110-year-old supermarket chain abruptly shuts 32 'underperforming' stores across five states
Stop & Shop is planning to shutter 32 'underperforming' stores by the end of this year.
The chain said it will close 10 stores in New Jersey, eight stores in Massachusetts, seven stores in New York, five stores in Connecticut and two stores in Rhode Island.
The company said employees at affected stores would be offered other jobs within the company. Asked by The Associated Press how many people are employed at the 32 stores, Stop & Shop wouldn't say.
Stop & Shop President Gordon Reid said in a statement that the company decided to close the stores to create a 'healthy base for the future growth of our brand.'
Until the closure, the Massachusetts-based company - which is owned by the Dutch supermarket company Ahold Delhaize - had almost 400 stores in five states: with New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island as well as its home state.
Stop & Shop, with 400 stores in the Northeast, will close 'underperforming' outlets
Ahold Delhaize said in May that it planned to close some Stop & Shop locations as part of a plan to strengthen the brand.
The company said it wants to build new stores and remodel remaining ones, increase the number of store-brand products it offers and reduce prices.
Burt Flickinger, a longtime retail consultant and owner of Strategic Resource Group, said many of Stop & Shop's problems were self-inflicted. The brand closed fresh meat and seafood counters in some stores, for example, which cut down on the amount customers spent in those stores.
Stop & Shop is also getting squeezed by big rivals like Walmart and Costco, and discount chains like Aldi and Lidl.
'Wherever a Target, a Walmart a Costco or a BJ´s has been built, a Stop and Shop´s in jeopardy,' Flickinger said. 'While they have a plan going forward, I´m not sure the plan´s going to be fully competitive given the intensifying level of competition.'
Stop & Shop, which got its start in 1914 in Somerville, Massachusetts, operates around 400 grocery stores and has 60,000 employees.
Stop & Shop has 'remodeled' 190 stores and plans to spend $1billion on more improvements and on price cuts to attract shoppers.
Stop & Shop stores are about 55,000 to 75,000 square feet - the standard size for a US supermarket.
That is bigger than a Walmart Neighborhood Market at about 40,000 square feet but dwarfed by a Walmart Supercenter at 180,000 square feet.
Closures of Stop & Shop come amid a widespread 'retail apocalypse' that is seeing bricks-and-mortar stores struggle to combat rampant theft and increasingly tight margins.
By the end of April, US retailers had announced the closure of almost 2,600 storesWalmart has shut eight in 2024.
Earlier in April, dollar store 99 Cents Only said it will shutter ALL its 371 shops, while Best Buy closed ten in March.
Stop & Shop declined to provide specifics on which of its 400 stores will shut
Dollar Tree is closing 1,000, Macy's 150 - a third of its total - and drug store Rite Aid 77.
In recent months, there has been a spate of bankruptcies adding to store closures.
National coffee and upmarket grocery chain Foxtrot also said at the start of April it will shut all its stores with immediate effect - leaving staff and customers stunned.
Express - a mall staple - filed for bankruptcy in April and said it would shut 95 Express outlets alongside all of its UpWest stores.
At the start of May, Rue21 - the teen fashion chain that is a fixture in malls across America - also said it will shut all its 543 US stores.
