Stew Leonard's

Stew Leonard's is chain of four supermarkets in Connecticut and New York which Ripley's Believe It or Not! deemed "The World's Largest Dairy", with Fortune magazine listing Stew Leonard's as one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For".

"Anyone who comes from Connecticut or thereabouts knows this landmark chain of grocery stores where mechanized cows sing and roosters crow," according to a writer for the Sun-Sentinel of Florida. A typical Stew Leonard's store will attract customers from a wider geographic area than a typical supermarket because customers are willing to drive longer distances. The store's fame comes from its innovative in-store marketing, which includes a barnlike wood decor, a winding path for shoppers instead of straight, parallel aisles, and animatronic singing animals perched above the shelving.

Founded in 1969 with seven employees in Norwalk, Connecticut, there currently are also stores in Danbury, Connecticut; Yonkers, New York; and Newington, Connecticut. The latter opened on May 5, 2007. The store in Norwalk, Connecticut was the first Stew Leonard's store. The previous owner was an elderly woman who had a farm on the property and was selling the land, but under one condition. The buyer must buy the farm and the animals and take care of them. All the buyers were not willing to buy the farm and the animals except Stew. He thought that he could make the farm an attraction at his store. So he purchased the land, farm, and animals and built his store on the land. The store was originally just a dairy store because his previous occupation was being a milkman with his father. The store became more popular because of the farm and the animals because he turned them into a petting zoo for children which still exists today.

In 2004, Tom Leonard, son of the founder, opened a spinoff store, Tom Leonard's Farmer's Market, in the Short Pump section of Henrico County, Virginia (suburban Richmond).

The store is also known for its customer-service policy, which greets shoppers at each store's entrance etched into a three-ton rock:

1. The customer is always right.
2. If the customer is ever wrong, re-read rule #1.