Michael Cormier has been elevated to vice president of center store at New England grocer Big Y Foods.
Previously senior director of center store, Cormier now will oversee all sales, marketing and merchandising for center store departments — covering grocery, health and beauty care, pharmacy, general merchandise, frozen and dairy — as well as retail pricing and space management, Springfield, Mass.-based Big Y said this week. He reports to Guy McFarlane, senior vice president of sales and marketing.
Cormier (left) joined Big Y in August 2019 as senior director of center store, steadily adding more responsibilities until his promotion to vice president.
A 23-year grocery industry veteran, Cormier started his career in 1996 on the grocery night crew at Price Chopper Supermarkets in Connecticut. One year later, he was promoted to grocery manager and then to assistant store manager and store manager. In 2001, he joined Adams Hometown Markets as manager of the West Hartford, Conn., store, later becoming grocery category sales manager and then director of retail sales for the chain’s 35 locations.
Shifting gears, Cormier next entered the wholesale area by joining distributor Bozzuto’s as grocery category sales manager, serving retailers in New England, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In 2008, he returned to Price Chopper as a grocery department category sales manager, later on being promoted to such roles as director of center store, vice president of own brands and, in 2013, vice president of center store. In 2016, he joined C&S Wholesale Grocers as senior director of customer development.
Overall, Big Y operates 83 stores in Massachusetts and Connecticut, including 71 Big Y World Class Market supermarkets, one Fresh Acres Market, one Table & Vine Fine Wines and Liquors store, and 10 Big Y Express gas and convenience locations.
