A new King Kullen supermarket will be opening in Garden City Park in early November in the location vacated last fall by Pathmark in the shopping center at the intersection of Jericho Turnpike and Nassau Boulevard.
At the same time, King Kullen plans to shutter its current, smaller supermarket located west of the new location at 2020 Jericho Turnpike In New Hyde Park.
“King Kullen is very excited to be coming to Garden City Park,” said Thomas Cullen, vice president of King Kullen Grocery Co. “We will be closing our nearby New Hyde Park store because the new supermarket is in a better location and, at 51,000 square feet, will allow us to offer customers more products and specialty departments.”
Approximately 90 percent of the store employees will be members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500. Approximately 10 percent of the employees in the new location will be members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 342, which is affiliated with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America.
Most of the people being hired will be from the local area, Cullen said.
Cullen said employees currently working in the New Hyde Park store will be moved to the new store, with some moving to other King Kullen stores in the surrounding area. None of the employees in the New Hyede Park store will be laid off, he said.
“Customers will be able to enjoy greater variety throughout the store,” Cullen said of the new location. “Shoppers will really enjoy what they see when we open our doors.”
The Garden City Park store will feature a “Wild By Nature” natural foods section and a sushi bar.
The Bethpage-based supermarket chain had been negotiating a lease since last October, when the Pathmark supermarket had closed its doors, according to H.A. Johnston, King Kullen director of real estate.
Commenting on King Kullen’s plans in June, Johnston said the supermarket chain saw a need for the new store in what it considered an “underserved” market.
The supermarket chain currently has stores in Mineola and Franklin Square.
The opening of the supermarket in the Garden City Park shopping center is welcome news to other retail proprietors, and the fusion Asian cuisine Sushi Ya II restaurant located there. The shopping center had lacked an “anchor” store since Pathmark shut down its supermarket there one year ago, and businesses in the shopping center had suffered a drop-off in customers.
“Hopefully when King Kullen opens, we’ll make more money,” said Paul Chong, owner of Sushi Ya II.
