“Middle to end of next month,” is the prognosis for the opening of the Super Stop and Shop on 119 that is slated to replace our Bridge Plaza store. This, according to Amy Murphy-St. Lawrence, Communication Director for the grocery chain in New York, who added, “the date is not 100% nailed down yet.”

The phones aren't up yet in the new sprawling facility, though everything else is – for the most part – complete. While there is no construction going on internally, “a lot happens as you approach an opening,” Murphy-St. Lawrence said. Shelving, stocking items, putting staff and systems in place. (Construction on the office building/restaurant to come in the same complex has yet to begin, so for now there is a large gravel area to the right of the approach to the parking lot).

Meanwhile, customers won't notice that closure is coming soon to the “old” Stop & Shop at Bridge Plaza, save for the "Now Hiring" sign for the Greenburgh branch. The date on this closure depends on the date of the opening of the new store and the two will perfectly align. “How it generally goes is the existing store will work up until 6 p.m. on a Thursday and the new one will open at 6 p.m. that evening,” Murphy-St. Lawrence said. “There won't be a moment where you won't be able to shop at a Stop & Shop.”

There also won't be any kind of overlap where you could choose between one store or the shiny new one. The owners clearly aim to direct traffic to the new store and aren't putting a full-size grocery store in the old plaza as Tarrytown officials had hoped. However, in a deal brokered between the Village, the town of Greenburgh, and the superstore, Stop & Shop did agree to include a fresh food option at this complex. 

In the legal document shared with Patch and attached to this article, the Village had stipulated: '...the Village seeks to assure convenient and reasonable food/grocery, fresh produce and prescription drug store retail outlets for the residents of Tarrytown, including senior citizens.'

What we're getting is a second CVS (the current CVS is to required stay open until at last the end of January, 2014) with an expanded food section, along with some kind of small fresh food market. Stop & Shop representatives agreed to waive Peapod grocery delivery fees for one year to senior citizens in the neighborhood near the Bridge Plaza who walk to get groceries. The fresh food option will either be up to Stop & Shop or CVS to rent or sublease around 4,000 square feet of space with parking lot frontage dedicated to fresh produce, similar to the store used as a model, Harvest Field Market in Mamaroneck.

Said Village Administrator Mike Blau, “Stop & Shop, based upon their lease, controls the Bridge Plaza Shopping Center and what stores will fill their vacancy. We wanted another food store [rather than a CVS] and they objected and they have complete control. Thus, we negotiated the most we could get.”

At our current Stop & Shop there is now a temporary manager to fill in the void as store manager Carolyn Richards, works down the road helping to set up shop there. The announcement of who will be the new store's actual manager remains uncertain. The new store manager tends to be announced a few weeks before the opening, said Murphy-St. Lawrence.

No one, she assured Patch, will be losing their job from the closure. Rather they are either moved to other stores in the area or to the new store. The food itself remains at full-capacity until the night the store closes, when it is also then moved to area stores. (The new store gets its own new food, Murphy-St. Lawrence added).

Temporary manager at the Bridge Plaza S&S, John, who did not want to give his last name and was also uncertain about his timeline there, said things are all going along as normal as can be on his end. “We're open for business like nothing's going on,” he said.

The new Super Stop & Shop is located near the Sheraton on White Plains Road, near the end of Benedict Avenue. There are job opportunties posted on the company's website.

Where will you shop when the new store opens and the old S&S closes? Take our poll below.