Tops Friendly Markets

Overview

Tops Friendly Markets is an American supermarket chain based in Amherst, New York, that operates stores in upstate New York, Vermont, and Northern Pennsylvania. The chain operates full-scale supermarkets. Tops is a subsidiary of Northeast Grocery, which also owns the Price Chopper and Market 32 supermarkets based in Schenectady, New York. As of August 2025, the company operates 152 stores and 58 gas station/convenience stores. It formerly operated stores in Ohio and Massachusetts.

Early years

Tops Friendly Markets was co-founded by Armand Castellani, who was born in 1917 in a village outside of Rome, Italy, and Thomas Buscaglia. Castellani's 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 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 1962 opened their first modern supermarket: a 25,000 sq ft (2,300 m2) store on Portage Road in Niagara Falls. Alfonse DiMino, a Bells franchisee, suggested the name "Tops" and the team chose that name because they were determined to give customers the best shopping experience. The company then changed its name to Niagara Frontier Services (NFS).

1960s

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. In 1967, Buscaglia died and Armand Castellani took over as chief executive officer. The next year, NFS went public, trading on the American Stock Exchange. Subsequently, the company began construction on a perishable warehouse and acquired general merchandise distributor G&G Sales and Service. The following year, 1969, NFS entered the convenience store market by opening the first Wilson Farms Neighborhood Food store in Tonawanda, New York. The same year, Tops Friendly Markets was named Retailer of the Year by the Brand Names Foundation, an honor it would again earn in 1974.

1970s–80s

The 1970s saw Tops Friendly Markets, under the leadership of Castellani and Nanula, continue to grow in Western New York, and thrive where competitors struggled. Early in the decade, Tops began to build more company-owned stores. By the mid-70s, the company had expanded into the Rochester area, and over time, it became the only real competitor to Wegmans in the region. Also during this time, Tops Friendly Markets opened its first Pennsylvania store in Bradford. In 1983, SB Investors, a private, New York-based investment group, purchased NFS. By this time, operations had grown to include 65 Tops stores, 50 Wilson Farms stores and 15 B-Kwik Food Stores, employing 7,000 associates. The next year, Tops Friendly Markets introduced Western New York shoppers to direct debit service, Instabank ATMs and the first CarryOut Café. It was also the year that Tops won the first of eight Golden Penguin Award from the National Frozen Food Association. In 1985, Castellani was named chairman of the board and Nanula succeeded him as CEO. The following spring, SB Investors became known as Tops Friendly Markets, Inc., as the company went public for the second time, this time on NASDAQ. The following year, as Tops Friendly Markets celebrated its 25th anniversary, a $196 million leveraged buyout of the company was engineered between a group of Tops Friendly Markets executives and private equity firm Riordan, Freeman & Spogli. In 1987, Tops installed electronic scanners, one of the last supermarkets to do so.

1990s

A new era began March 27, 1991 as Tops Friendly Markets, which had grown to 145 total stores and 11,000 associates, was acquired by Ahold, a major international food retailer based in the Netherlands. The same year, the first Tops Friendly Markets International Super Center opened in Amherst. At that time, the 112,000 sq ft (10,400 m2) store was the largest in Western New York, and boasted the biggest in-store bakery in the entire U.S. In the next few years additional Tops Friendly Markets International stores opened in Niagara Falls, West Seneca, Greece, and Perinton, New York. Also, a franchised International-style store, which operates as a Tops Friendly Market, was opened in Lockport. The International stores feature additional floor space and a product mix of many foods from different world cultures which up until then had not been widely available in the Buffalo area. With many Canadians at the time regularly crossing the border due to relaxed duties after the recently concluded Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement and the Canadian dollar at 90% of the value to its American counterpart, the new stores were in the right place at the right time and did even better business than expected. The 1990s were marked by a new growth in operations, including the 1996 merger with Finast in Northeast Ohio, expansion across New York, the construction of a new headquarters in Amherst, New York, and the opening of an 848,000 sq ft (78,800 m2) distribution center in Lancaster. By 1998, Tops Friendly Markets' market area stretched from Sandusky, Ohio, to Utica. In January 1999, the BonusCard, its customer loyalty program, debuted. In May 1999, all 45 Northeast Ohio Finast stores adopted the Tops Friendly Markets banner.

