New York City grocery chain Gristedes Foods Inc. has joined Allegiance Retail Services LLC, a retailer-owned cooperative.
With the move, announced this week, Gristedes said it will add the Green Way natural and organic product line and bolster its selection of local items, enabling the chain to better cater to the needs of the urban neighborhoods it serves.
Gristedes has 26 supermarkets in New York City, including 24 in Manhattan and two in Brooklyn.
“Strategically aligning the Gristedes business with Allegiance in the New York market positions us to improve our offerings and further increases our ability to be the neighborhood grocer for all New Yorkers,” said John Catsimatidis, chairman and CEO of Gristedes parent company Red Apple Group.
For Iselin, N.J.-based Allegiance, the addition of Gristedes marks the co-op’s 30th member and raises its total store count to 120 in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Its independent supermarket banners include Foodtown, Freshtown Marketplace, D’Agostino, Freshco Supermarkets, LaBella Marketplace, Brooklyn Harvest, Market Fresh and Big Deal Food Market.
Allegiance provides its retail members with marketing, advertising, technology and merchandising support and offers a full line of private-label products, including more than 1,000 SKUs under the Foodtown brand.
“Helping businesses serve local customers has been at the heart of our operation since our inception,” said John Derderian, president and chief operating officer of Allegiance. “The addition of Gristedes to the Allegiance Retail Services family of cooperative grocers further supports our intelligent growth strategy.”
