Tops Friendly Markets

thumb|220x220px
Tops Friendly Markets is an American supermarket chain based in Amherst, New York, with stores in New York, Vermont, and northern Pennsylvania.
== History ==
=== Early years ===
Tops Friendly Markets was co-founded by Armand Castellani, who was born in 1917 in a village outside of Rome, Italy, and Thomas Buscaglia. His family came to the United States in 1920, and eventually settled in Niagara Falls, where his father, Ferrante, opened a small neighborhood grocery store.
Following his mother's death in 1933, Castellani left school to help manage the store. He continued to do so until joining the Army in 1941. He attained the rank of captain after five years' service.
After World War II, Castellani returned to the family business. In 1951, he set out on his own and opened the Great Bear Market in Niagara Falls. Shortly thereafter, he partnered with Buscaglia, owner of a grocery equipment firm, T.A. Buscaglia Equipment Co. Throughout the 1950s, Buscaglia, as CEO, and Castellani worked together, entering into a cooperative agreement with other small stores to build the foundation of what was to become the Tops Friendly Markets chain.
As the local economy boomed in the mid-to-late 1950s, the company's operations expanded to include building construction principally devoted to supermarkets. During this time, Savino Nanula, a meat department manager, became an integral part of the company's management team.
By 1958, they had set up headquarters in Buffalo, and in 1962 opened their first modern supermarket: a 25,000 square foot (2,250 m²) store on Portage Road in Niagara Falls. Alfonse DiMino, a Bells franchisee, suggested the name "Tops" and the team chose that name because they were determined to give customers the best shopping experience. The company then changed its name to Niagara Frontier Services (NFS).
=== 1960s ===
In 1962, franchise systems were established for supermarkets, under the Tops Friendly Markets name, and for smaller stores as B-Kwik. In February of that year, Tops signs went up on seven stores, and the chain was born. By the end of the year, NFS was composed of 15 franchised stores throughout Western New York, employing a total of 300 associates. Throughout the 1960s, NFS implemented warehousing and centralized purchasing to allow the company to grow efficiently.
In 1967, Buscaglia died and Armand Castellani took over as chief executive officer.
The next year, NFS went public, trading on the American Stock Exchange. Subsequently, the company began construction on a perishable warehouse and acquired general merchandise distributor G&G Sales and Service.
The following year, 1969, NFS entered the convenience store market by opening the first Wilson Farms Neighborhood Food store in Tonawanda, New York. The same year, Tops Friendly Markets was named Retailer of the Year by the Brand Names Foundation, an honor it would again earn in 1974.
=== 1970s-80s ===
thumb|220x220px|A Tops location in Gates, New York.
The 1970s saw Tops Friendly Markets, under the leadership of Castellani and Nanula, continue to grow in Western New York, and thrive where competitors struggled. Early in the decade, Tops began to build more company-owned stores. By the mid-70s, the company had expanded into the Rochester area, and over time, it became the only real competitor to Wegmans in the region. Also during this time, Tops Friendly Markets opened its first Pennsylvania store in Bradford.
In 1983, SB Investors, a private, New York-based investment group, purchased NFS. By this time, operations had grown to include 65 Tops stores, 50 Wilson Farms stores and 15 B-Kwik Food Stores, employing 7,000 associates.
The next year, Tops Friendly Markets introduced Western New York shoppers to direct debit service, Instabank ATMs and the first CarryOut Café. It was also the year that Tops won the first of eight Golden Penguin Award from the National Frozen Food Association.
In 1985, Castellani was named Chairman of the Board and Nanula succeeded him as CEO. The following spring, SB Investors became known as Tops Friendly Markets, Inc., as the company went public for the second time, this time on NASDAQ. The following year, as Tops Friendly Markets celebrated its 25th anniversary, a $196 million leveraged buyout of the company was engineered between a group of Tops Friendly Markets executives and private equity firm Riordan, Freeman & Spogli. In 1987, Tops installed electronic scanners, one of the last supermarkets to do so.
=== 1990s ===
A new era began March 27, 1991 as Tops Friendly Markets, which had grown to 145 total stores and 11,000 associates, was acquired by Ahold, a major international food retailer based in the Netherlands. The same year, the first Tops Friendly Markets International Super Center opened in Amherst. At that time, the 112,000 square foot (10,080 m²) store was the largest in Western New York, and boasted the biggest in-store bakery in the entire U.S.
In the next few years additional Tops Friendly Markets International stores opened in Niagara Falls, West Seneca, Greece, and Perinton, New York. Also, a franchised International-style store, which operates as a Tops Friendly Market, was opened in Lockport. The International stores feature additional floor space and a product mix of many foods from different world cultures which up until then had not been widely available in the Buffalo area. With many Canadians at the time regularly crossing the border due to relaxed duties after the recently concluded Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement and the Canadian dollar at 90% of the value to its American counterpart, the new stores were in the right place at the right time and did even better business than expected.
