ShopRite parent to buy three Long Island A&P stores

Supermarket operator Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. has tentatively agreed to sell 12 A&P, Pathmark and Waldbaum's stores, including three on Long Island, to Wakefern Food Corp. for $40 million, court records show.

Wakefern, the retailer-owned cooperative with supermarkets under the ShopRite, Price Rite and The Fresh Grocer banners, has bid for a Waldbaum's store in Deer Park, and two Pathmark stores in Bethpage and New Hyde Park, according to a Thursday filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains.

If the deal is approved, it could mean the expansion of the ShopRite brand on Long Island. There are eight ShopRite stores on Long Island, according to its website. There are no Price Rite or Fresh Grocer stores on the Island.

Wakefern spokeswoman Karen Meleta said Friday it was "premature" to say which brands the stores on Long Island would operate under.

"We would close and renovate to bring the stores up to our standards," she said.

Wakefern also bid on two A&P stores in Danbury, Connecticut, and upstate Lagrangeville, and seven Pathmark stores in Pennsylvania.

Morton Williams Supermarkets also bid on three of A&P's Food Emporium stores in Manhattan for a total of $22.5 million, documents show. Those stores are on 1st Avenue and 63rd Street, 8th Avenue and 50th Street, and 3rd Avenue and 72nd Street. The family-owned supermarket chain based in the Bronx owns 14 stores in Manhattan, the Bronx and New Jersey.

If competing bids emerge, A&P will hold an auction for the stores on Oct. 8.

If other bidders win, they must pay Wakefern a $1.2 million breakup fee and Morton Williams a fee of up to $667,500.

A&P Friday also extended once again the deadline for bid submissions for its stores to Monday at 5 p.m. The initial deadline was Sept. 11.

Stores without successful bids are to be auctioned on Oct. 1 and 2. Successful bidders will be announced Oct. 3.

Earlier this week, a bankruptcy court judge approved the sale of 71 A&P stores to Acme Markets Inc. for $246 million and 24 stores, including nine on Long Island, to Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. for $124 million. The purchases could preserve more than 10,750 jobs.

Stop & Shop has agreed to acquire Waldbaum's locations in East Hampton, Southampton, Baldwin, Massapequa, Long Beach and Huntington; and Pathmarks in Greenvale, Seaford and Franklin Square. Acme Markets did not agree to purchase any stores on Long Island.

A&P filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors in July.