Tops

[amesman]

Tops is a chain of supermarkets in Western and Northern New York State. The Northern New York State stores were previously Grand Unions. Discuss about them here.

[jmn3]

I worked for Tops for about 7 years during high school and college..up until about two years ago.  They are a division of Ahold USA (owned by Dutch grocer Royal Ahold) and are actually operated by Giant Food Markets in Carlisle, PA.  The local HQ staff were pretty much eliminated about three years ago when Tops and Giant were merged into one division.  

Originally, Tops was founded by several families in Niagara Falls in the early 1960's.  The Nanula's, Castellani's, and Bascaglia's (maybe more too...can't remember) ran the company until 1991 when they sold out to Royal Ahold.  Larry Castellani, son of founder, Armand Castellani, was CEO until 1998.  

There is absolutely no consistency in what you should expect at a Tops.  There are a few older stores left that date from the 70's that are about 35,000 SF and then some "Super Center's" that opened during the 1990's that range from 90,000-115,000 SF...and then some other stores that opened more recently that are about 50-60,000 SF.  The loss of local leadership within in the chain has led to Tops losing plenty of market share to Wegmans.  THey still are the market leader, but are nowhere near the numbers they had during the 90's and earlier.  

There are Tops all throughout WNY, Rochester/midstate, the Adirondack's, Northwestern Pennsylvania, and Northeastern Ohio.

[Caldor1999]

alot of Grand Unions in Upstate NY became Tops

[Jag67]

Just at Tops today..They're ok,  but I like Wegman's a lot better. My mom works as a pharmacist for them.

BTW, what the heck is their logo supposed to be? It looks like a flying box to me..:huh:

[store215]

I think I read about a week ago that Top's in Ohio is ditching in-store butchers and selling pre-packaged meat like the Wal-Mart Stupidcenters do.:barf:

[Jag67]

Blah. STORES NEED HUMAN LIFE!!!!!;)

What's next, electronic cashiers?? Oh wait, they have those already..:mad::P

[amesman]

Actually, I like the electronic cash registers. Price Chopper has those. Hey, Jag, have you ever been to a Price Chopper?

[76&AmesfanmanBBTB]

Originally posted by Jag67
Just at Tops today..They're ok,  but I like Wegman's a lot better. My mom works as a pharmacist for them.

BTW, what the heck is their logo supposed to be? It looks like a flying box to me..:huh:

I think iits supposed to be a top ya know the one you spin?

lol:insane:

[Jag67]

Here's a VERY old Tops from the 70's lol..So different from todays tops..

love the "Super food center":insane:

[Jag67]

the retro sign...They havent used these since the mid-late 80's

[amesman]

What location is this? I might have passed it when I was in Buffalo. Is it the one on the corner of Suthwestern Blvd and Hamburg Turnpike?

[Caldor1999]

in  upsatse NY they have many tops locations

[Jag67]

Originally posted by amesman
What location is this? I might have passed it when I was in Buffalo. Is it the one on the corner of Suthwestern Blvd and Hamburg Turnpike?

yah, it's in Hamburg. Know when it was built?

[amesman]

Well I'd have to say sometime in the 70's, by the looks of it, and the lights in the parking lot, but not living in Buffalo, I wouldn't know..heh.

[jmn3]

That store, Tops #215 (McKinley), was built around 1982.  It was one of the first "Super Centers" that Tops had.  Go figure.  Now it's pretty small and dumpy by comparison to newer locations.  

Most of the older Tops stores have been replaced although a few do remain.  The Derby store, built in 1976, is still open, although the new location is being built and will be open by Labor Day.  This is a VERY old and small store.  Some other old Tops stores are:

Dunkirk - also being replaced this year
Broadway and Bailey in the city of Bflo
Bailey and South Park Avenue in the city of Bflo
University Plaza near the Amherst/Buffalo city line - this has been remodeled extensively inside and outside over the years
Maple and Transit - completely remodeled in the last five years.  Actually resembles the newer Tops layout, but was an old store on the lines of the McKinley store

I believe most of these locations were from the early 1980's.

