The demise of the supermarket chain in July 2015 dealt a blow to its 7,000 union workers in New Jersey and New York.
MONTVALE -- It's been more than a year since the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company filed for bankruptcy.
The demise of the supermarket chain in July 2015 dealt a blow to its 7,000 union workers in New Jersey and New York and the landlords of the 90 stores it operated in the state.
But 15 months later, many of the workers have recovered, and a mix of ethnic and independent groceries have filled the vacuum left by A&P.
The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 464A represented 7,000 A&P workers, said John T. Niccollai, president of the local. Many--about 5,000--found new jobs after Acme purchased about 50 A&P stores in the local's jurisdiction.
Foodtown and Stop & Shop bought a handful of others. Some workers retired, while others got work at other stores Local 464A has contracts with, like ShopRite, Stop & Shop and Foodtown, Niccolai said.
Italian specialty chain opens first NJ store
Niccolai believes the workers that found jobs are better off.
"It's always better to be working for a company that's growing and on the upswing," he said.
Local 464A covers service workers from Barnegat up to Kingston, N.Y., from the Atlantic Ocean to the Delaware River. A&P is still in bankruptcy court in the Southern District of New York, where the amount of severance and vacation workers will receive is still being decided, Niccolai said.
The bankruptcy was a big loss for the union, which has about 18,000 members total, but it's working its way back, Niccolai said. Contract negotiations with Acme are on the horizon. The grocer assumed the last year of the union's A&P contract, which expires Dec. 3.
As for the stores, some are still up for grabs. This year, Key Food has been leasing locations that were unclaimed in the first rounds of auctions after the bankruptcy, said Matthey P. Casey, owner of an eponymous Rahway firm that specializes in supermarket research.
In 2016, Key Food took over a Pathmark, which was owned by A&P, in Garwood and reopened it as a Food Emporium; an A&P in Edison and reopened it as SuperFresh; and a Pathmark in Elizabeth and reopened it as Food Bazaar. Key Food purchased the SuperFresh brand from A&P.
The bankruptcy also opened the door to independent and ethnic grocers, said Chuck Lanyard, president of the Goldstein Group, a Paramus real estate firm specializing in retail. Lanyard pointed to Uncle Giuseppe's Marketplace, a Long Island, N.Y., grocer that opened its first New Jersey location this month at a former Pathmark in Ramsey.
H Mart, a Lyndhurst-based grocer specializing in Asian foods, and 99 Ranch, another Asian-focused chain, have also taken over a handful of former A&P locations. 99 Ranch this year leased a former Pathmark in Hackensack.
At this point, it's unlikely that many remaining A&P stores will be leased as supermarkets. Some landlords have looked to other options to replace the foot traffic supermarkets bring in--more than 20,000 visits a week in many places, Lanyard said.
Landlords are looking to other retailers and gyms to fill the space. In Woodland Park, a 65,000-square-foot former A&P is being taken over by Bed Bath & Beyond, Lanyard said.
In some cases, the space simply won't work as a supermarket anymore, said Matthew Harding, president of Levin Management, a retail real estate firm based in North Plainfield.
"Market demand may not support another grocer, or perhaps the current configuration or size of the space is not suited to attract a large, modern supermarket," Harding said. "The good news is that demand is growing among non-traditional retail tenants--like gyms and healthcare users--which are logical full or partial replacements for some of the remaining former A&P spaces."
Myles Ma may be reached at mma@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MylesMaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.