Tops Markets was honored as Goodwill's Business Partner of the Year at the Pathways to Success 18th Annual Achievement Awards.
Tops prides itself on being your friendly neighborhood store that has what you want while saving you time and money. Headquartered in Williamsville, Tops operates 169 full-service supermarkets, 47 right here in Western New York, along with an additional five supermarkets operated by franchisees under the Tops banner. Currently Tops employs over 14,000 associates. Striving to give customers an exceptional shopping experience, the Tops team works hard to ensure that every need is met and offers shoppers convenience, savings and friendly service.
Tops believes strongly in giving back, and they provide financial, volunteer and in-kind support to improve the quality of life in our communities. Tops executives have served on Goodwill’s Board of Directors for years and Mike Patti, Regional Vice President of Tops Markets who currently serves on Goodwill’s Board says, “It is more important than ever to help the people in our area who are trying harder to make ends meet.” Their motto, “Neighbors Helping Neighbors” is one that they live every day as they do their part to improve “the quality of life of our friends and neighbors right here in our community”.
Goodwill began its partnership with Tops decades ago when they agreed to place attended donation center trailers in the parking lots at many of their store locations. Considering that the Tops stores interact with literally thousands of shoppers each day, Tops leaders wanted to offer the community a consistent place to go where they could donate and “help a fellow neighbor in need”. Today there are ten attended donation center trailers in the Tops network where over 6 million pounds of donations are collected every year. It is amazing to think that just a few feet in a parking lot could have such an enormous impact.
Throughout the years, whenever there has been an event for clients and staff at Goodwill or a grand opening celebration at a Goodwill retail store, Tops has always come through with in-kind donations that are very much appreciated. For the recent grand opening of our new Depew store, shoppers were treated to beverages and a cake provided courtesy of the neighborhood Tops bakery.
We were thrilled when Tops named us as the recipient of their proceeds from this year’s Taste of Buffalo event. Goodwill volunteers manned the Tops prize wheel and had the opportunity to both raise funds and educate the community about Goodwill’s mission. At the end of two days, $13,500 was raised from the prize wheel and food purchased at the Tops tent and we couldn’t be more grateful for this financial support.
For all that Tops does for our community and for our Goodwill we salute them and look forward to our continued partnership.