Tops Friendly Markets in LeRoy opened their” Grand Opening Day” time capsule from 1997 on Sunday afternoon with the help of their maintenance crew. The small capsule was extricated from an exterior wall near the east entrance of the store.
Today, Store Manager Rick Cooper had all the items contained inside the capsule on display near the entryway to the store.
In looking at the contents of a time capsule, a mug, a VHS video of an advertising campaign, a photo of all the managers at the store, letters from LeRoy High school students, a magazine story on Ahold, a company based in the Netherlands, who owned Tops from 1991-2007, a donation to the Jell-O Museum from Kraft and a newspaper publication called the Friendly times, the Grand Opening sale circulars from February 25, 1997, were the most interesting.
The price of boneless chicken breasts has not changed too much.
This past week boneless chicken was on sale at Tops for $1.99 a pound, compared to opening day at the store, $1.88 a pound. Grade A large eggs were .49 cents a dozen on opening day, this week Tops has a sale on a dozen medium grade AA eggs for .99 cents a dozen.
What has changed is the price of white bread, in 1997 you could get three loaves for $1.00, a Grand Opening special. The price of milk has also changed, a half-gallon of 2% milk could be purchased at the LeRoy Grand Opening in 1997 for .69 cents. Today a half gallon of 2% milk goes for $3.29.
Currently, there are about four store employees who have been working at the LeRoy Tops since opening day. The Quarter Century Associates are, Raul Lopez/Night Crew Manager, Linda Forti/Office Associate, Beverly Dunn/Office Associate/Manager on Duty and Kimberly Irvin/Receiver.
“On behalf of Tops Markets, and the entire team at the LeRoy store, I take great pride and honor joining the celebration of 25 wonderful years being part of the LeRoy community. We will continue to work hard and do our best to serve all your needs today and into the future,” said Rick Cooper, store manager.
The display is flagged by balloons and a cake and open for customers to view beginning today at 4:00p.m.
