HUDSON COUNTY—The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company will lay off 768 employees at seven Hudson County supermarkets by Thanksgiving Day 2015, according to notices; filed with the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
The grocery giant, which operates supermarkets under the A&P, Pathmark, Superfresh, and Food Basics imprints, filed for federal bankruptcy protection in July. Of its 296 stores in the Mid-Atlantic region, the company plans to close 25 within the next month and sell another 118 to its competitors.
In Hudson County, five stores were included in an asset purchase agreement with Acme Markets, Inc.: three A&P stores in Jersey City, Hoboken, and West New York and two Pathmark stores in Jersey City and Weehawken.
An additional Pathmark in Jersey City and a Food Basics in North Bergen were not included in the agreements, but are not among those stores closing in the short-term.
However, all seven Hudson County stores could see significant layoffs, ranging from 87 employees at the West New York A&P to 155 employees at the Old Colony Square Pathmark in Jersey City. The Hoboken A&P is slated to lose 104 employees.
Based in Montvale, the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company is the oldest grocery chain in the United States. According to the Wall Street Journal, the company’s mid-tier grocery chains have struggled in recent decades to compete against big box hypermarket stores like WalMart, specialty grocers like Whole Foods, and discount chains like Aldi.
The projected layoffs for Hudson County are:
A&P (125 18th Street, Jersey City) — 103
A&P (614 Clinton Street, Hoboken) — 104
A&P (55 Riverwalk Drive, West New York) — 87
Pathmark (321 Stadium Plaza, Jersey City) — 99
Pathmark (4100 Park Avenue, Weehawken) — 124
Food Basics (1425 Kennedy Blvd., North Bergen) — 96
Pathmark (420 Grand St., Jersey City) — 155