five New England states under parent Albertson’s. The company is now investing $140 million for upgrades in its metropolitan New York City region stores in an effort to widen the appeal to varying demographic groups. This past spring, same-store sales popped again by 6.4 percent from the same stretch in 2021. stores, which include Stop & Shop, Hannaford and Food Lion. In 2020, Ahold Delhaize saw sales jump 13.3 percent on average at its U.S. Most grocers have flourished since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when shoppers discovered their inner chefs while avoiding dining out - or flat-out hoarded food as shortages cropped up repeatedly across varying staples. Stew Leonard’s has several more stores in New York and New Jersey, including at the Paramus Park Mall where it opened in September 2019 as one of the handful of chains to try the mall format for a new store. If not packing the wow factor of Wegman’s or Amazon Fresh which are prepping their Connecticut debuts, with its fourth store Caraluzzi’s is passing its more-famous homegrown and family-owned chain - Stew Leonard’s, which has three stores in its home state including on the Danbury-Brookfield border just north of Bethel. We don’t perceive the expansion as going head-to-head with another retailer - it’s more about offering something different and just carving out a share of the available market.” Proximity, price, vibe “The standout was just the growth in residential development of this area that demonstrated to us the potential. “We knew we already had a strong following by Danbury residents by them making the long trip to our Bethel store for so many years,” Caraluzzi stated in an email.
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