New Stew Leonard's in Newington has a bank of FOX NEWS wide-screens

[Atman]

We made our first visit to Stew's yesterday. I've been to the original way back when on a corporate "motivation" trip, to show us what a great retailer Leonard was. My god...I don't remember the place being so horribly noisy. The prices aren't that good, and they play tricks with all of 'em...big signs saying a product is one price, but the fine print says you have to buy quantities. But that's really not the deal breaker. That came at checkout.

Above the 75 bank of register aisles, above every lane, was a big flat-screen tv blaring FOX News. Now, I've noticed that more and more places I go into have stopped the Fox bullshit, and have on CNN (almost as bad) or MSNBC these days. But not Stewie. With 10 or so tv's hanging there, you'd think maybe they could even mix it up? Nah. I was going to drop by the service desk on the way out and tell them I won't be returning just because of the televisions, and that it was time for them to wake up, but when I saw the brain-dead moran at the counter trying to help another customer, I felt it probably be a waste of time.

I think I'll write a 'nice' letter instead.

.

[OhMcNo]

1. Ugh!

Thanks for the warning...saw the billboard off of I-91 yesterday morning, and was going to go.

Now, it would just ruin my appetite...

Sigh...

[Atman]

2. It's like a Disney-esque grocery hell

Animatronic characters dancing and singing all over the place...literally so loud that you can barely hear the workers behind the counter. The term "cacophony" comes to mind. And instead of aisles, they use the maze approach...enter at one end and then you have to walk the entire store to get to where you want to go. Can't skip to the bread aisle...you start at the beginning and have to walk through the seafood department and meat department and flowers and whatever to get to where you want to go. I know the retail marketing reason for this (same basic reason that milk is always the farthest thing from the front door), but it just made me feel like a sucker for having to play along. But the noise was the worst. The only good thing about the god-awful animatronic displays was that they were so loud they tended to drown out the bank of Fox News tvs in addition to the clerks.

.

[madinmaryland]

3. Stewie's is a big repub.

By the way, ask him how his stay in jail was? Also two of his sons have been to jail also! All for trying to skim money off the top. Idiots.

I used to live in CT, but when we went to the one in Norwalk they didn't have any tv's. Last time i went to one was in 2001.

[kskiska]

9. I didn't know his sons were in jail

I was born and lived in Norwalk most of my life, but am now in SC. I remember when Stew took the rap for his son, who kept the store running while he was in stir, but wasn't aware of the sons' raps.

Stew went up the river for short-weighting and using a custom software program that was an elaborate scheme to divert more than $17 million in cash register receipts over a ten-year period, resulting in $6.8 million in unpaid taxes.

My mother worked in the deli section for a very short time - on her feet constantly with someone on her back if she paused a second to take a breath.

[madinmaryland]

10. His son (don't remember which one),

was caught skimming off of the hot dog stands. This was a few years after Stew, SR. was busted for the scheme you mentioned. I don't get the greed of these idiots. They are making a fortune off of those stores.

I heard they drove their employees pretty hard.

I lived in Norwalk in the mid-to-late 90's for about six years. Not a bad place to live, though housing prices were insane when we were there.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[drbtg1]

5. Umm, isn't there a really obvious choice for putting on the TV's at Stew Leonard's?

namely, Food Network.

[AX10]

6. Stew Leonard's is an overpriced crap box.

Between their stupid one way maze you have to walk through to those damn single puppets, it is nauseating. Never eat anything from their self-serve buffet..:puke:
Also, they are big time Repubs. Daddy Leonard went to jail for tax evasion and rigging the stores scales.

:thumbsdown:

[madinmaryland]

7. don't forget that his son got busted for skimming money off the Hot dog stand.

Idiots.

Actually they did have good meat and vegetables. It's all the other crap that they try and sell.

[connecticut yankee]

8. The TVs in the Stew's in Norwalk

have Channel 12.

I don't agree with his politics, and I think he's a lousy criminal, but I go to his "Dairy Store" several times a month.

They have excellent produce and meat, their dairy products are good and priced lower than my regular supermarket, and their bakery is excellent.

I try to ignore the dancing milk cartons and walking cows and have found several short cuts to get out quicker.

I hate the noise there, but I endure it because their products are really good.