Dive Brief:

• Tops Friendly Markets announced Monday it has acquired five stores from Supermarket Management, Inc. (SMI), a longstanding franchise partner. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
• The purchase includes four full-service Tops and a Tops Xpress in the greater Buffalo, New York, area. 
• “Adding SMI’s five locations will strengthen our corporate store network and enable us to serve more customers across Western New York,” Tops President Ron Ferri said in a statement.

Dive Insight:

The full-service stores Tops has acquired from SMI are located in Depew, Lockport, South Buffalo, and Buffalo’s West Side while the Tops Xpress store is in Lancaster. 

Tops still has one more franchisee-owned location in Lewiston, New York.

The five stores Tops has added to its fleet will continue to operate as Tops stores and retain their 585 employees, according to an emailed press release. Tops said that store associates and management teams will have greater career advancement opportunities within the larger corporate enterprise.

Tops said the stores will remain open throughout the transition and that customers won’t see disruptions to in-store operations, including the pharmacies. 

SMI has been a franchisee of Tops Friendly Markets for over 60 years. Ferri said that Tops “worked closely” with SMI over the years, which allows the grocery chain to “provide a seamless transition for our associates and customers, who will enjoy a consistent experience” at the five stores. 

Tops said it will invest over $8 million to renovate the stores in Lockport, Depew and Buffalo’s West Side in the coming months, adding that the locations will stay open as upgrades are made. The grocery chain plans later to “actively pursue future investments and renovations” at the Tops Xpress and South Buffalo locations.

The acquisition comes at a time when Tops has been focusing on freshening stores in its fleet. The grocer recently announced the reopening of stores in Grand Island and Moyers Corners, New York, after a $2 million renovation for the former and $2.5 million upgrade for the latter. Last June, Tops announced plans to spend more than $6 million on renovations for five of its stores in the Erie, Pennsylvania, area.

Based in Williamsville, New York, Tops runs 148 grocery stores in New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont. Tops is under parent company Northeast Grocery, Inc., which formed after the merger between Tops and Price Chopper/Market 32 in 2021.