Laura Gould, from Batavia, a promotions analyst with Tops Friendly Markets, was honored as a Top Women in Grocery by the trade publication Progressive Grocer. 

Gould, named a "Rising Star," was among six Tops employees from Western New York honored by the publication.

In total, Progressive Grocer will induct 400 women, chosen from more than 1,000 nominees, into this year’s class during its celebration taking place in Orlando, Florida in November.

"These women strengthen the retail food industry at many levels, within both the retailer and supplier communities," Tops officials said in a release. "Top Women in Grocery is a community that has continued to grow since 2007, with the best and brightest women in the industry."

The company added, "Progressive Grocer's Top Women in Grocery award is the most prestigious honor for female leaders in the grocery industry."

Previously: Batavia resident promoted to corporate management position with Tops

Tops Friendly Markets, a leading full-service grocery retailer in New York, northern Pennsylvania, and Vermont, announced today that the company will once again offer military personnel and their immediate families an 11 percent discount off of their grocery bill this Veterans Day. 

This marks the 11th year Tops has been extending this discount to military personnel and their families. Since its inception, the Veteran’s Day discount has saved Veterans and their families over $781,000.

On Saturday, Nov. 11 Tops Markets will honor an 11 percent discount off of a total order to all veterans and immediate family members in the same household, who shop at any Tops location. 

Customers should present proof of service that they, or an immediate family member are a U.S. Veteran, active duty, reserve, or retired military personnel to automatically receive an 11 percent discount off of their total purchase that day.

“The respect and gratitude we have for the people who serve and have served in the military is immeasurable, and for that, we are forever grateful,” said Ron Ferri, president, of Tops Friendly Markets. “We wanted to support local military personnel by giving back to our associates and customers who have courageously defended our country and made many sacrifices through their military service.”

Tops is a longtime supporter of military associates and customers. The company’s support of military organizations includes, but is not limited to, support of the Wall that Heals, American Veterans Tribute Traveling Wall, Honor Flight Missions and golf tournaments, sending care packages for troops serving domestically and overseas, VA hospital visits, participation in veteran job fairs, parades and expo, and Tops Stars for Our Troops program by which stars from embroidered US Flags slated for retirement are presented to Veterans, active duty personnel, and first responders.

Tops Friendly Markets, a leading full-service grocery retailer in New York, northern Pennsylvania, and Vermont, is pleased to announce the promotion of Kristin Goetz to director, center store. 

As director center store, Kristin will be responsible for directing the development, procurement, and merchandising programs for designated categories of center store merchandise to achieve budgeted sales, gross profit, deals and allowances, inventory turns and service levels. She will also work closely with all category managers, asset managers, and pricing analysts in order to maximize support for Center Store categories.

Having joined Tops Markets in 1996 as a cashier, Kristin served as a Store Manager in six locations over a span of 10 years and most recently held the position of category manager, beverage, commercial bakery and sweet goods.

Kristin holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Buffalo and currently resides in Batavia, New York with her children, Carter and Ava.

As we edge closer to celebrating another Earth Day here at Tops we are excited to announce the advances we continue to make not only in our day to day efforts to adopt practices that help protect our environment, but also efforts that will make a lifelong impact.

It’s All in the Bag Tops prides itself on working with partners who share the same commitment to environmental
practices so it was a no brainer when Tops had the opportunity to employ BioFlex™ bags instead of traditional plastic bags for its potatoes.

“BioFlex™ ticked all the boxes for us” said Jeff Cady, director produce and floral for Tops Friendly Markets. “A quality product solution that is engineered to break down in landfills all while diverting greenhouse gas emissions. A win-win.” BioFlex™ is a sustainable technology that increases the natural microbial activity in modern landfills and contributes 19 times more energy than that of regular plastic. The packaging is FDA compliant and safe for food contact. Furthermore, BioFlex™ packaging can be designed to maintain recyclability.

“This new packaging is 100% recyclable and also biodegrades in landfills and converts into renewable methane gas,” said president, David Masser of Sterman Masser, Inc. “Tops was the first retail chain to adopt this technology and has the most distribution to date.”

Kinder Way to Clean

When you think earth day you think about what changes you can make to your daily routine to help mother earth. Recycling your plastic bottles and newspapers, but did you stop and think about the cleaning products you’re using also helping in these efforts?

Tops proudly provides you with products with mother nature in mind year round! Tops Full Circle line of products are non-toxic, plant-based, and free of dyes and fragrances which are not only better for you and your family but the environment. From detergent and ecofriendly paper towels, to all purpose cleaning sprays and bath tissue, a kinder way to clean-is simply that.

Let the Sunshine

In 2022 Tops continued to increase its use of solar energy by partnering with EDP Renewables to provide solar power to even more of our stores. Together with Convergent Power + Energy and now EDP, 82 stores will have energy saving solar power.