[Jag67]

hey, thanx for the info. Wow, 1982. That's still pretty old compared top the new ones. Out of all those you listed, I've been to the last 2. I remember somebody telling me that the university store was built in the mid 80's. I think it was renovated when the whole plaza was rebuilt a few years ago.

PS Jmn3 do you know when the Tops at Transit and North French rd. was built? That's the tops we always go to..

PS- I'm sure you know this but on Delaware ve. near the bon-ton sheridan location there's a former Tops, which became a Vix and then closed. What's funny is, thanks to deterioration, you can see the original 60's walls and floor under the newer stuff. Cool!!

[amesman]

wow, the Buffalo stores(the two I've been to) don't even look like that. Also, the Orchard Park store was replaced by a newer store as well.

[BillyGr]

If you want some small (and old) stores - check out some of the former Grand Unions that are now Tops in the Adirondacks - I was in the one in Elizabethtown a couple years back (and by the way Elizabethtown is the county seat for it's county) - that store was really small (smaller than several Grand Unions that closed during the bankruptcy).

Of course, when the next nearest store is 15 or 25 miles away, I guess you don't need to do much enlarging/updating to keep the customers coming in.

[Jag67]

NO store needs remodeling to keep me from coming!!! The more dated the better!!

[jmn3]

Originally posted by Jag67
PS Jmn3 do you know when the Tops at Transit and North French rd. was built? That's the tops we always go to..

PS- I'm sure you know this but on Delaware ve. near the bon-ton sheridan location there's a former Tops, which became a Vix and then closed. What's funny is, thanks to deterioration, you can see the original 60's walls and floor under the newer stuff. Cool!!

Transit and North French, #227, was opened around 1995 I believe.  Somewhere around '94-'96.

That old Tops on Delaware is really old!  There are a ton of old Tops stores around town.  Just off the top of my head:

Camp Road and Scranton Road - Hamburg (sits vacant except a satellite office of the Buffalo News; closed in 1992)
Orchard Park and Michael Roads - Orchard Park (occupied by an antique mall; closed around 2001/2002)
Ridge Road - West Seneca (half occupied by Big Lots; closed in 1997.  Was originally a Twin Fair store.  Tops opened in the late 1980's)
French and Union Roads - Cheektowaga/GardenVillage Plaza (closed in the early 90's; was a Vix for many years; now vacant)
French and Borden Roads - Cheektowaga (closed in the early 90's at the same time as the store on French and Union when the "super center" was opened at French and Transit)
Transit and Rehm Roads - Depew (closed in the early 2000's; may have been torn down (not sure, I haven't been over that way in a while))
Young Street - Tonawanda (now a Big Lots, closed around 2002)

This is just a small number of the old Tops stores still standing.  There are plenty more around that I just can' t think of now...I believe the original Tops store at Pine Plaza in Niagara Falls is still standing.  

The original Tops logo was in all caps, T O P S, and each letter was located in a separate diamond.  I will look and see if I can find anything but I doubt this is on the net anywhere.  The current logo dates back to at least the mid 1970's if not to the very early '70's or late '60's.

[Jag67]

Thanks for the info. I knew it had to be built somewhere around there. The old tops/Vix on delaware must date to at least the early-mid sixties. I remember the french/ union rd. Vix. That was actually quite big for a supermarket back in the day. It's probalby pretty rough on the inside..I remember the Transit and Rehm one too..I remember seeing it right after it closed and it was all vacant and had no sign. Sad..I think it closed in 2000. I saw the tops logo in a magazine dated 1976, so It's gotta date at least from around there..

[shakethis1234]

I work at Price Chopper in Fulton and they are buying a few Tops Stores in Oswego Fulton As many as 20 Tops Stores Are Up for Sale

[d_fife]

I saw a Topps in Whitehall New York, near a Cvs. The TOpps was wooden brown, and very small.

