HOBOKEN – Five supermarkets in Hudson County are slated to be sold and two more could close after A&P filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this past Sunday. The grocery retailer, which operates 296 stores in the Mid-Atlantic region under six banners, has struggled financially and was never able to rebound fully after an earlier bankruptcy filing in 2010.
Twenty-five stores are slated to close within the next 60 days “due to lack of interest and significant ongoing store operating losses,” according to an A&P press release. The company will operate the remainder as normal while it seeks to sell them to new operators.
On Monday, A&P announced that it had received bids totaling $600 million for around 120 stores.
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.
The sales must be approved by the bankruptcy court, and higher bids are possible. A&P hopes to complete the process by October.
Based in Montvale, A&P 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 stores slated to be sold to Acme:
A&P (125 18th Street, Jersey City)
A&P (614 Clinton Street, Hoboken)
A&P (55 Riverwalk Drive, West New York)
Pathmark (321 Stadium Plaza, Jersey City)
Pathmark (4100 Park Avenue, Weehawken)
The stores without a current buyer:
Food Basics (1425 Kennedy Blvd., North Bergen)
Pathmark (420 Grand St., Jersey City)