Perry Sumas had a choice to make. In the family’s telling, a tryout with the New York Yankees had produced an offer to play minor league baseball in Connecticut. His employer at a South Orange produce stand responded with an ultimatum: if Perry left, his brother Nick would lose his job. Nick had a young son. Perry stayed. The brothers began saving for a business they could control.
- The operator: Village runs ShopRite, Fairway and Gourmet Garage stores.
- The advantage: Wakefern supplies buying power and shared infrastructure.
- The tension: a cooperative partner can also become a competitor.
They opened Village Super Market in 1937. The family account makes a useful opening because it introduces a recurring question: how much independence can a grocer afford? A small store gives its owner discretion. A larger organization gives that owner purchasing power. Village’s subsequent history is an effort to hold onto both.
01 / The name you don’t see on the door
A shopper usually encounters Village under another name. Its stores carry the ShopRite, Fairway Market and Gourmet Garage banners. ShopRite handles the broad weekly basket. Fairway emphasizes fresh, natural, organic and specialty food. Gourmet Garage brings prepared meals, soups, cheeses and pantry staples into smaller New York City markets. Different errands can belong to the same operator without requiring the same assortment.
That distinction matters. Village sells groceries to households, rather than selling a retail concept to franchisees. Customers can buy dinner ingredients, collect a prescription at participating locations, order catering or arrange groceries online. They are choosing a store, a selection and a convenient trip. The corporate structure quietly determines whether the operator can deliver those things at a workable cost.
Village’s expertise is the unglamorous combination: fresh departments, store operations and the judgment to adjust a product mix to its neighborhood. A supermarket competes with discount chains, warehouse clubs, delivery services and specialty shops. It has to justify the whole basket while getting individual purchases right. The bananas are an everyday referendum.
02 / Buy together. Sell locally.
The infrastructure comes largely from Wakefern, the retailer-owned cooperative behind the banners. Shared purchasing, warehouses, advertising, private brands and technology give a regional operator access to capabilities that would be expensive to recreate alone. Village is a member-owner, rather than a subsidiary. The arrangement separates ownership of the stores from much of the machinery supporting them.
Brands · technology
Local assortment
Fresh food · ready meals
The interpretation is straightforward: cooperate where duplication is costly, and preserve local judgment where customers notice it. This is a useful principle for other operators to examine. It depends on enough compatible participants to support the shared system, and enough agreement about who benefits. Buying together does not remove the need to negotiate.
The fiscal 2026 results make the economics concrete. Village reported $2.406 billion in sales and $52.455 million in net income. Roughly $2.18 of every $100 sold became bottom-line profit. A busy checkout lane can coexist with very little room for mistakes. Waste, staffing and promotions all have claims on the same basket.
03 / A bigger store. A closed machine.
Growth also needs cash. Village spent $53.741 million on capital projects in fiscal 2026. Its East Orange replacement store opened that May with 69,000 square feet, up from 50,000. The fiscal 2027 capital budget is $80 million, including planned Galloway and Manhattan openings. Those are plans, with the usual dependence on construction, approvals and execution.
An earlier bet went the other way. Village closed its south New Jersey automated micro-fulfillment center on September 1, 2024. The associated fiscal 2024 impairment was $2.125 million. That figure measures an accounting write-down, not the experiment’s entire cost. The closure documents a retreat from one fulfillment arrangement; it does not establish why management chose it.
Digital sales subsequently remained a contributor to growth. There is a useful distinction here for anyone buying technology: demand for a service and the economics of a particular machine are separate questions. Customers can want online groceries while an operator changes how the orders reach them.
04 / Listen to the pantry
The company’s community work offers a more explicit example of changing course in response to evidence. Local pantries said they were short of fresh produce. Village launched Pennies for Produce in 2023 with America’s Grow a Row. The program reports more than $100,000 raised, equivalent to 500,000 servings. Associates also help with harvesting.
“To care deeply about people, helping them to eat well and be happy.”Village Super Market’s stated purpose
There is a practical option for community organizers, too. Village advertises 5% off ShopRite gift-card purchases of at least $1,000. At that threshold, an organization could pay $950 for $1,000 in cards. Its published rules require five to ten business days for pickup and payment by cash or an organization check. Useful generosity has instructions.
05 / The partner across the aisle
The cooperative bargain now faces a difficult test. Village challenged Wakefern’s acquisition of Morton Williams, arguing that it conflicted with the cooperative’s governing documents. The acquisition proceeded in October 2025. A separate federal trademark case followed in 2026; Village denies Wakefern’s allegations. These are unresolved disputes, not findings of wrongdoing.
Village’s October 2026 filing says the disputes have not materially affected operations or financial performance to date. Still, the structural tension is easy to understand. Sharing infrastructure saves duplication. Sharing a market can create conflict. Anyone copying this model needs to consider both - ideally before the partner providing the buying power opens another checkout nearby.