2000s

Tops Friendly Markets entered into the new millennium by acquiring the Sugarcreek Stores chain, adding 87 stores to its Wilson Farms division. That summer, Tops installed self-scanning checkouts at 11 stores in Ohio and in late August, the first Tops fueling station premiered in Akron. In 2001, Tops acquired 22 former Grand Union stores in the Adirondacks region and in Central New York, further east than its market had traditionally been. They also introduced the Tops Xpress convenience store format. By the end of the year, the company celebrated another landmark with the opening of its 150th Tops store, located in Madison, Ohio. This aggressive growth was fueled in part by deliberate understatements of Ahold's debt to the financial markets. When this came to light in 2003, Tops was forced to backtrack. By 2005 the convenience stores had been sold to WFI Acquisition Inc., which later sold the stores to convenience store operator powerhouse 7-Eleven, and Tops Friendly Markets was also looking to sell the 31 stores it had established in the Adirondack region. P&C Foods acquired 2, Price Chopper acquired six, Hannaford acquired three, and twelve returned to the Grand Union division of C&S Wholesale Grocers.

On July 6, 2006, Ahold announced its decision to exit the Northeast Ohio market, which consisted of 46 locations. The 46 stores were located in Greater Cleveland, Akron and Norwalk and at the time employed approximately 3,800 full and part-time employees. Tops announced on October 10, 2006 that 18 of its Ohio stores were sold to rival Giant Eagle. The store in Youngstown which closed prior to 2006, was sold, expanded, and converted to Target. An additional store in Sheffield, Ohio, was sold on November 29, 2006. The store in Tallmadge, Ohio, was sold to local competitor Acme Fresh Market. On November 9 in a company press release, it was stated that all Tops stores in Northeast Ohio would close whether they have been sold or not. A store in Cleveland's Lee-Harvard Neighborhood and a store in Garfield Heights were converted to Dave's Markets, a small independently owned chain of grocery stores in Cleveland. In June, the Tops store in Cleveland Heights became a Dave's. All Northeast Ohio stores closed by 3 pm on December 8, 2006 and some remain unoccupied.

2010s

In October and November 2012, Tops closed one store and downsized a second store. The first was the Elmridge Center store in Greece, New York which closed in October 2012. Employees and customers were absorbed into other nearby locations. The Geneva, New York, store downsized and moved into the Geneva Town Centre in November 2012. This new store is a 51,364 sq ft (4,771.9 m2) location and has upgraded departments, along with a gas station, that were not in the formerly larger location. Both of these stores had been 84,000 sq ft (7,800 m2) superstores that Tops built in the early 1990s. In 2013, Tops downsized another store in the Rochester suburbs. The Jefferson Rd location in Henrietta, New York, relocated to the Frontier Commons Plaza. As a result, the store is now 55,000 square feet instead of the previous 76,000 square feet it formerly occupied. The new location also contains departments and a gas station which were not found in the former location. In 2014, Tops downsized a store in Perinton and an Irondequoit, New York store on East Ridge Road. The Irondequoit store was relocated to the Depot Plaza, which used to be anchored by Kmart.

Chapter 11 bankruptcy

On February 21, 2018, Tops filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. None of the stores' day-to-day operations were to be affected. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the reason for filing was due to Tops' $720 million debt. This opportunity was being used to restructure financially so it could grow and be more competitive. On August 30, 2018, Tops announced they would be closing ten underperforming locations by November, including two in Syracuse, one on West Genesee Street (NY 5) at Westvale Plaza, and another on South Salina Street (US 11) at Valley Plaza, two in Rochester, one on Lake Avenue and another on North Winton Road, and one each in Perinton, Lyons, Geneva, Fulton, Elmira (the South Main Street location) and Saranac Lake (at the Lake Flower Plaza). Tops Markets announced they emerged from bankruptcy on November 19, 2018.

