King Kullen to close its Northport supermarket next month

The King Kullen supermarket in Northport is closing next month after 30 years.

The Northport store will shut on Feb. 11 because the company decided not to renew its lease, King Kullen said. The supermarket is about a block away from a Super Stop & Shop on Fort Salonga Road.

The 85-year-old family-owned and -run King Kullen has stores nearby in Commack, Huntington and Huntington Station. Employees are being offered employment in those stores, company representatives said.

King Kullen representatives declined to say how many workers are employed in the Northport store.

“We do not anticipate a layoff of employees, as they will be offered relocation to other stores,” said Joseph Brown, senior vice president and chief merchandising officer of King Kullen, and president of sister chain Wild by Nature. “It has been a privilege to serve Northport and the surrounding communities all these years.”

Last year, the King Kullen supermarket in the Three Village Shopping Center in East Setauket closed after 10 years at the location.

In December, King Kullen opened a 50,000-square-foot store at the former Waldbaum’s in North Patchogue, which it bought for $2.5 million from the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co.

King Kullen employs more than 3,300 union employees. It hired 79 full- and part-time employees who worked in the former Waldbaum’s North Patchogue store, as well as 30 employees laid off from other A&P stores.

After the closure of the Northport store, Bethpage-based King Kullen will have 36 King Kullen locations on Long Island and five locations of Wild by Nature, the company’s high-end grocery banner. King Kullen is recognized by the Smithsonian Institution as America’s first supermarket.