The 1990s were marked by a new growth in operations, including the 1996 merger with Finast in Northeast Ohio, expansion across New York, the construction of a new headquarters in Amherst, New York and the opening of an 848,000 square foot (76,320 m²) distribution center in Lancaster. By 1998, Tops Friendly Markets' market area stretched from Sandusky, Ohio, to Utica. In January 1999, the BonusCard, its customer loyalty program, debuted. In May 1999, all 45 Northeast Ohio Finast stores adopted the Tops Friendly Markets banner.
=== 2000s ===
Tops Friendly Markets entered into the new millennium by acquiring the Sugarcreek Stores chain, adding 87 stores to its Wilson Farms division. That summer, Tops installed self-scanning checkouts at 11 stores in Ohio and in late August, the first Tops fueling station premiered in Akron.
In 2001, Tops acquired 22 former Grand Union stores in the Adirondacks region and in Central New York, further east than its market had traditionally been. They also introduced the Tops Xpress convenience store format. By the end of the year, the company celebrated another landmark with the opening of its 150th Tops store, located in Madison, Ohio.
This aggressive growth was fueled in part by deliberate understatements of Ahold's debt to the financial markets. When this came to light in 2003, Tops was forced to backtrack. By 2005 the convenience stores had been sold to WFI Acquisition Inc., which later sold the stores to convenience store operator powerhouse 7-Eleven, and Tops Friendly Markets was also looking to sell the 31 stores it had established in the Adirondack region. P&C Foods acquired 2, Price Chopper acquired six, Hannaford acquired three, and twelve returned to the Grand Union division of C&S Wholesale Grocers.
On July 6, 2006, Ahold announced its decision to exit the Northeast Ohio market, which consisted of 46 locations. The 46 stores were located in Greater Cleveland, Akron and Norwalk and at the time employed approximately 3,800 full and part-time employees. Tops announced on October 10, 2006 that 18 of its Ohio stores were sold to rival Giant Eagle. The store in Youngstown which closed prior to 2006, was sold, expanded, and converted to Target. An additional store in Sheffield, Ohio was reportedly sold on November 29, 2006. The store in Tallmadge, Ohio was sold to local competitor Acme Fresh Market. On November 9 in a company press release, it was stated that all Tops stores in Northeast Ohio will close whether they have been sold or not. A store in Cleveland's Lee-Harvard Neighborhood and a store in Garfield Heights were converted to Dave's Markets, a small independently owned chain of grocery stores in Cleveland. In June, the Tops store in Cleveland Heights became a Dave's. All Northeast Ohio stores closed by 3 pm on December 8, 2006 and some remain unoccupied.
=== 2010s ===
thumb|220x220px|A Tops location in Saranac Lake, New York, which is a converted Grand Union.
On July 19, 2012 it was announced that Tops Friendly Markets will acquire 21 Grand Union stores in October 2012. On May 28, 2013 nine Grand Union stores held grand reopening ceremonies under the Tops banner. The remaining 12 locations were rebannered and held grand reopening ceremonies on July 2, 2013. Note that a large number of these were in the Adirondacks, and were in fact the same stores that had operated as Tops for a few years back in the early 2000s after Grand Union's bankruptcy, as noted above. The Saranac Lake location at Lake Flower Plaza will closed in November 2018, while the Church St. location was renovated.
In October and November 2012, Tops closed one store and downsized a second store. The first was the Elmridge Center store in Greece, NY which closed in October 2012. Employees and customers were absorbed into other nearby locations. The Geneva, NY store downsized and moved into the Geneva Town Centre in November 2012. This new store is a 51,364 square foot location and has upgraded departments, along with a gas station, that were not in the formerly larger location. Both of these stores had been 84,000 square foot superstores that Tops built in the early 1990s.
In 2013, Tops downsized another store in the Rochester suburbs. The Jefferson Rd location in Henrietta, NY relocated to the Frontier Commons Plaza. As a result, the store is now 55,000 square feet instead of the previous 76,000 square feet it formerly occupied. The new location also contains departments and a gas station which were not found in the former location.
In 2014, Tops downsized a store in Perinton, NY and an Irondequoit, NY store on East Ridge Road. The Irondequoit store was relocated to the Depot Plaza, which used to be anchored by Kmart.
=== Chapter 11 bankruptcy ===
thumb|220x220px|The former Geneva, New York location, which closed in November 2018.
On February 21, 2018, Tops filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. None of the stores day-to-day operations are to be affected. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the reason for filing is due to Tops' $720 million debt. This opportunity is being used to restructure financially so it can grow and be more competitive.
On August 30, 2018, Tops announced they would be closing ten underperforming locations by November, including two in Syracuse, one on West Genesee Street (NY 5) at Westvale Plaza, and another on South Salina Street (US 11) at Valley Plaza, two in Rochester, one on Lake Avenue and another on North Winton Road, and one each in Perinton, Lyons, Geneva, Fulton, Elmira (the South Main Street location) and Saranac Lake (at the Lake Flower Plaza).
Tops Markets announced they emerged from bankruptcy on November 19, 2018.
==See also==
*ShopRite - competitor
*Publix - southeast alternative
*Winn-Dixie - southeast alternative
*WinCo Foods - west alternative
Category:Supermarkets
Category:Retailers by type
Category:Retailers
Category:Discount stores
Category:Department stores
Category:Companies
Category:Franchises
Category:Brands