Tops and Price Chopper/Market 32 supermarket chains have completed the regulatory process to merge.
Under terms of the agreement, the two businesses will be managed locally by their respective leaders, but will be owned and overseen by a new parent company, called Northeast Grocery, which will be headquartered in Schenectady. Price Chopper/Market 32 is also based there. Tops Markets will retain its main office in Williamsville.
Scott Grimmett, the current president and CEO of Price Chopper/Market 32, will lead the new parent company and will serve on its board of directors, as will Frank Curci, who is the former Tops Markets Chairman and CEO. John Persons will serve as president of the Tops Markets business.
As part of the deal, a dozen Tops stores will be divested and purchased by C&S Wholesale Grocers. They include stores in Central NY, the North Country and Vermont.
The new company will have a footprint of nearly 300 stores, and company officials say the merged companies will be better positioned for innovation and become stronger and more competitive.
Grimmett said with the merger regulatory approvals, the companies “can dedicate ourselves to bringing these two stories grocery chains together, leveraging best practices, developing new opportunities, and finding efficiencies that will help us continue to deliver distinctive shopping experiences."
Frank DeRiso, president of UFCW Local One, which represents Tops workers, said that UFCW is "pleased that we have an agreement with the new owner and they are committed to retaining all of the existing union jobs and contracts."
