BY ALEXANDER SOULE
Hearst Connecticut Media
A&P, the supermarket chain that once had a dominant statewide presence and now has just a handful of stores left in Fairfield County, is considering selling many of its remaining locations in the U.S.
The trade publication Supermarket News first reported a week ago that Montvale, N.J.-based Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea was considering a sale of the company, citing union officials, with the New York Post subsequently reporting up to half of the company”™s markets could be sold off.
A&P spokeswoman Joanne Fischetti confirmed A&P is exploring the liquidation of assets, but noted the company”™s alternatives could involve raising fresh capital or other unspecified “partner relationships” to stay in business.
- With A&P Fresh, in September 2009 the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co. refreshed its A&P location at 1201 High Ridge Road in Stamford. Photo by Bob Luckey
“All A&P … stores are open for business as usual and will remain so throughout the strategic review process,” Fischetti stated in a response to an email query from the Stamford Advocate. “The company is committed to continuing to serve its customers and communities as it always has and intends to keep its stores fully staffed. The review process is ongoing and no decisions have been made.”
A&P exited bankruptcy only in 2012, with the company previously controlled from 1991 to 2012 by Tengelmann Group, a private equity firm focused on the retail sector. Greenwich resident and Tengelmann co-CEO Christian Haub was CEO or chairman of A&P from 1999 to 2012.
Haub today is chairman of Emil Capital Partners, which lists its main office in downtown Greenwich; a receptionist answering Emil Capital”™s listed telephone number for its Greenwich office declined a Hearst request for an interview with Haub.
In early 2014, Moody”™s said A&P”™s operating performance had improved under new ownership but sales continued to underperform, and added that turning around the company was challenging in light of A&P”™s extended downward spiral and stiff competition.
The repurposing of A&P markets has become a recurring theme in the Fairfield County area. In 1993, the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. operated 64 stores in Connecticut of more than 425 in the Northeast. As of 2010, that number had shrunk to 16 in Connecticut and is down to five today.
In addition to its A&P Fresh market on High Ridge Road in Stamford ”” Trader Joe”™s and Mrs. Green”™s Natural Market have stores just down the street ”” A&P has two locations in Greenwich, a Food Emporium in New Canaan and a Super Foodmart in Danbury. Other company brands in New York and New Jersey include Pathmark and Food Basics.
PriceRite in 2012 took over one of the Danbury”™s two A&P Super Foodmart locations. A&P took two cracks at a retail plaza at 1700 Park Avenue in Bridgeport without success, first as an A&P and more recently as a Food Basics market; that site has since been redeveloped for multitenant use. And in Milford, a onetime A&P location that had been converted into a general retail strip mall has since been earmarked to be razed, to add parking near the town”™s Metro-North commuter rail station.
Hearst Connecticut Media includes four daily newspapers: Connecticut Post, Greenwich Time, The Advocate (Stamford) and The News-Times (Danbury). See stamfordadvocate.com for more from this reporter.
