'Best Market' Hiring 70 Workers for New Holmdel Store

Best Market, a new grocery store opening in the former Top Tomato location in the Holmdel Commons, is looking to hire staff to fill 70 full-time and part-time positions.

Staffing Manager Jeff Pai said he is looking for people in all departments. He said he needs managers in nine departments in the roughly 30,000 square-foot store. He also needs about a dozen cashiers, four porters to do maintenance work, and a small army to wrap meat, stock produce, fill dairy cases, and help customers at deli counters, seafood, and bakery departments. 

"Our salaries are definitely competitive with a lot of the retail stores'," said Pai on Thursday, from Long Island headquarters. "We usually don't like to start at minimum wage, especially is someone has experience."

Best Market, which is known as "Best Yet Market" in New York, has been advertising hourly positions on SnagaJob.com (search on zip code 07733). A poster on the store window directs applicants to their new website, BestMarket.com.

Managers from Long Island will be on site tomorrow and early next week to conduct scheduled interviews in the store with candidates who have already stepped forward and filled out online applications. Pai said it is "definitely not too late" for others to apply online.

With the arrival of merchandise and fixtures later this week, the store will begin to take shape. "We're looking to put in some little dining areas in our store, where people can come and grab lunch. We have the room for it," said Pai.

Best Market is known for exceptional customer service, fresh produce and great prices, said Pai.

"We really focus on the customer's experience, that's what it's always been about for us," he said. "We're also known for our produce, which is very, very fresh and low on cost. A lot of it comes from local vendors." 

Best Yet Market, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is based in Bethpage, Long Island. It was formerly known as Produce Warehouse of Ronkonkoma and changed its name to Best Yet Market, Inc. in 2002. Pai said the store is about to change its name again, to "Best Market." Its current locations are in Harlem, East Northport, Oakdale, West Islip, Astoria, Farmingdale, Hicksville, Riverhead, Coram, Franklin Square, Massapequa, New Hyde Park and Shirley, New York.

The Harlem store is three stories high, and carry a craft beer selection in its "Beer World" department. Pai did not know if beer would be sold in Holmdel.

Best Market will be making a go of it in a location that was vacated by Top Tomato grocery chain and housewares chain Linens 'n Things, which has since moved to online retail. Competition is stiff in the area for the grocery dollar, with Holmdel A&P Fresh across the highway, and in neighboring Hazlet, Aldi's, Stop & Shop, and Pathmark.

Hazlet Foodtown, at Hazlet Avenue, has announced it will close on Feb. 25 due to the economy.