ARMONK, NY — Consumers may go to the DeCicco’s supermarket here in Armonk, a suburb of New York City, for the excellent quality products in the produce, dairy, deli, meat, bakery and seafood departments. They may go for the extensive selection of prepared foods. They may go to enjoy a salad or slice of pizza on their lunch hour.

But the total shopping experience is a whole lot more.

At the DeCicco’s store in Armonk, NY: Luis Flores, produce manager; Melvin Contreras, produce director; Charles Macias, store manager; Joe DeLorenzo, director of produce merchandising and operations at Alpha 1 Marketing; and John A. DeCicco Jr., one of the owners of the store.DeCicco Family Markets was founded in 1973 by brothers John, Joe and Frank DeCicco “in a tiny storefront in the Bronx,” as the company’s 40th anniversary flyer states. That tiny store in the Bronx, NY, closed around 1984, but the chain has grown steadily to the point where it now has 10 stores, all to the north of New York City. The Armonk store, which held its grand opening on June 13, is the newest location.

The Produce News visited the Armonk store at the end of October, and received a personal and thorough tour from a member of the second generation, John A. DeCicco Jr., who is 35 years old and a co-owner of five of the stores (Armonk, Ardsley, Brewster, Harrison and Pelham) in the chain.

All of the other nine locations took over and remodeled existing supermarkets or retail establishments, but “this is the first store that we built from the ground up,” said DeCicco, who actually designed and supervised the construction of all aspects of the store. It took about two years from conception to the grand opening, added DeCicco, who earned a bachelor of arts degree in finance from Fordham University in 2001 and an MBA from Fordham’s Graduate School in Business in 2003.

This store is about 18,000 square feet, which he said was fairly typical of all the stores in the chain, but the produce department here and in Brewster are the two largest. Produce sales, which represent about 20 percent of total store sales here, are generally around $320,000 per month, he said. “And sales are growing. Our focus is on quality — taking as many steps as possible” to achieve that quality, he stated. “We focus on variety, not only in produce but throughout the entire store. And we focus on customer service.”

When one thinks of a modern suburban superstore, one perhaps envisions a huge store that a shopper might visit once a week to fill up the minivan with a week’s worth of food and groceries.

That is not, however, DeCicco’s raison d’etre. In fact, the chain may resemble more of a European or urban style supermarket than anything else.

“We try to stick to a smaller footprint,” said the DeCicco’s executive. “We try to stick to downtown areas or center of towns. We cater to shoppers coming in multiple times per week — or even more than once a day.”

This particular DeCicco’s certainly gives shoppers good reason to come back often. In fact, it has a few things that many shoppers may have never seen in a supermarket before.

The produce department is first up as shoppers enter the store, with a nice mix of long aisles and island displays. Loose produce, packaged produce, cut fruit, cut vegetables — it’s all there, beautifully arranged, beautifully displayed.

When The Produce News visited this store, items moving especially well in the produce department included Washington state apples, New York state apples, squashes, cooking vegetables and Halloween items. With November and Thanksgiving approaching, the DeCicco executive expected items such as California Navels as well as Florida grapefruit, tangerines and oranges to move well, too.

Luis Flores is the produce manager of the Armonk store, and Melvin Contreras in the produce director. Both have been with the company for about 15 years. Charles Macias is the store manager.

The produce department was magnificent in appearance and diversity, but that description can be extended to all areas of the supermarket. Seafood, cheese, bakery, deli — they all offered shoppers ample reasons to come back again and again. By the way, the bakery at the Armonk store supplies the baked goods for the four other stores of which John DeCicco Jr. is a co-owner. This store is also in the process of implementing, with the assistance of Local 338 of the United Food & Commercial Workers union, a training center for employees of those same five stores. DeCicco estimated that the training center would be up and running within the next six months.

And there was more. This store offers a number of grab-and-go options, including a nice selection of pizzas made daily in a wood-burning stove right at the store — a delicious option for the lunchtime crowd.

And to make it as convenient and enjoyable as possible, shoppers may take their purchases upstairs where tables and chairs are set up and enjoy their lunch in a beautiful setting overlooking the entire store.

There’s also a restaurant-style bar upstairs stocked with a wide selection of beers and wines. Shoppers can check their e-mail while lunching using the store’s free wi-fi or just relax and watch TV on the big flat-screen televisions.

And did I mention the two bocce courts upstairs as well?

About 50 percent of everything in the store is supplied by Alpha 1 Marketing, also known as Krasdale Foods, which is headquartered in White Plains, NY.

About 60 percent of the store’s fresh produce comes from Long Island-based R. Best Produce Inc., about 20 percent of the fresh produce comes from Cheshire, CT-based Bozzuto’s Inc. through Alpha 1 Marketing, and the balance comes from wholesalers at the Hunts Point Terminal Market in the Bronx, he said.

DeCicco Family Markets has worked with Alpha 1 Marketing since its beginnings, said DeCicco, who currently works closely with retail veteran Joe DeLorenzo, director of produce merchandising and operations at Alpha 1 Marketing.

“I meet with Joe about once a week to write and review the ad program for the entire store, department by department,” he said.

The two men also discuss merchandising trends and the best way to implement them.

Organic produce is very popular at the store in upscale Armonk, said DeCicco, noting that organic and conventional produce is split about 50-50. Alpha 1 Marketing does “a great job of merchandising organic throughout the store,” he said. “Joe’s guidance has helped us in all our produce departments.”

Another trend that the retailer has seen grow in importance during the last few years is the demand for locally grown items.

He mentioned sweet corn, tomatoes, apples, blueberries, zucchini and eggplant as examples of locally grown items that shoppers have come to rely on at DeCicco’s.