For residents in and around New Hyde Park, Albertson and Greenvale, the auction of supermarkets owned by the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. will not result in a loss of convenience.
The financially beleaguered A&P chain agreed to sell the Pathmark at 2335 New Hyde Park Road in New Hyde Park, to ShopRite parent company WakeFern Food Corp., Staten-Island based Key Food Stores Co-operative Inc. purchased the Waldbaum’s at 1050 Willis Ave. in Albertson and the Pathmark in Greenvale’s Wheatley Plaza was sold to the Stop & Shop Supermarket Company.
All three markets have or are about to begin to make the transition to their new incarnation.
Hopefully, shoppers will find the newly updated stores as good as better as what was there.
That may not be the case for residents in Great Neck where no bidders came forward in two auctions to purchase the Waldbaum’s in Great Neck Plaza.
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.
But thus far no deals have been made.
Great Neck Chamber of Commerce president Hooshang Nematzadeh, who is himself a developer, said 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 might appeal to smaller supermarket operators like Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods.
He also noted the $40 per square foot cost of rent could be deterring potential buyers from submitting a bid.
Others have attributed the unwillingness thus far of supermarket chains to open in Great Neck Plaza to Great Neck’s changing demographics, a lack of parking in the shopping center competition from other nearby supermarket chains.
The possible loss of a supermarket in Great Plaza raises a question of what government and others can and should do.
On its face, this is a private matter between A&P, the operators of the shopping center and businesses interested in locating in the shopping center.
But the fact is that the loss of a supermarket does have an impact on the entire village and beyond.
Customers used to the convenience of the market — walking distance for many people — would have to travel further to shop. And the village feel of Great Neck Plaza would take a step back.
The entire shopping district would also lose a draw for customers outside the village, which could impact other businesses in a district faced by empty store fronts.
Bradley Diamond, a member of the Great Neck Business Circle and a real estate broker, said there needs to be more outcry from the local community for a new supermarket. He called on Village of Great Neck Plaza Business Improvement District and the chamber of commerce to spearheading an effort for a new supermarket.
Others have raised the question of what the Village of Great Neck Plaza or the Town of North Hempstead could do.
We suggest an all-of-the-above approach in which local governments and local business groups come together, if need be, to attract another to Great Neck Plaza. And address the issue of empty storefronts in Great Neck as well as the rest of the Town of North Hempstead.
