By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo
Joey Bean Heinz was already a veteran Western New York stage actress when she was tapped by Super Duper to appear in TV commercials with the supermarket’s weekly specials starting in 1975.
Buffalo News archives
Western New York quickly embraced the woman who spent at least a half hour a week on local TV—albeit in 30-second increments.
“People in supermarkets say you look so different on TV,” she told News reporter Anthony Cardinale in 1977. “Polish people think I look Polish, Italian people think I look Italian. I’ve become sort of a friend.”
Buffalo News archives
She was also the singer on several of Super Duper’s radio jingles—“Love that Super Duper!”
Joey was the spokesperson for the grocery chain from 1975-80, and then again from 1989-91—when most Buffalo-area Super Duper stores became Jubilee Markets.
Buffalo Stories archives
As a new Super Duper opened in the Central Park Plaza in 1979, shoppers were promised a chance to win a color television, free orange drink, and the chance to meet Joey. Below, during the blizzard of 1977, Joey tells us because of the storm—we’ll have to look for in-store specials instead of her usual circling of the lowest price. (at the 14:49 mark)
