Big Y
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Big Y Foods, Inc. | |
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| Type | Private |
| Founded | Chicopee, Massachusetts (1936) (as "Y Cash Market") |
| Headquarters | Springfield, Massachusetts, United States of America |
| Key people | Paul D'Amour, Gerald D'Amour, Founder Donald D'Amour, Chief Executive Officer Charles D'Amour, President/COO |
| Industry | Grocery |
| Revenue | ▲$1.22 Billion USD (2004) |
| Website | www.bigy.com |
Big Y Foods, Inc., or simply Big Y is an American supermarket chain, with store locations in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
In 1936, a young entrepreneur named Paul D'Amour, with aid from his brother Gerald and sisters Ann Marie, Yvette and Gertrude D'Amour, purchased the Y Cash Market in the Willimansett section of Chicopee, Massachusetts at the intersection where two roads converge to form a "Y". On December 12th of that year, Paul and his brother Gerald officially started the Y Cash market, which would one day be Big Y Foods, Inc. Today, the company is headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts. The Company is still family run by cousins Charles and Donald D'Amour
Big Y is one of the largest independently-owned supermarket chains in New England, and presently employs over 8,500 people in over fifty locations. Big Y is the 268th largest private company in the United States, according to the 2005 Forbes Magazine "500 Largest Private Companies" list.
Big Y stores offer food specials every week day throughout the year, for example Mad Monday, when customers can purchase a full size pizza for half price. Some store locations offer free child care while patrons shop in the store. Big Y also aggressively markets against local competition by offering "buy 1, get 2 free" sales and special coins redeemable for discounts on different items every two months.
Unlike most other supermarkets, which start their sale weeks on Sunday and go until Saturday, Big Y starts its sales week on Thursdays and ends them on Wednesdays. This was because most paychecks come out on a Thursday, so they wanted shoppers to be able to get the new sales at the start before the items were sold out.
