The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. auctioned the remainder of its unsold supermarkets, including a Waldbaum’s in Great Neck, at a Manhattan law office last Thursday and Friday.
The Waldbaum’s at 40 Great Neck Road, which had received no bid at the first round of auctions on Oct. 1 and 2, again received no bids after the second round of auctioning, according to Local 338 of the Retail, Wholesale, Department Store Union and the United Food and Commercial Workers website, which represents employees of the various A&P-owned stores.
Local 338 president John R. Durso said it was unclear what would happen with the unsold supermarkets, but a future auction may take place for potential bidders.
“Unfortunately, there were a number of adjourned stores, meaning that either there were no winning bidders or no bids placed on these particular locations,” Durso said. “The future of these adjourned stores is unclear at this time but there is a possibility that there could be another auction at a later date.”
Shelves at the Waldbaum’s in Great Neck and Albertson, as well as the Pathmarks in New Hyde Park and Greenvale, were seen half-empty due to upcoming store sales and closures.
Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in July to protect their A&P, Food Basics, The Food Emporium, Pathmark, Superfresh and Waldbaum’s stores from creditors.
The financially beleaguered company tentatively agreed to sell 12 A&P, Pathmark and Waldbaum’s stores, including the Pathmark at 2335 New Hyde Park Road in New Hyde Park, to ShopRite parent company WakeFern Food Corp. for $40 million, according to documents filed in United States southern district bankruptcy court on Sept. 29.
The WakeFern-purchased locations went up for auction on Oct. 8 for competing bids, but none emerged.
If they were outbid, WakeFern would have received a $1.2 million “Termination Payment” from the successful bidder, according to court documents.
Staten-Island based Key Food Stores Co-operative Inc. were successful in offering a $28.5 million bid for 16 supermarket locations, including the Waldbaum’s at 1050 Willis Ave. in Albertson.
Key Food had modified their offer to purchase 17 supermarkets to 16 supermarkets, according to court documents filed on Sept. 30.
On Sept. 22, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert Drain approved the sale of the Pathmark in Greenvale’s Wheatley Plaza to the Stop & Shop Supermarket Company LLC as part of a 24-store, $124 million deal with Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea, court records showed.
Successful bids are scheduled to be considered at a Oct. 16 hearing by the United States southern district bankruptcy court in White Plains for approval.
The stores were auctioned at the law offices of Weil, Gotshal & Manges at 787 Fifth Ave.
New Hyde Park Chamber of Commerce Secretary and 2nd Vice President Jerry Baldassaro and Chamber of Commerce of the Willistons president John Gordon said they had no knowledge of when the closings would take place because the New Hyde Park Pathmark and Albertson Waldbaum’s were not members of their respective chambers.
Efforts to reach Great Neck Chamber of Commerce president Hooshang Nematzadeh and North Hempstead Town Supervisor Judi Bosworth were unavailing.
A statement from Local 338 President John Durso said they would file an objection against any buyer who would not employ the workers currently working in the purchased stores or for any non-supermarket operator.
“The UFCW/RWDSU will be filing objections with the court and protesting any buyer who has not agreed to employ the workers currently working in these stores,” Durso said. “Unfortunately, other winning bidders are non-supermarket operators such as CVS and real estate companies. We will be filing an objection to these bids with the court but as we have said from the beginning, the reality is that not all of our members will be fortunate enough to have their store bought by a good, union supermarket operator.”