[store215]

News story today:

Tops sells 3 CNY stores to Price Chopper
Fate uncertain for Tops employees at supermarkets in Oswego, Fulton, Oneida.
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
By Bob Niedt
Staff writer

Tops Markets is selling six of its Central New York and Upstate supermarkets to Price Chopper and putting 25 more on the commercial real estate market.

The supermarkets sold to Price Chopper include three Central New York stores: in Oneida, Fulton and Oswego. The others are in Owego, Sidney and Tupper Lake.

Price Chopper, which is based in Schenectady, already operates stores in Oneida, Fulton and Oswego.

"They are better facilities than the ones we are currently operating, and we look to be able to grow and expand our market reach in those three towns," said Neil Golub, president and chief executive officer of Price Chopper.

Down the road, Price Chopper will move into the Tops buildings and close its current stores in those communities.

What will happen to the Tops employees in those stores?

Golub said it is too early to say.

"They are employees of Tops Markets LLC," said Golub.

Tops and Price Chopper would not reveal terms of the sale of the six stores.

The 25 Tops supermarkets on the market include stores in Hamilton, Rome, New Hartford and Utica.

Tops employees were told of the sale Monday, months after rumors began circulating Tops would consolidate its operations in Western New York where it is based, near Buffalo and Price Chopper was hot on the trail of some of those properties.

Many of the Tops stores sold or being sold are in the Adirondacks, in one-supermarket communities. If all the properties are sold, Tops will spin off one-fifth of its store base. The company said it will funnel money from the sale of the stores into its remaining stores for upgrades.

Tops is backing out of a market area that stretches from Oswego up through Utica and Rome into the Northern Adirondacks to Lake Champlain.

Tops had been negotiating with The Penn Traffic Co., which is based in Syracuse and owns P&C Foods and other chains, to buy some of the 31 stores it decided to sell. So far, none have been sold to Penn Traffic.

For months, executives at Tops have told The Post-Standard that talk of a pending sale of its Central New York and Adirondacks stores was just rumor and nothing was for sale.

But other supermarket industry executives have said it has been no secret that Tops has been eager to sell the stores it announced Monday it is selling.

Tops, based in Williamsville, is a division of Giant Food Stores, which is itself a unit of the Dutch food giant Ahold. Tops operates 152 Tops Markets and a newer division, Martin's Super Food Stores, which has two units.

[powersbt]

It'll be interesting to see who will pick up the remaining stores for sale.

[jmn3]

This is kind of nice to see.  Tops seemed to lose it self and has lost a drastic amount of it's market lead in it's core Buffalo market (and to a lesser extent, Rochester and Northwestern PA).  Many of the Tops stores, even the newer ones, are 10 years old and older now in WNY...and it would be to their advantage to pump some revenue into updating these stores.  Especially with Wegmans building incredible stores that resemble cathedrals all over town (see the completely redesigned and expanded Mckinley Parkway store...it has a tower....looks like a steeple!).

[amesman]

Here's the Tops in Oneida New York. This will beome a Price Chopper soon.

[Caldor1999]

Originally posted by amesman
Here's the Tops in Oneida New York. This will beome a Price Chopper soon.

why is it gonna become a price choppwer soon is it closed ??

[jmn3]

Originally posted by Caldor1999

Originally posted by amesman
Here's the Tops in Oneida New York. This will beome a Price Chopper soon.

why is it gonna become a price choppwer soon is it closed ??

Ahold USA (parent of Tops) is closing/selling off just about all of the non-core market Tops locations.  Basically, that means about every Tops store east of Interstate 81 is being closed/sold so that the chain can put more into their Buffalo/Rochester area stores.

[amesman]

so, that means the Northern New York stores are biting the dust as well? Some of those are the only supermarket that the specific town its in, has..