Tops originally teamed up with Convergent in 2021, the most dependable provider of energy storage solutions in North America, to deliver more renewable energy to upstate New Yorkers in the form of community solar paired with battery storage. The partnership allows Tops stores to be powered by solar farms, which reduces the stores’ carbon footprint. The solar-plus-storage projects developed by Convergent provide Tops and upstate New Yorkers access to solar energy whether or not the sun is shining and reduce the state’s reliance on power plants during peak demand hours.

“Convergent and EDP are dedicated to mitigating the impact of a warming planet on current and future generations by advancing the clean energy transition, so expanding a partnership of this nature seemed only fitting,” stated Sautter.

Running on Clean

In 2022 Tops further enhanced its fleet of trucks by converting over to 48 new CNG trucks with impressive sustainability benefits. Fueled with clean burning natural gas, opposed to diesel fuel, these new trucks will eliminate 3,246 MT of carbon dioxide equivalent per year by fueling 1,000,000 DGEs of RNG.

To put that into perspective that is equivalent to eliminating 33,389,607 miles driven by a passenger vehicle, 502,034 incandescent lamps switched to LED’s or 563,607 trash bags of waste recycled instead of being placed in a landfill.

“Our ongoing commitment to sustainability is met with enthusiasm and resolve every day, as we work to ensure we leave our communities—and our planet—better for the next generation,” said John Persons, president, Tops Friendly Markets. “We are excited to be working with so many business partners whose values align with our environmental conservation vision."

To learn more about all of Tops sustainability efforts, visit https://www.topsmarkets.com/sustainability

There are two things that Gino DeMino knows about tomato sauce: taste and price.

When locally produced Guglielmo’s sauce came onto Batavia Tops shelves, DeMino, the store manager, knew another good one had arrived.

“I’ve had it, it’s fantastic. It has great flavor, and it’s not watered down. It has a more homemade taste,” DeMino said. “His sauce is a premium. They’re starting to do better with inflation.”

Premium equals higher quality and also means a higher price. Since inflation has been driving up prices of most everything, that has helped sales of those more expensive items, he said.

DeMino has the qualifications to know products, he said: he’s been in the business for more than 20 years and “I’m Italian.”

“I tend to eat more pasta than most people,” he said.

Guglielmo’s, a generational sauce made at Craft Cannery in Bergen, is sold at a long list of stores in neighboring counties, including Tops Friendly Markets. The sauce arrived at Batavia Tops about six months ago, but DeMinio had discovered it before then, at a Rochester store.

Several small businesses bring their recipes to Craft, which manufactures their products as a safe, reliable end result. Red Osier of Stafford is another local client that has marinades and sauces in Tops and Wegmans, and more distant places, such as Hotdog Charlie’s from the Albany area, is a hot seller, Tom Riggio said.

The ever-expanding vendor list is just one sign of Craft Cannery’s robust health, said Riggio, Guglielmo’s business partner. They have more than 75 clients.

“We’re growing,” Riggio said. “As far as the size of the expansion, we’re not exactly sure of the exact size at this point in time, but anywhere between 3 and 5,000 square feet. It’ll allow us to build a separate warehouse behind our building for storage purposes and allow us to put in a second kitchen, essentially a second bottling line facility.

“Our sweet spot is the local restauranteur that says they think they've got the best pasta sauce. And it was actually very, very helpful during COVID when these restaurants weren't open,” he said. “They would come to us with their pasta sauce recipe, we would make it food safe and bottle it for them. And then they get it on shelves.”

Craft Cannery is one of six USDA-certified manufacturing canneries in New York State that allows the company to produce meat-based products. It’s a good opportunity to continue to grow the business, he said. Based at 7100 Appletree Ave. in Bergen, the site on the east end of Genesee County continues to update its products and hire new personnel, especially after the expansion is completed by the first half of 2024.

One of its more recent products has been the EZ cap using new technology “which allows people that struggle to open jars to essentially push a button and be able to open a jar with a lot less force,” he said.

“Our business continues to grow, we’re experiencing growth,” Riggio said. “We’re looking to add more people. We’re up to eight, we’re adding one new this Monday. Two more next week. And seven to eight to run the second line.”

With all of the good, there have been a few bumps along the way since purchasing the company in May 2020. Craft lost a client they had been producing six varieties of sauces for, which meant taking a financial hit. They had purchased raw materials, made product and shipped it out before learning that Real Eats out of Geneva had gone out of business. It was a loss of “tens of thousands of dollars,” Riggio said.

“It stings. It’s the cost of doing business for us. Thankfully, you know, we plan for these situations,” he said. “Our business will be fine; it hasn’t impacted our business. Our employees will be able to use some of the raw materials.”

Contrary to how some news articles made it seem, Craft Cannery is alive and well, he said. If anything, he will take a page from that other company’s last chapter and learn to move carefully with Craft Cannery. The site is big enough for options.

“We’ve got land that we could expand even further. But what we don’t want to do is, we don’t want to over-expand. We’re going to take the steps that we need to do to keep up and grow the business,” he said. “I don’t want to overstep it and put the business at risk, which is exactly what happened with Real Eats. I’ve got a background in building businesses and brands. And obviously, Paul is the face of the company. So the two of us make a good one-two punch.”

