Tops Friendly Markets
"Tops - Your neighborhood store with more"
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| Private | |
| Industry | Retail (Grocery) |
| Founded | 1962 |
| Headquarters | Williamsville, New York |
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Number of locations
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179 full-service supermarkets – 173 company-owned and five franchise Tops Markets locations and 1 Orchard Fresh location |
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Areas served
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Upstate New York, Vermont, Northern Pennsylvania, and central Massachusetts |
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Key people
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Frank Curci (CEO), Kevin Darrington EVP Supply Chain and IT, John Persons President and COO, Ron Ferri EVP of Operations, David Langless EVP and CFO |
| Products | Food/Pharmacy/Gasoline |
| Revenue |
 $2.472 billion USD (2015) |
| Owner | Frank Curci |
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Number of employees
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16,000 |
| Website | www |
Tops Friendly Markets is an American supermarket chain based in Williamsville, New York, with stores in New York, Vermont, northern Pennsylvania, and Central Massachusetts.
Tops Friendly Markets was co-founded by Armand Castellani, who was born in 1917 in a village outside of Rome, Italy. His family came to the United States in 1920, and eventually settled in Niagara Falls, where his father, Ferrante, opened a small neighborhood grocery store.
Following his mother's death in 1933, Castellani left school to help manage the store. He continued to do so until joining the Army in 1941. He attained the rank of captain after five years' service.
After World War II, Castellani returned to the family business. In 1951, he set out on his own and opened the Great Bear Market in Niagara Falls. Shortly thereafter, he partnered with Thomas Buscaglia, owner of a grocery equipment firm, T.A. Buscaglia Equipment Co. Throughout the 1950s, Buscaglia, as CEO, and Castellani worked together, entering into a cooperative agreement with other small stores to build the foundation of what was to become the Tops Friendly Markets chain.
As the local economy boomed in the mid-to-late 1950s, the company's operations expanded to include building construction principally devoted to supermarkets. During this time, Savino Nanula, a meat department manager, became an integral part of the company's management team.
By 1958, they had set up headquarters in Buffalo, and in 1960 opened their first modern supermarket: a 25,000 square foot (2,250 m²) store on Portage Road in Niagara Falls. The company then changed its name to Niagara Frontier Services (NFS).
In 1962, franchise systems were established for supermarkets, under the Tops Friendly Markets name, and for smaller stores as B-Kwik. In February of that year, Tops signs went up on seven stores, and the chain was born. By the end of the year, NFS was composed of 15 franchised stores throughout Western New York, employing a total of 300 associates. Throughout the 1960s, NFS implemented warehousing and centralized purchasing to allow the company to grow efficiently.
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Wikipedia