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Stop & Shop

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The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company
Company typeRetail
IndustryGrocery
Founded1914
Boston, Massachusetts
FounderThe Rabinovitz family
Headquarters
Quincy, Massachusetts[1]
,
United States
Area served
New England and Mid-Atlantic
ProductsGrocery, Florist, Deli, Gelatin Shop, Produce, Seafood, Meats, Dairy, Pharmacy, General Merchandise
RevenueUS$11.17 billion Increase6.1% (2003) [2]
Number of employees
58,000
ParentRoyal Ahold
WebsiteStop & Shop

The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company is a chain of supermarkets located mostly in New England and Long Island.

History

Stop & Shop was founded in 1914 in Boston, Massachusetts by the Rabinowitz family as the Economy Grocery Stores Company. The company officially became known as Stop & Shop, Inc. in 1946.

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 was 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 (though rival retailer Shaws is the largest supermarket chain whose stores are located solely in the six New England states). It operates more than 360 stores throughout New England, as well as in New York and New Jersey. The corporate headquarters is located in Quincy, Massachusetts and the current distribution facility is located in Assonet, Massachusetts. Until 2006 the firm also operated a large warehouse located off of Interstate 91 in North Haven, Connecticut. The company's original warehouse was in Readville, MA.

Stop & Shop came close to gaining 60 more stores in Northeastern Massachusetts and New Hampshire as a result of a lawsuit regarding the DeMoulas' Market Basket chain.[vague]

In the late 1980s, The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company was acquired by leveraged buyout specialists Kohlberg Kravitz 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.

The chain was acquired by the American branch of Dutch food giant Ahold in 1995. Ahold had previously acquired First National Supermarkets, whose Edwards chain 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 and Big Y. Ahold continued the transition of its Edwards stores, converting all of its New York and New Jersey locations to the Stop & Shop format in the early 2000s. 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 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 Metro New York division in an attempt to revive sales at the stores. (The stores continued to underperform and were subsequently sold in 2007 to ShopRite Supermarkets.) The Delaware Super G stores were to be remodeled and reopened as Super Giant.

In 2006, Stop & Shop signed a contract with Starbucks Coffee Company, placing Starbucks Licenced Stores inside certain supermarkets. Many Stop & Shop stores also feature Dunkin' Donuts outlets inside the store. Also in May 2006, Stop & Shop began piloting the Shopping Buddy program in select stores in MA and CT. 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 and Shop launched an advertising campaign which was intended to have users submit stories and videos to a website (stopandshop.tv) detailing their Stop and Shop 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.

Brands

File:Stop & Shop brand soda.jpg
Stop & Shop in-house brand soda

As part of Stop & Shop's market realignment, they have introduced new private-label products to their stores. [citation needed]

Stop & Shop also has numerous in-house brands including:

  • Sun Glory (Value Priced items, now discontinued)
  • Care One (Health and Beauty Care),
  • Acadia (Spring Water Products),
  • Nature's Promise (Natural and Organic Foods),
  • Orchard Perfect (Limited Produce Label)
  • Clear Splash and Main Street(Carbonated Beverages),
  • Javana (Coffee),
  • Companion (Pet Food),
  • Mi Casa (Hispanic Items),
  • White Gem (Chicken),
  • Cottontails (Diapers and Accessories),
  • Guaranteed Value (Bulk Items),
  • KaPop (Popcorn),
  • Festingos (Tortilla Chips),
  • Smart Living (General Merchandise),
  • and their newest line of high-priced luxury snacks, Simply Enjoy.

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 care 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 believe Stop & Shop should pay it in full. [3]

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 the February 22, but the union and the grocery chain agreed to expand the deadline two more days, to midnight of Saturday, February 24, 2007. [4]

Officials with Stop & Shop and the United Food and Commercial Workers continued negotiating through Friday, March 2, 2007, extending the contract until 12:01 a.m. Saturday, March 32007, given that talks were scheduled to continue through Friday. Both sides extended the negotiations, which resumed Monday, February 26, 2007. [5]

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. [6]

New Contract

The contentious stop-and-go negotiations between Stop & Shop and its five unions came to a surprising yet happy conclusion with a three-year contract overwhelmingly ratified by union members across New England, and a strike was averted.

All full-time workers will 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 cents an hour increase, also retroactive, and 35 cents yet again in years two and three of the contract. On the critical 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. [7]

See also

  • The Modern Lovers' song "Roadrunner", written by Jonathan Richman, cites "Gonna drive past the Stop & Shop / With the radio on now / I'm in love with the modern world / Massachusetts when it's cold outside."
  • Stop & Shop is mentioned and shown on the FOX comedy Family Guy, which takes place in Rhode Island.
  • An episode of Wings, which is based in Nantucket, had Fay warn the Hackett brothers about what happened to the owners of Sconset Air (the predecessors to Sandpiper Air). She said they had misplaced one of the luggage of the wealthiest and most powerful woman in Nantucket, who was able to get their loan voided and they were "last seen making slushees at the Stop & Shop".
  • In an episode of the The Sopranos, Tony is seen shopping in Stop & Shop #817 Hackensack, NJ [citation needed]
  • Although not of New England origin, rapper Yung Joc refers to Stop & Shop in the lyrics: "this the neighborhood's number one stop n shop," from the song "Coffee Shop."
  • Playaz Circle's music video features a gas station titled Stop-N-Shop for the song "Duffle Bag Boy". Months later, the video has now been altered to censor the titles.
  • In The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, which takes place in Boston, the fictional store, called Paul Revere's Mini Mart, has a competitive grocery store across the street called the Betsy Ross Stop & Shop. This possibly alludes to the real Stop & Shop.
  • In Drake and Josh, Josh mentions that he got a date with the bagger at the Stop and Shop.
  • The song "The War Criminal Rises and Speaks" by Okkervil River makes mention of Stop and Shop.

References

  1. ^ Stop & Shop press release from Stop & Shop's website
  2. ^ Bardaro, Michael Giant's Merger Hurt Morale, Executive Says." Washington Post. November 29, 2004. Retrieved on March 16, 2008.
  3. ^ Still no contract for Stop & Shop www.wtnh.com
  4. ^ Grocery workers fight Stop & Shop for contract www.pslweb.org
  5. ^ Stop & Shop, Union Extends Negotiations www.courant.com
  6. ^ Stop & Shop faces Sunday vote www.connpost.com
  7. ^ Stop & Shop averts strike once and for all www.newhavenindependent.org
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