Associated Supermarkets
| Private | |
| Industry | Grocery Retail |
| Founded | 1954 |
| Headquarters | Hewlett, New York, United States |
Number of locations | 250+ |
Key people | Robert Striano (Executive Chairman) |
| Divisions | Associated Supermarkets and Compare Foods |
| Website | http://shopassociated.com |
Associated Foods Holdings, also referred to as Associated Food Stores, Associated Supermarkets or Associated, is the largest group of independently operated supermarkets based in the New York metropolitan area. Associated provides services to a network of approximately 250 independent grocery retail stores that was formerly predominantly located in New York City.[1] The company has stores on Long Island, in upstate New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Associated Foods owns the banners Associated and Compare, which are both known to cater to the Hispanic and other ethnic demographics. Associated and Compare stores carry ethnic products and its private label brands Super A and Compare.
In January of 2014 Associated added the Met Food and Pioneer banners to the portfolio of banners. Both Met and Pioneer are recognized brands that have served the NYC marketplace for many years.
Associated principally serves independently owned and operated grocery retailers which typically carry the “Associated” or “Compare” trade name. Services include grocery distribution, financing, and customer support services such as marketing, merchandising, promotions and advertising. The company’s franchiser-like business model allows independently owned and operated stores to take advantage of scale economies on merchandising and advertising as are available to larger supermarket chains, as well as allowing them to access other customer support services provided by the company. Associated possesses one of the largest and well-capitalized balance sheets in the New York metropolitan grocery industry, which is used to support the extension of working capital credit and financing of independently owned and operated stores. The Super A brand, Associated’s private label brand is common in all Associated stores.
References
- ↑ Fickenscher, Lisa (May 24, 2008). "Supermarkets flee city's high costs. Stores flee city, focus expansion outside Big Apple; poor neighborhoods hit hardest". Crain's New York Business. Retrieved 2008-05-28.
"The cost of operating supermarkets in New York City was impossible," says Eligio Peña, who closed the last of his six Associated supermarkets here in 2000