It’s famine at Stop & Shop, feast at Seabra

Shoppers travel different path as Stop and Shop strike continues into second day

By Christy Nadalin
Posted 4/12/19

“We’ve seen a few people come and go, not as many as you’d expect," said Michael Rego, assistant grocery manager, picketing at the Metacom Avenue Stop & Shop in Bristol, where …

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It’s famine at Stop & Shop, feast at Seabra

Shoppers travel different path as Stop and Shop strike continues into second day

Posted

“We’ve seen a few people come and go, not as many as you’d expect," said Michael Rego, assistant grocery manager, picketing at the Metacom Avenue Stop & Shop in Bristol, where he has worked for more than 20 years. “Nickel and dime stuff. Or they’re coming to use the bank … Regular customers have been bringing us coffee and doughnuts, stuff like that.”

Mr. Rego and his colleagues, including Gil Faria, who works in the frozen food department, and Mike Souza, the grocery manager, have more than 60 years combined at the Bristol supermarket — but they are prepared to stay out on the picket lines “as long as it takes.”

Inside, the Stop & Shop was virtually empty, with two people standing in the self-checkout area. They identified themselves as Stop & Shop corporate employees who were told to “keep the store open.” There was no sign of Marty, the much-maligned roving robot that, fairly or not, has been cited as an example of alleged big-corporate indifference to the “small guy” employee.

It was a different scene over at Seabra.

“Outrageous,” said store manager Larry Leste, of the traffic at Seabra since the Stop & Shop walkout at 1 p.m. on Thursday. “On yesterday’s date last year, we did maybe $15,000 in sales. Yesterday we did $27,000. Our customer count was 900 last year and 1,300 yesterday.” Those numbers suggest that the customers that did come in the door were spending significantly more than usual, perhaps doing a bigger shop at a store that would normally only get a fraction of their business. Mr. Leste said that they have had to call suppliers to increase deliveries of many key staples by 30 percent or more.

“I almost want to put on the marquee, ‘No Strikes, No Robots. Come to Seabra!’ ” said Mr. Leste. “I’m just hoping that the customers who do come and try us for the first time will come back and realize that you are going to get a personalized experience here. Everyone who works here has relationships with the customers. I was born and raised here in Bristol; my family shops here, my friends shop here, and I’d love to see more people give us a chance.”

The people in the checkout lines were a mix of Seabra’s regulars and those who more frequently patronize Stop & Shop. The regulars seemed perfectly happy to see the increased activity at Seabra. “It’s not so bad,” said Scott Lane resident Maria Ramos, referring to the crowds.

Ms. Ramos also noted Marty’s refreshing absence at Seabra, telling of an encounter on a recent visit to Stop & Shop. “Stop & Shop has one of those things,” she said. “The other day I went there and I saw this thing, it just stopped in front of me, looking at me. What the heck?”

“I come here and they make the food fresh, every day,” she said, referring to Seabra’s increasingly popular prepared food and cafe area. “Sometimes you come home late and don’t have time to cook. It’s very good.”

“Stop & Shop closed, everybody’s coming!” said Julietta Sousa of Collins Street, pushing a full cart out into the parking lot. “They are going to get a lot of business here!”

“We’re trying to bring in additional cashiers and baggers to make sure the customers have a great experience,” said Mr. Leste. “We’re a little short on carriages, so that will be my job today — going out to the parking lot collecting carriages.”

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