C&S Wholesale Grocers readies Grand Union relaunch

C&S Wholesale Grocers will mark the official return of the Grand Union supermarket banner this week with the opening of 11 stores in New York and Vermont.

Keene, N.H.-based C&S said Monday that affiliate GU Markets LLC plans to open the new Grand Unions from March 2 to 5. In November, C&S announced the acquisition of a dozen Tops Market stores to be converted to the Grand Union brand and operated by GU Markets.

Ten of the Grand Union stores holding grand openings this week are located in New York (Warrensburg, Peru, Saranac Lake, Watertown, Rome, Sherrill, Cooperstown, Norwich, Owego and Cortland), while one is in Vermont (Rutland). The first stores began opening their doors in late January. One of the two acquired Tops stores in Watertown  is slated to open on March 3 under the Piggly Wiggly banner.

Grand Union stores offer the Red Dot Savings customer loyalty program plus online grocery service. (Image courtesy of Grand Union)

“The Grand Union stores are back and better than ever. We have taken an iconic brand that everyone loved and leveraged our best-in-class retail strategies to take this legendary brand to the next level,” C&S Wholesale Grocers CEO Bob Palmer said in a statement. “Shoppers will get great prices and an extensive selection of fresh and grocery staples. These stores have been specially designed and stocked to ensure braggingly happy customers with a customized local assortment.”

Related:C&S Wholesale paves the way for Grand Union redux

As part of the grand opening events at each store, C&S will host ribbon-cuttings and provide shoppers with special deals and giveaways, as well as announced donations to community partners. Customers who sign up for Grand Union’s Red Dot Savings Program also will automatically receive discounts on their favorite items plus digital coupons and other benefits.

Features at the new Grand Union stores, depending on location, include a wide variety of fresh and prepared foods (such as pizza, wraps and rotisserie chicken); a fresh bakery offering a range of desserts and customized cakes; a broad assortment of beer, wine and premium spirits; and a deli department with an extensive collection of specialty cheese, salads and Boar’s Head cold cuts, according to C&S. The location in Sherrill, N.Y., also houses a pharmacy for one-stop shopping, the company said.

Plans also call for Grand Union to soon launch online grocery shopping, powered by the Rosie platform, via the Click ‘N Shop curbside pickup service. The Grand Union website lists the Warrensburg, N.Y., and Rutland, Vt., stores as current offering Click ‘N Shop delivery service through Instacart.

Related:C&S Wholesale Grocers to acquire Piggly Wiggly Midwest

“Each of these Grand Union stores will showcase C&S’ already successful retail strategies and be supported by our strong wholesale supply chain,” commented Eric Winn, chief operation officer at C&S Wholesale Grocers. “They will feature our latest innovations in digital programming, loyalty, private brands, category management, promotional strategies and fresh assortment, pricing and marketing.”

Founded in 1916, Grand Union was one of the nation’s first supermarkets, C&S reported. C&S obtained the rights to the Grand Union banner through GU Holdings, an affiliate formed in 2001 to acquire 185 Grand Union stores. After a series of management changes and Chapter 11 filings between 1995 and 2000, Wayne, N.J.-based Grand Union Co. had opted to liquidate its assets, auctioning off most of its approximately 200 stores to its distributor C&S, which in turn sold the majority of those locations to buyers including Ahold USA, Shaw’s Supermarkets, Delhaize America and Pathmark Stores. Tops, then part of Ahold USA, added 22 of the Grand Union stores.

In 2005, C&S acquired 12 Tops stores in New York and in 2006 reopened them as Grand Union locations, the banner that the supermarkets held when they were sold to Tops. Then in 2012, Tops acquired 21 supermarkets in upstate New York and Vermont — mostly under the Grand Union banner — from C&S affiliate GU Family Markets and finished converting them to Tops stores in 2013.

The largest U.S. grocery distributor, C&S supplies over 7,500 independent supermarkets, chain stores, military bases and institutions, offering more than 100,000 products.