By Gretchen Webster
WESTPORT — The Big Y supermarket parking lot was nearly full only an hour after doors opened for the first time Thursday at the new grocery store in Post Plaza shopping center.
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According to Joe Fetcho, store director, he’s never seen such a high level of interest when the New England-based chain opened a new store elsewhere.
“I never opened one that had this level of excitement,” he said. “I can’t get over the excitement here.” Big Y officials called Thursday a “soft opening” for the store, with the “grand opening” set Nov. 7.
That may be because the Westport Big Y is the chain’s first foray into the southwestern Fairfield County market, with the grocer’s other nearby stores in Stratford, Shelton and Monroe.
Another factor may the long wait for a food store at the 1076 Post Road East property, where plans for an Amazon Fresh supermarket, a new tech-driven concept in food shopping, were unveiled in January 2022 but ultimately failed to launch. Big Y announced plans to take over the partially renovated site from Amazon last January. Before that, the location was a Barnes & Noble bookstore that closed in 2020 and moved downtown.
But Fetcho thinks Westporters’ interest in the new store may be due to familiarity with the quality of the family-owned supermarkets from visits with relatives and friends or vacationing in New England.
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“We have a good reputation,” he said. “People have heard of us and want to see what we’re all about.”
There is a New England vibe in the store, particularly in the seafood department, where fresh seafood is delivered from Massachusetts six days a week. And the fish and chips from the prepared foods section of the store “is the best you’ve ever had,” Fetcho claimed.
Celeste Pagano and June Albert, two discriminating shoppers who had a cart full of goods Thursday morning, came from the Black Rock section of Bridgeport to check out the new store, part of their travels around the region to buy groceries, they said.
The meat at Big Y stores is especially good, said Pagano, because it’s fresh and natural — “back to basics,” without additives. And Albert said the bakery at Big Y stores “is really good for parties, there is a lot of selection.”
They ranked staples such as seafood, produce and meat at Big Y above other stores they’ve tried, adding, “We’ve been waiting for a couple of years for this.”
Big Y sells only the highest-quality meats and seafood, said Dan Adams, the store’s assistant meat and seafood manager. “I can say that from working in numerous places,” he said.
Seafood, such as tuna and salmon steaks, is sold with a special “XL” marking, which is the highest grade and difficult to find in most grocery stores, he said.
The Westport Big Y sells the USDA Choice grade of meats like most grocery stores, Adams said, but also features select cuts of meat graded as USDA Prime. “Only about 3 percent of grocery stores sell the Prime grade,” he said.
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Fetcho also highlighted the produce department, where fresh merchandise is delivered every day except Sunday.
The store has already made connections with vendors from the Westport Farmers Market, he said, in order to stock their fresh local produce.
In addition to the store’s other departments — including a prepared foods section that features a salad bar, pizza bar, sushi, wings and more — it’s the people working for Big Y who Fetcho believes make the store special. The new store has hired about 100 employees, he said.
“We try to hire the friendliest most receptive people around,” he said.
The Big Y company was started in Massachusetts in 1936, and is still owned and operated by the third generation of the D’Amour family, according to the company website. They began opening stores in Connecticut in the 1980s, and currently operate more than 90 Big Y stores in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Big Y supermarket, 1076 Post Road East, is open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day. For more information call 203-349-4138.
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Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman and has taught journalism at New York and Southern Connecticut State universities.
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