Top Photo: Paul Guglielmo shows some of his sauce that's locally made at Craft Cannery in Bergen and now available at Batavia Tops on Lewiston Road. Photos by Howard Owens.

The safety of our associates and customers remains our top priority.  Due to the continued extreme weather conditions, all Erie, Niagara, Orleans, Genesee, and Wyoming County Tops stores will remain closed until Monday.  We will reopen at 6 a.m. on Monday. 

Tops Friendly Markets, a leading full-service grocery retailer in New York, northern Pennsylvania, and Vermont, is pleased to announce the promotion of Laura Gould to promotions manager.

Laura began her career at Tops in 2001 as a scan associate at store 245 in Batavia. She eventually worked her way up to assistant scan coordinator. In 2008 Laura joined the Corporate Office as a data integrity coordinator, and in 2015 was promoted to the promotions coordinator. Later in 2015, Laura was promoted to the position of promotions analyst. She holds a BS in Mathematics, as well as a BS in Computational Science from SUNY Brockport.

Laura lives in Batavia, NY, with her husband, Charlie and their children, Adam and Olivia. She is an avid baker and enjoys spending time with family and friends. 

Tops Friendly Markets, a leading full-service grocery retailer in New York, northern Pennsylvania, and Vermont, announced today that the company will once again offer military personnel and their immediate families an 11 percent discount off of their grocery bill this Veterans Day.  This marks the tenth year Tops has been extending this discount to military personnel and their families.

On Friday, Nov. 11, Tops Markets will honor an 11 percent discount off of a total order to all veterans and immediate family members in the same household, who shop at any Tops location.  Customers should present proof of service that they or an immediate family member are a U.S. Veteran, active duty, reserve or retired military personnel to automatically receive an 11 percent discount off of their total purchase that day. 

“The respect and gratitude we have for the people who serve and have served in the military is immeasurable, and for that, we are forever grateful,” said John Persons, president of Tops Friendly Markets.  “We wanted to support local military personnel by giving back to our associates and customers who have courageously defended our country and made many sacrifices through their military service.”

Tops is a longtime supporter of military associates and customers. Since the inception of the Tops 11% military discount, Tops has saved veterans and their families $681,317 on their groceries.  The company’s support of military organizations includes, but is not limited to, support of the Wall that Heals, American Veterans Tribute Traveling Wall, Honor Flight Missions and golf tournaments, the 10th Anniversary Veterans Race, sending care packages for troops serving domestically and overseas, VA hospital visits, participation in veteran job fairs, parades and expo, and Tops Stars for Our Troops program by which stars from embroidered US Flags slated for retirement are presented to Veterans, active duty personnel, and first responders. 

Students from Batavia High and Notre Dame participated in “Project Sticker Shock” this morning to kick off Red Ribbon Week, the annual end-of-October alcohol, tobacco, and other drug and violence prevention awareness campaign.

Red Ribbon Week began in 1985 as a tribute to Enrique Camarena, a fallen U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency special agent. According to the DEA, it is the nation's largest and longest-running drug awareness and prevention program.

“It’s just the right thing to do,” said ND sophomore Jack Weddle (photo above) as he placed warning stickers on multi-packs of beer and hard seltzer at Tops Friendly Market in Batavia.

He was joined by ND senior Greg Narburgh and members of the ATOP (All Types of People) social club from Batavia High. The exercise was supervised by Carol Nicometo and Shellye Dale-Hall, prevention educators at Genesee/Orleans Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, and Heidi Meides-Judge, counselor at Batavia High.

The stickers were colored bright orange and featured the following message:

Warning! It is illegal for any persons 21 or older to purchase or provide alcohol to minors. Fines up to $1,000 and/or 1 year in jail.

Prudence Favalora, one of the ATOP members, said that she will be reading the Red Ribbon Week honor code prior to tonight’s Batavia High junior varsity football game (6 p.m. start) at Van Detta Stadium.

Additionally, the Batavia City School District board of education issued a proclamation in observance of Red Ribbon Week and Batavia Middle and Batavia High parents signed pledges to keep their kids drug- and alcohol-free.

GCASA officials reported that Red Ribbon Week activities include special events at The Recovery Station on Clinton Street Road.

Photo: Students taking part in Project Sticker Shock are, front from left, Casey Reynolds, Kassandra Kessler, Prudence Favalora, Abbigayle Leone, Issac Tidd and Jen Ewert; back, Greg Narburgh and Jack Weddle. Photos by Mike Pettinella.

Disclosure: Mike Pettinella is the publicist for GCASA.

Press Release:

The Batavia Police Department is looking for help in identifying a person of interest in a larceny at Tops Supermarket which occurred on June 2 at approximately 10:05 a.m. Anyone with information on the identity of the person in the photo is asked to contact Officer Christopher Lindsay at 585-345-6350, the confidential tip line at 585-345-6370. Please do not post tips on Facebook or Twitter as the posts are not continuously monitored.