Stop & Shop Renovation Begins For Reopening Planned For Mid-August

Written by Dagmar Fors Karppi Friday, 20 July 2012 00:00

New improved store will open with expanded produce and new technology

Stop & Shop on Pine Hollow Road in Oyster Bay is closing but in the famous words of Arnold Schwarzenegger, they could be saying, “I’ll be back...”

Store manager John Buchner was getting all his ducks in a row as he prepared for the closing last Wednesday, July 11. The shelves were looking empty but there was a steady stream of customers doing their last minute shopping – or better still, next few weeks’ shopping. The store is expecting to open again in early to mid-August.

It will open again as a “More upscale store midway between the Whole Foods and Cristina’s Epicure concept but at lower prices,” said Mr. Buchner. Nick Meriates, customer service manager said, “It will have an enhanced bounty of perishables and better technology.”

Chris Jorgensen, Stop & Shop CEO of CAO (computer assisted ordering) said the systems he manages are for overall inventory that watches as product sales go through the register and are reordered. He was helping at the closing which meant that after 3 p.m. on Thursday, July 12, they had 24 hours to empty the store to hand it over for renovation.

The new store will work with a new Stop & Shop App for cell phones. Shoppers can pass their phone over the barcode number of the item they are purchasing and when they arrive at the register, the information is scanned into the system to instantly create a bill.

They will also have the do-it-yourself stations where customers themselves can pass their purchases through a bar coding machine to register for payment.

The men said it’s going to be a beautiful change. They are freshening up everything to create a new store and will be expanding the line to carry an organic line, a gluten-free area, a prepared food section, a full service fish center, and full service meat counter handling quality Angus beef.

Workers from the Oyster Bay store will be going to the Glen Cove and Woodbury stores as they wait for the reopening.

Allison Gameoa is one of the people going to the Glen Cove store. She was working at the customer service desk on Wednesday and said some people were going to work overnight on Thursday to get everything out of the store.

Some light deliveries were still being made on Wednesday, including a surprise one of a wheelbarrow full of hydrangea bushes that the manager told them to sell at half price, usually they sell for $25. You may soon see some lovely blue and green hydrangeas blossoming on the lawns of Oyster Bay and East Norwich.

Postcards went out to customers offering them $5 off coupons for the next four weeks on purchases over $30. Each week there is a free product: Barilla Pasta, Nabisco Oreo cookies, Tropicana pure premium orange juice and a Klondike bar package, over the four weeks. The notice included maps of where the Glen Cove (177 Forest Avenue) and Woodbury (8101 Jericho Turnpike) stores are located. Customers can use also use Peapod, the home delivery service for Stop & Shop.

“Mr. Jorgensen said, “I used to have it myself. It is delivered right to your kitchen table if you want.”

If you would like home delivery from Stop & Shop, call Peapod at 326-6995 to arrange delivery. There is a small service charge added to the cost of the foodstuffs. Many working families find it a great time saver.