CQM Foods, an employee-owned company operating Freshtown and Peck’s banners, will open a new grocery store Feb. 21 at 59 N. Plank Road in Newburgh, New York.
The Freshtown location, which has been under construction for nine months, will employ about 75 local residents.
The company is a member of the Allegiance Retail Services cooperative of 140 supermarkets throughout New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Being part of ARS allows Freshtown to buy goods from all the major manufacturers at the same low truckload prices as every major chain. These savings are then passed on to the customers, which allows the company to remain competitive.
The Freshtown in Newburgh includes a fresh bakery department, to-go meals from its new kitchen and a large fruit and vegetable department that includes organics.
“The store includes a wide variety of high-quality store cooked meals and food from our state-of-the-art kitchen, so that shoppers who don’t have time to cook can stop and have a great dinner,” said President Noah Katz. “We have really amazing comfort food, sushi, pizza and many meal options, all at great prices.”
VP Ed Hunt added, “The store is about 25,000 square feet and includes everything a larger store would have, so it’s much easier to shop for busy consumers, especially after a long day of work.”
The site of the new Freshtown was formerly occupied by a Big Lots.
“The store had to be completely rebuilt,” Katz said. “Everything except for the four walls is new. The electric system, plumbing, cases, checkouts, everything is new.”
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Freshtown is employee-owned
“The best part about our company is our hard-working associates. We are so grateful for them. We are an employee-owned company, so our employees have a stake in the store,” Katz said.
“Every year, associates receive stock in the company, which accumulates over the course of their careers. When they retire, they redeem their stock for the money.
“Employee-owned companies have a history of creating wealth for their associates, and Freshtown is no different. The company also offers a full benefit package, including a 401K.”
Hunt added, “The purpose of our company is to serve world-class communities with amazing stores and create wealth for our employees, so everyone wins. The profits of our company do not go to huge corporations, some of which are overseas; they stay right here, with our employees, right in the community.”
Because Freshtown is part of ARS, the store had help getting set up and installed. ARS provides expertise, advertising, scan and vendor support and reset specialists to help the store compete.
“Because we have the resources of a 140-store multi-state chain, we can provide independent retailers lower cost of goods as well as all the back-of-the-house resources required to run a larger grocery chain,” said Joe Fantozzi, president of ARS.
“This lets our members such as Freshtown compete in any marketplace.”
Freshtown also has a points program through which shoppers earn 10 points per dollar. They can then redeem the points for free and discounted items.