Baby Formula Arrives At Stew Leonard's In Norwalk Amid Shortage

NORWALK, CT — Stew Leonard's announced this week the arrival of 11,000 bottles of Similac Alimentum baby formula at the grocery chain's Norwalk store.

The shipment comes as Connecticut families with formula-fed infants continue to struggle during a national shortage.

According to Owner Stew Leonard Jr., the store's head buyer touched base with all of their suppliers and asked for help finding some baby formula. One supplier was ultimately able to locate some in Puerto Rico, which was shipped to the store and made available to customers Monday.

"We're just monitoring the need right now," Leonard said. "It just came in the store. It's been flying off the shelves, as you can see already. There's a great need for it."

See also: CT Baby Formula Shortage: 5 Things To Know

State Sen. Majority Leader Bob Duff joined Leonard and his employees at the Norwalk store to announce the formula's arrival. Gov. Ned Lamont also spoke with Leonard and Duff over Zoom during the event.

"This is where relationships matter," Duff said. "Stew Leonard and his family have been in business for a very long time. They developed very deep relationships in our community, in our state and around the world. This is the byproduct of those relationships; of being able to meet a need that is so critical right now and is going to bring relief to families."

Leonard also noted the store is working with another supplier to bring a shipment of formula from Germany to Connecticut, however they are awaiting approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Shipments of formula also recently arrived at Leonard's other Connecticut stores in Danbury and Newington, according to the store.

"This is such a point of stress for so many families," Duff said to Patch, "so it's really important that it's announced and that people know they can come here and he's going to have this at all of his stores. He's not making a profit off of it, which is really important, and it shows that everyone is really working hard on this at all levels."

While he was happy to help the community in a time of need, Leonard noted he and his family will also soon be affected by any formula shortages.

"I have a little bit of a selfish motive here," Leonard said. "My daughter, Blake, is due in about a week with a baby, so it arrived just in time for her to feed her newborn with."

Duff also praised Leonard for using the relationships he has built with suppliers over the years to bring customers in Norwalk something they greatly need.

"Stews has 100 years of buying power," Duff said. "He's a staple in the city of Norwalk and he has relationships all around the world. Let's utilize that to fill a huge need that we have in this community. Everybody's working on it; from [President Joe Biden] on down, we're all working on it."