WIKIMEDIA
A Big Y executive said Monday the company has not made a decision about the future of its Ansonia store as it readies a new store 2 miles away in Derby.
A vice-president with Big Y said Monday that the company has NOT made a decision about its Ansonia store, and was surprised to learn the landlord had been marketing the property.
“First and foremost, we have made no decision (about closing the Ansonia store). The landlord is jumping the gun,” said Claire D’Amour-Daley, Big Y’s vice-president of corporate communications. “We have not notified him of anything. I assume he wants to rent the space, but we have not made a decision yet.”
D’Amour-Daley said the Ansonia store has 3.5 years left on its lease.
On Friday, Sheila O’Malley, Ansoina’s economic development director, said that Big Y Plaza owner Alan G. Schwartz, of AGS Ansonia LLC, informed the city that the Ansonia Big Y would be moving about two miles away to Route 34 in east Derby, where Big Y is building a new store at 656 New Haven Ave. (at the old Walmart). A commercial real estate broker marketing the property also said the store was leaving Ansonia.
Schwartz did not comment to The Valley Indy Friday, but The Connecticut Post reported that he confirmed the closing.
Big Y returned media calls Monday.
“For him to go out with that information is a little bit shocking, frankly, because we have made no decision,” D’Amour-Daley said.
The Valley Indy emailed the new information to city officials and to the plaza’s owner Monday afternoon.
D’Amour-Daley repeatedly said all options are under consideration.
While the new Derby store is close to the Ansonia store, it’s not unheard of for the company to operate two successful stores within a mile of each other. It’s not unusual to keep one store open for a bit after a new store opens nearby.
Business is good in Ansonia and Shelton. In fact, Shelton is hiring, D’Amour-Daley said.
The recent Stop & Shop employee strike helped get even more customers into local Big Y stores — data that also has to be taken into consideration as the company ponders the future of the Ansonia location.
D’Amour-Daley said she assumes her company’s real estate department will be reaching out to the landlord to talk about the space.
The Derby store on Route 34/New Haven Avenue is scheduled to open at some point in the fall.
No matter what happens, D’Amour-Daley said no layoffs are planned.
“The most important message, and the message we want to get out is that we don’t plan any job losses whatsoever. In fact we have job openings in Shelton and some other neighboring towns as well,” she said. “We anticipate no job loss, but we haven’t totally finished our evaluation as to what we might do and when we might do it. So, as I said, it was a little premature for the landlord to go out and try to market the space when we haven’t even notified him we are vacating.”
