King Kullen closing Levittown supermarket Thursday
King Kullen will close its Levittown supermarket Thursday but said no employees would be laid off. Credit: Newsday/Howard Schnapp
King Kullen will close another “underperforming” supermarket — this time in Levittown — on Thursday.
The grocer did not renew the lease, said Lloyd Singer, spokesman for King Kullen Grocery Co., which is headquartered in Hauppauge.
“King Kullen is honored to have served the Levittown community for more than 30 years,” Singer said in a statement.
No layoffs will occur, he said.
“Employees are being reassigned or offered positions at other King Kullen locations,” he said.
King Kullen would not disclose the number of employees who work at the store, but union officials provided some employment numbers.
Most King Kullen employees are members of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.
UFCW Local 1500 in Westbury represents 49 employees who are cashiers or work in the bakery, bookkeeping, dairy, deli, floral, grocery, produce or receiving department in the Levittown store, said Aly Y. Waddy, secretary-treasurer for the local.
Also, UFCW Local 342 on Staten Island represents five workers in the meat department in the Levittown store, said Keeley Lampo, director of activities and communications for the local.
Located at 3284 Hempstead Tpke., King Kullen's Levittown store opened in January 1994.
The supermarket is 48,500 square feet in size, said Jim Dalto, managing member of Westbury Properties, which owns the King Kullen building.
King Kullen Grocery Co. has 31 stores, all on Long Island, including 27 King Kullen supermarkets. The other four stores are Wild by Nature natural food stores.
King Kullen remains the largest family-owned grocery chain on Long Island. Credit: Newsday/Howard Schnapp
Founded in Queens in 1930, King Kullen is still the largest family-owned grocery chain on Long Island. But the grocer and other traditional supermarket chains have closed a number of stores over the past several years as more discount and specialty grocery competitors have expanded in or entered the Long Island market.
King Kullen Grocery Co. closed a Wild by Nature store in West Islip in May 2023 and three King Kullen stores in Mt. Sinai, Lake Ronkonkoma and North Babylon in 2019 that the company said were underperforming.
The company also closed two King Kullen stores in Franklin Square and Glen Cove in July 2022.
King Kullen was always a good tenant in the Franklin Plaza shopping center in Franklin Square, but the landlord, Breslin Realty Development Corp., did not renew the lease because it wanted "to try something new," Wilbur F. Breslin, Breslin's chief executive officer, told Newsday in June 2022.
A Holiday Farms supermarket took over the space in September 2022.
Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.
Newsday Live Music Series: Long Island Idols Newsday Live presents a special evening of music and conversation with local singers who grabbed the national spotlight on shows like "The Voice," "America's Got Talent,""The X-Factor" and "American Idol." Newsday Senior Lifestyle Host Elisa DiStefano leads a discussion and audience Q&A as the singers discuss their TV experiences, careers and perform original songs.
Newsday Live Music Series: Long Island Idols Newsday Live presents a special evening of music and conversation with local singers who grabbed the national spotlight on shows like "The Voice," "America's Got Talent,""The X-Factor" and "American Idol." Newsday Senior Lifestyle Host Elisa DiStefano leads a discussion and audience Q&A as the singers discuss their TV experiences, careers and perform original songs.
