Big Y Foods Inc., the privately held Massachusetts-based grocery chain, is moving forward with plans to open its fifth Fairfield County store in October at the intersection of Bridgeport Avenue and Nells Rock Road in Shelton. The 56,000-square-foot supermarket joins Big Ys in Bethel, Newtown, Stratford and Monroe, and will be the chain”™s 64th store.
The company says the Shelton store represents an investment of over $10 million into the local community, and will offer about 150 full- and part-time positions.
First announced in February, the chain’s plans hit a minor bump when Shelton’s planning and zoning commission objected to including a convenience store/gas station on the site. That proposal has since been withdrawn by Big Y, though a spokesman said the chain could revisit the subject in the future. The spokesman described Big Y’s entry into the service station sector as “still in the fledgling stage”; it is experimenting with gas stations near its Springfield, Mass., headquarters but has no current plans to add fuel stations in Connecticut.
