By Owen Boss
Staff Writer
SPRINGFIELD - Big Y Foods Inc., the largest locally owned supermarket chain, laid off an undisclosed number of employees Monday in order to implement what it called a new "streamlined management structure."
A statement from the company didn't specify how many people lost their jobs. The company employs more than 200 people at its Northampton store.
The company said a new management system that it has tested at one of its locations for almost a year shows that it can get by with fewer employees, according to a published report.
Calls to the company's Springfield executive offices Monday were not returned.
A manager of the Northampton store referred questions about the layoffs to the Springfield headquarters.
In 2007, Big Y opened an entirely rebuilt, $20 million supermarket at 136 N. King St. in Northampton.
At the time, the company said the new 65,700-square-foot Northampton grocery store - three times the size of the one it replaced - would be the "flagship" of its chain.
When it opened in its new form, the Northampton store was said to employ 245 full- and part-time people, including 160 new hires, the company said at the time.
Big Y also operates stores in Amherst, Southampton and Greenfield in the immediate area.
The chain, founded in 1936 by brothers Paul and Gerald D'Amour, operates more than 50 stores across Massachusetts and Connecticut.
An article in Forbes magazine reported in December 2007, that Big Y had revenues of $1.33 billion and employed approximately 9,500 people.
Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com
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