Sam Colalillo Joins Family Multi-Store ShopRite Business

On Oct 12, 2023

ShopRite of Hunterdon County, the family-owned company that operates five ShopRite stores in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, has announced that Sam Colalillo has joined the business.

Sam, a third-generation grocer, will work with his father and President of ShopRite of Hunterdon County, Joe Colalillo, and the retail teams at the family’s ShopRite stores located in Flemington, Greenwich, and Clinton, NJ, and Yardley and Bethlehem, PA.

“We are excited to have Sam join us in the family business,” said Joe Colalillo. “Sam is a next generation leader who is passionate about growing the business in new and innovative ways to make our stores the best they can be – for our associates and customers.”

Joe Colalillo’s father and Sam’s grandfather, Joseph A. Colalillo, founded the family’s grocery business 65 years ago. Today, ShopRite of Hunterdon County employs more than 1,300 associates across stores. In addition to his role as president of the family company, Joe Colalillo has served for the last 18 years as Chairman of Wakefern Food Corp., the retailer-owned distribution and merchandising arm for all ShopRite stores.

Like his father, Sam spent time in his family’s ShopRite stores growing up and loved visiting his grandfather and dad at the stores before he could officially work. During school breaks, he worked in produce, bakery, and online shopping. His first job was cleaning price tag residue off shelves, foreshadowing his career in retail analytics.

Before returning to his family’s business, Sam served as global vice president of embedded and retail analytics at NielsenIQ, creating products to help retailers and manufacturers in the food industry use scalable analytics to improve their business. From 2017 to 2021, he led NielsenIQ’s Global Revenue Management and Optimization Software Suite, developing price and promotion software. Prior to his product management experience, Sam supported a major manufacturer’s category management organization, using price, promotion, assortment, space, and marketing analytics to drive sales and customer engagement.

Reflecting on the transition back to his family’s stores, Sam shared that he is “thrilled to return to the business to work and train with my dad. It’s an exciting time for the supermarket industry and I look forward to getting to know our store teams and customers. ShopRite of Hunterdon County has a long commitment to the communities where our stores operate, and I want to help carry on that tradition with my parents.”

Sam graduated from Hamilton College with a B.A in Neuroscience and received his M.B.A. in Entrepreneurship from Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. Sam and his wife, Emer, a physician, live in the Lehigh Valley with their two children.

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