More than a week after supermarket giant Stop & Shop announced it plans to close five Connecticut stores as part of a larger shutdown of under performing locations, several key questions about what will happen to staff at those stores remain unanswered.

Officials with the Quincy, Mass.-based chain won't say how many of their employees in Connecticut will be affected by the store closings, which are taking place in Ansonia, Danbury, Milford, Stamford and Torrington. They are also unwilling to discuss how many people the company employs in Connecticut.

Stop & Shop has about 54,000 people company-wide in more than 400 stores throughout New York, New England and New Jersey, according to the supermarket chain's website. But company officials won't comment on how many workers are employed at any of the 32 stores closing in five of those states.

But Christopher Cafaro, spokesman for Stop & Shop, said the company is "glad to be able to offer all impacted associates the opportunity to transfer to other Stop & Shop locations."

"Stop & Shop is making every effort possible to work with individual associates on opportunities at other locations that align with their needs, including proximity" to where they live and work, Cafaro said. "We always put care for our people at the forefront of what we do."

Cafaro wouldn't address how the company could offer all of the soon-to-be displaced workers jobs, or how many vacancies the company now has at stores closest to those that are closing.

None of the Stop & Shop workers who were contacted by Hearst Connecticut Media this past week were willing to comment on the mood of employees since the store announced the closings July 12.

Burt Flickinger, managing director of the New York City-based retail consulting firm Strategic Resource Group, said staffing levels at larger Stop & Shop locations typically range between 120 and 160 workers, while the number of workers in their smaller 55,000- to 60,000-square- foot stores is about half of that.

Flickinger said finding work for the hundreds of Stop & Shop employees that will be affected by the five store closings in Connecticut is not as simple as shifting a worker to the next closest location from the one where they work now.

"A store might be near to an employee's home, but that store might also be fully staffed" with no job openings, Flickinger said.

Four of the five Connecticut stores that will be closing on or before Nov. 2 are in communities that have two Stop & Shop locations.

Torrington is one those communities, and Mayor Elinor Carbone said she's concerned about what the closure of Stop & Shop's store at 211 High St. in the city center will mean to those who don't have their own car. While the High Street store is closing, Torrington's other Stop & Shop, at 931 Torringford St. on the east side outskirts of the city, will remain open.

"I am exceedingly concerned about losing this store downtown," Carbone said of the High Street store. "The residents downtown rely on shopping sources that are within walking distance of their homes. The High Street store is surrounded by multifamily homes and a number of elderly housing units — all walking distance of the store."

In addition to creating "a food desert in the south-end and west-end of Torrington," the mayor said the closing of the High Street store also creates a problem for some Stop & Shop employees.

"There are individuals that work at the High Street store that do not have a driver's license or car," Carbone said. "This will create a hardship for them, as well. I will be speaking with our Northwest Transit District to discuss rerouting bus routes to accommodate the change in needs."

One of the five bus routes that operate in the city stops at both Stop & Shop supermarkets, according to the transit district's web site. Carbone said she will be meeting with officials at the transit agency to discuss any schedule changes that might be needed when the High Street supermarket closes.

While those who rely on public transportation or walking to the High Street Stop & Shop will be faced with a hardship by the grocery store's closing, there is no shortage of supermarkets serving the city as a whole.

In addition to the Torringford Street Stop & Shop location, the city also is home to an Aldi, Big Y, Market 32 and Price Rite grocery stores. The city also has big box retailers BJ's Wholesale Club, Target and Walmart, which carry groceries, but aren't full service supermarkets.

David Cadden, a professor emeritus at Quinnipiac University's School of Business, said Stop & Shop's model for store closings likely includes an expectation that a certain percentage of workers may quit rather than accept a job at another store.

"Some may leave because they don't want to travel further for work," Cadden said.

Flickinger said grocery stores normally see a worker attrition rate of between 12 and 15 percent annually without factoring in the upheaval normally associated with a store closing.

Ironically, the same highly competitive supermarket environment in Connecticut that may have contributed to the impending demise of the five Connecticut Stop & Shop locations could be a blessing in disguise for any of the chain's employees who might be unhappy about shifting to a new location, Flickinger said.

"BJ's Wholesale Club and Big Y are hiring in record numbers," he said. "These closings could end up being a big drain of talent to key competitors."

Other questions that Stop & Shop officials aren't addressing in any detail is how the company expects to realize any savings by closing the five stores.

Personnel costs are typically the biggest expense for any supermarket chain, Flickinger said. But if the company expects to offer jobs to all of its employees currently working at stores, it is not completely clear where the savings will come from.

Cafaro didn't offer much detail on how much Stop & Shop expects to save as a result of the closings.

"We do anticipate financial savings from these store closures that will enable us to make investments in future growth," he said.

Flickinger said one area Stop & Shop will be able to realize savings from the closures is energy costs.

"Energy is the next biggest expense after in-store labor," he said. "BJ's has been number one for a while in terms of installing rooftop solar and Target is a close second. Big Y and Stop & Shop have also been proactive in terms of rooftop solar, although Stop & Shop has slowed of late."

Wayne Pesce, president of the Connecticut Food Association, said that whatever savings Stop & Shop is able to achieve through the store closings, "they will be looking to reinvest in their business by reducing their prices."

"There is a fine line between maintaining profitability and cutting the cord on a store's operations," Pesce said.