Date: Fri 03-Oct-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

business-Big-Y-jobs

Full Text:

Big Y Now Hiring For 300 Jobs

(with photo)

BY ANDREW GOROSKOo

As the new Big Y supermarket takes shape at Newtown Shopping Center on Queen

Street, Big Y Foods, Inc, of Springfield, Mass., is continuing to accept

supermarket job applications at a storefront there.

Claire D'Amour, Big Y's vice president for corporate affairs, did not have

numbers available Tuesday on how many people have applied for supermarket jobs

in recent weeks, but said the company is "well into the hiring process." That

process is proceeding on schedule, she said.

Big Y hopes to open in Newtown before the end of the year, she said, but added

unforeseen situations can arise which may delay the supermarket's start of

business.

The supermarket construction project encountered various delays after it was

approved by the Borough Zoning Commission in early 1996.

Building the supermarket's interior is a complex process, Ms D'Amour said.

Much wiring, plumbing and computerization will be done, she noted.

Big Y always accepts more applications than the number of jobs which are

available.

The new Big Y may come face-to-face with the United Food and Commercial

Workers International Union, Local 371, even though the company does not

recognize the union as the collective bargaining organization for Big Y store

employees. Workers at the Grand Union supermarket across Queen Street and the

Super Stop & Shop supermarket at Sand Hill Plaza are unionized.

Big Y is seeking to fill 300 part-time and full-time jobs for its new

57,000-square-foot supermarket. The hiring process, which started September

15, is expected to conclude at the end of October.

Posts to be filled include customer service jobs, and clerk posts in the deli,

bakery, meat, seafood, grocery, dairy, and floral departments, as well as

experienced pizza makers and other jobs. Employees are guaranteed a minimum 15

hours per week. The jobs are good opportunities for students, retirees and

others who want flexible hours and excellent benefits, according to Big Y.

Employee training will begin at least one month before the store's grand

opening.

Big Y is a family-owned chain of more than 40 supermarkets in Massachusetts

and Connecticut. The company employs about 7,000 people.

Shopping Center Shuffle

Joseph T. Kasper, Jr, president of Kasper Group, Inc, of Bridgeport, the

shopping center's owner, has said much construction progress has been made on

the redevelopment project recently.

The Big Y will be almost six times the size of the former A&P supermarket it

replaces. Workmen are now installing fixtures inside the supermarket.

My Place Restaurant, a popular eatery at the shopping center, was scheduled to

open in its new location in the former post office on Queen Street late this

week.

The 20,000-square-foot section of the main plaza building south of the former

A&P supermarket will be demolished to create an expanded parking area for the

redeveloped center. Many of the businesses formerly housed in the section to

be demolished have relocated to the building on the south side of the plaza.

The space that formerly housed the A&P will house a new CVS store.

When completed, the shopping center will have 570 parking spaces. It now has

about 300 spaces.

Mr Kasper has said he is still negotiating to purchase the Wiehl property that

will link the north side of the center to Church Hill Road. In the future, Mr

Kasper plans to build an extension wing north of the CVS store toward Church

Hill Road.

When the project is completely developed, there will be approximately 115,000

square feet of enclosed space.

The expansion project is intended to revitalize the town center through the

redevelopment of a facility which has deteriorated since A&P left the site.