Bankruptcy court approves A&P supermarket sales as stores begin to close

Joe Nikic

A White Plains bankruptcy court judge approved the sale of 28 Waldbaum’s and Pathmark locations Friday — 11 of which were on Long Island including in New Hyde Park and Albertson.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert Drain approved a 12-store, $40 million bid from ShopRite parent company WakeFern Food Corp. that includes the Pathmark at 2335 New Hyde Park Road in New Hyde Park, and a $28.5 million bid from Staten-Island based Key Food Stores Co-operative Inc. for 16 supermarket locations, including the Waldbaum’s at 1050 Willis Ave. in Albertson.

In September, Drain had approved the sale of 24 stores owned by Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea  to the Stop & Shop Supermarket Company for $124 million deal that was approved on Sept. 22 by Drain. Included in the deal was the Pathmark in Greenvale’s Wheatley Plaza.

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.

Stop and Shop announced last Thursday in a press release that Greenvale’s Pathmark was expected to close that day, and re-open as a Stop & Shop on Oct. 23.

Modifications made to the store will include “modern décor, updated refrigeration systems, new lighting, state-of-the- art technology,” as well as new Stop & Shop signage, according to the release.

“We are very excited to begin the store conversion process, and we will strive to minimize the inconvenience to customers,” said Don Sussman, president of Stop & Shop New York Metro Division. “Stop and Shop is committed to improving the overall shopping experience in these 25 stores to meet the quality, selection and savings that customers have come to expect from us.”

John R. Durso, president of Local 338 of the Retail, Wholesale, Department Store Union and the United Food and Commercial Workers, which represents store employees, said in a statement that Key Food had tentatively scheduled to open new stores this week, but did not clarify which stores would be opening.

He added that Local 338 was in talks with Key Food to keep workers who are currently employed at the acquired stores.

Efforts to reach Key Food for information on their store conversion process were unavailing.

A spokesperson from WakeFern said the company was waiting for A&P to tell them when they will close Pathmark, then decide on how to proceed with the store conversion process.

She added that once the store was “in their hands,” Wakefern would close the store for several months for renovations and then open as a Shop Rite, though there is no official timetable.

The future of the Waldbaum’s at 40 Great Neck Road, which had received no bids during two separate rounds of auctions, remains up in the air.

Neal Kaplan, the managing partner of Kabro Associates, a real estate development and management firm that owns the shopping center in which Waldbaum’s is located, said that while no bids have come in during auction periods, there have been private negotiations with potential buyers.

“I have been told that there are a number of people who have interest and I have talked to some of them,” Kaplan said.

He said he could not reveal who the potential buyers are.

Great Neck Chamber of Commerce president Hooshang Nematzadeh said that he believes no auction bids have come in because the space of the store, at 40,000 square feet, is too small to interest a major supermarket operator like Stop & Shop but it appeals to smaller supermarket operators like Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods.

He added that the $40 per square foot cost of rent could be deterring potential buyers from submitting a bid.

“It is very disappointing to not have a major supermarket in an affluent community like this,” Nematzadeh said. “With the size of this community, it is just amazing.”

Bradley Diamond, a member of the Great Neck Business Circle, said there needs to be more outcry from the local community for a new supermarket.

“We should be rallying the troops to get a petition going for a new supermarket,” said Diamond, a real estate broker with Lee & Associates at 107 Northern Blvd. in Great Neck.

He added that he would talk to the Village of Great Neck Plaza Business Improvement District and the chamber of commerce about “spearheading the effort for a new supermarket.”

“If we don’t get a market, it will be bad for real estate and really effect our town in a negative way,” Diamond said.

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