Stop & Shop plans to hire nearly 400 part-time workers on LI

Stop & Shop wants to fill 1,250 part-time jobs in the metro area, including 390 on Long Island, as the grocery chain tries to beef up customer service, the company said.

“The brand is looking to add an additional seven to eight associates per store as it strives to improve the in-store experience for customers and provide even better service in area communities,” the Quincy, Massachusetts-based chain said in a statement Wednesday.

Stop & Shop has 51 stores on Long Island.

The job openings announced Wednesday are at Stop & Shop stores in the bakery, deli, grocery, produce, seafood and meat departments, the company said in the statement. There are also openings for night crew workers, cashiers, porters and baggers.

The part-time jobs are for 12 hours to 28 hours of work weekly, Stop & Shop said.

Most of the jobs require applicants to be 18 years old. Cashiers, baggers and porters must be at least 16, the chain said.

There are 17,758 Stop & Shop workers in New York City, Long Island and New Jersey, the chain said. Of the 7,579 employees on Long Island, 79 percent are part-time.

Stop & Shop has an average of 100 to 130 employees per store.

Stop & Shop Supermarket Company LLC employs nearly 60,000 people at more than 400 stores in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and New Jersey. The chain is owned by Ahold Delhaize, a Dutch company whose other grocery stores include Food Lion, Giant Food and Hannaford. Ahold also owns Peapod, the online grocery retailer.

In January, Stop & Shop announced it was buying the 32 King Kullen supermarkets and five Wild by Nature natural food stores on Long Island — all owned by Bethpage-based King Kullen Grocery Co.

The sale has not yet been finalized. It was supposed to occur in the first quarter of this year but has been delayed because of "standard closing procedures, and regulatory review" by the US. Federal Trade Commission, said Jennifer Brogan, Stop & Shop spokeswoman.

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.comToryParrish1

Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.