WESTPORT – The gourmet food market Balducci’s Food Lovers Market is closing its 1385 Post Road E. location no later than Feb. 28, 2026, according to a notice parent company New Albertsons LLC sent to First Selectman Jen Tooker and the state Department of Labor on Oct. 24.
The closing will affect 59 non-union associates who work at the Westport store. “As many associates as possible will be placed in a position at another location,” according to the letter written by Kim Hisler, vice president of human resources for ACME Mid-Atlantic Division. “Anyone who is not offered a role would be eligible for severance pursuant to applicable company policies.”
She added, “While our goal is to transfer the affected associates, the exact placement of positions has not yet been completed.”
Balducci’s was one of two Albertsons subsidiaries that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February 2025; the other being Kings Food Markets based in Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey. The bankruptcy filing came 16 years after Kings Food purchased Balducci’s.
Louis “Pop” Balducci ran a fruit and vegetable stand in Brooklyn in 1915, and with his son, Andy, opened their first store in Greenwich Village, in 1946. Now it has 784 employees and 10 stores in four states, including Scarsdale and Rye Brook in Westchester County and Riverside and Westport in Fairfield County.
The group led by New York investor Jim Demme acquired the Westport store as well as Balducci’s stores located in Greenwich; Alexandria, Virginia;, Bethesda, Maryland; McLean, Virginia and Scarsdale, New York.
At the time of the bankruptcy filing, Balducci’s and Kings Food Markets parent KB US Holdings Inc. and nine affiliates listed $193.8 million in assets and $200.2 million in liabilities.
