NORWALK – When customers walk into the 10 ShopRite and two Grade A Market stores in the state, they may not realize the history of those markets and significance to the five members of the Cingari family that carry out their patriarch’s dream started in 1929.
But if they were to seek out Tom Cingari Jr., they could get the full story of how his great-grandfather Salvatore Cingari Sr. came over from Italy in 1924 and started selling homemade pasta and produce out of a refrigerated school bus.
“In the early 1900s, my great-grandfather emigrated to Stamford from Italy,” said Cingari, who is vice president of produce, floral and ecommerce for Cingari Family Markets. “When he first came over in like 1924-1925, Salvatore Cingari Sr. started doing odd jobs, including stone work. The story goes that he saved up enough money to buy 20 pounds of pasta and made it into one-pound packages and sold them.
“From there, he saved enough money to buy a refrigerated small school bus that he used to start delivering groceries door-to-door. He sold tomatoes and basil, canned tomatoes, salamis, and cheese.”
From the bus, he started delivering door-to-door on the east side of Stamford. He then moved over to buying a small store front that had a three-apartment up above it. That’s where he and his two brothers lived.
About 100 years later Cingari Family Markets runs 12 stores – four in Stamford and eight more in Fairfield, Norwalk, Derby, Brookfield, Shelton, Danbury, Southbury, and Bristol. Except for the two Grade A Markets in Stamford, all are under the ShopRite banner. The stores employ more than 2,600 people.
ShopRite operates as a retail cooperative under New Jersey-based Wakefern Food Corp. The cooperative, which has 45 member companies that operate 365 ShopRite and 60 PriceRite stores, was started in 1946 in Hunt’s Point in the Bronx by five grocers who pooled their resources to offer lower prices for produce.
But Cingari Family Markets, which just completed the 10th renovation of its stores in four years, wasn’t always part of the Wakefern coop. That happened in 1992, Cingari said, when the company shut down its Darien store and opened a new one at 360 Connecticut Ave. in Norwalk.
“That was when we started to call ourselves ShopRite,” Cingari said.
And the latest iteration of Cingari Family Markets is run by six family members. Besides Tom Cingari Jr., there is his father Thomas Cingari Sr. (president and CEO), John Cingari (Grade A Markets), David Cingari (executive chef), Dominick (head of beauty, pharmaceuticals and non-foods) and Joe Cingari (head of construction).
Cingari family history
Salvatore Cingari Sr. passed on the business to his three sons: Sam, Rocky and Dom. “That was in probably 1951-52,” Tom Cingari Jr. said. “From there, to give you an idea of how small it was, it is now a barber shop and another little store next to it on Shippan Avenue (in Stamford).
But Salvatore was not yet done with the business. He continued to deliver produce on that refrigerated small school bus.
Later on, across the street from the Shippan Avenue story was the Hubert Ice Cream factory. The Cingaris bought and renovated it to become a small grocery store, a pharmacy and a liquor store. That’s when the business came together under one roof at 200 Shippan Ave. in 1956.
From there, the Cingaris opened up another Grade A market on Newfield Avenue in Stamford in 1974 and then another store in Darien right down the street in the late 1970s.
Over the next four decades, the Cingaris added to their mini-empire of supermarkets in Connecticut, including their expansion in Fairfield in 2013. That was when it took over the former big box Shaw’s market store on Black Rock Turnpike.
“One of our biggest expansions was when Shaw’s went out of business,” Cingari said. “We took over three of the Shaw’s in less than a year in 2013 or so. We acquired Fairfield, Southbury, and Shelton.”
He mentioned how much work went into refurbishing the Fairfield store.
“We are on our 10th renovation in four years,” he said. “Fairfield was our first one. We took it over around 10 years ago. It was a huge job because there is an aqueduct that runs along Black Rock Turnpike.”
They even leased space from a former jeweler in the Fairfield store strip mall to create an online pickup and delivery service around the time of the pandemic.
Recognition
Cingari Family Markets was honored this past year by the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce as Business of the Year for its community impact, innovation and family legacy.
“I went and received the award and gave a little speech,” Cingari said. “While we were all born and raised in Stamford, we try to do the same thing in every town we are in. The Town economic development corporation director (Mark Barnhart) for Fairfield was super.”
The chamber cited the work done by the Cingari family.
“The Cingari family has invested in store renovations, expanded local hiring and training programs and contributed more than $5 million through the Cingari Family Foundation to support area schools, food pantries and healthcare institutions,” the chamber said.
Tom Cingari Jr. added that the company also takes part in a ShopRite-wide food insecurity program.
“We partner up with ShopRite Partners in Caring, in which we raise a lot of money for food banks and pantries,” he said. “Our family does the same thing. We do a lot with food pantries wherever we do business. That includes schools.”
Cingari Family Markets also was named a Top Place to Work by Hearst Media CT, which publishes several daily and weekly newspapers and online platforms in southwestern, western and central parts of the state.
“It’s great press because a lot of times are biggest strength is being part of a coop,”Cingari said. “But it’s hard to get the message out that we are family-owned and operated business. So, you look at some of the bigger corporations, it’s great to get out the story that we live here, work here, and give here.”