2020s

On February 8, 2021, Price Chopper Supermarkets/Market 32 and Tops Market announced plans to merge. The new parent company will be headquartered in Schenectady, New York. The Price Chopper/Market 32 and Tops Markets businesses will retain main offices in Schenectady and Williamsville and will continue to be managed locally by their respective leaders. Nine months later, the merger was completed. The stores will now be owned and overseen by Northeast Grocery, with current President and CEO of Price Chopper/Market 32 managing the merger & Tops Friendly Markets CEO Frank Curci taking over in February 2022. The FTC required the combined company to divest from 12 of the combined companies’ stores. On April 29, 2024, Tops Markets announced the acquisition of five locations that were operated by Supermarket Management, Inc. The franchise partner had operated Tops locations for more than 60 years. As a result of the acquisition, all 585 employees were retained, and renovations totalling more than $8 million were announced for the Lockport, Depew, and Buffalo stores. After the acquisition of these stores, only one franchise location remains, in Lewiston.

Martin's Super Food Stores

In 2004, Tops Friendly Markets fully remodeled a store in Perinton, and rebranded it Martin's Super Food Store in an effort to revitalize the marketplace. Martin's Food Markets is a brand owned by Tops Friendly Markets' then-parent company, Ahold, via their subsidiary Giant-Carlisle. The stores were designed in a colorful manner in order to attract both new and old customers. The format worked well for the company, which prompted them to remodel another location in the Buffalo suburb of Amherst into the Martin's Super Food Store format, and then later three other stores in Dunkirk-Fredonia, Derby, and Batavia. As of April 16, 2006, the Martin's Super Food Store in Amherst reverted to a Tops Market due to customer feedback, and the company announced it would no longer pursue the Martin's brand in New York. As of February 28, 2008, the remaining Martin's locations were all returned to the Tops Friendly Markets brand as part of the sale to Morgan Stanley Private Equity. The decision was made to operate the company under one banner going forward.

Transition from Ahold to Morgan Stanley

Ahold announced on November 6, 2006 that the remaining 72 stores in the Tops chain, in New York and Pennsylvania, would be sold. Although they have been profitable, it is a strategic decision for Ahold to focus on other chains such as Giant and Stop & Shop. On November 7, 2006, it was reported that Price Chopper might buy the chain. It had previously bought six former locations. On May 25, 2007, well-known grocery industry consultant Burt P. Flickinger III announced that he is part of a group of investors interested in purchasing the Tops Markets chain. Flickinger's family co-financed the first 60 Tops Friendly Markets stores that opened, and stated that he hopes to restore the local focus that Tops was originally known for. On June 1, 2007, it was reported that Tops Friendly Markets agreed to repurchase its Lancaster warehouse from C&S Wholesale Grocers, while C&S will continue to operate and manage the warehouse. Max Henderson, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Tops Markets, stated that he hoped repurchasing the warehouse would make Tops more attractive to a potential buyer. On October 11, 2007, Ahold announced the sale of Tops Friendly Markets, LLC to Morgan Stanley Private Equity in a transaction valued at $310 million. Morgan Stanley agreed to purchase 71 of the 72 stores in the chain. The Baytowne Plaza store in Penfield, New York, known to Tops associates as the "Webster store", was not part of the transaction. The owners of the Baytowne Plaza notified all of their tenants that they would not be allowed to renew their lease upon expiration, and Tops Markets closed the doors of their store to the public on October 27, 2007.

Morgan Stanley

At 12:01 am on December 2, 2007, Morgan Stanley Private Equity became the new owner of Tops Markets. Ahold's subsidiary Giant Food of Carlisle provided operational and support services for up to one year after the sale. Max Henderson, Executive Vice President of Tops, resigned his position from the company, and Frank Curci, a former Tops Friendly Markets CEO, returned as CEO of the company. Tops Friendly Markets brought back approximately 100 corporate positions in marketing, merchandising and finance to Buffalo, New York. Recently, those positions had been based in Carlisle, Pennsylvania by Giant Food. Existing stores resumed upgrades and remodeling, and plans for new stores continue. Tim Hortons full-service restaurants or self-serve kiosks as well as Anchor Bar wings were added to all stores. A growth rate of more than 10% is expected over the next four to five years.