MONTVALE, NJ - In new court documents submitted Monday, it has been revealed that bankrupt grocer A&P has found 36 out of 108 buyers for properties it offered at last week’s auction. While two-thirds of the properties A&P is trying to sell have yet to receive any bids, another round of bidding is scheduled to be held this Thursday at the New York City offices of Weil Gotshal & Manges, the law firm representing A&P in the bankruptcy case.
While A&P operates many stores in desirable locations, many of the company’s locations are too small or have too few years left on their leases to make them attractive to new tenants, North Jersey real estate professionals told publication NorthJersey.com.
Some of the companies who entered winning bids for A&P locations according to the auction summary include:
- Key Food Stores
- Fransula Foods
- Best Yet Market
- Morton Williams
- Tawa Inc.
- Shopping Center Developer Brixmor
- Manischevitz Family LLC
- BX&M Foods
- Foodtown operator Estevez Markets
- K.A.M. Foods
- ShopRite operator Wakefern Food
- HMart
- Gristedes, identified as Food Emporium Acquisition
- King Kullen
- Stop & Shop
These bids, like all of the offers for A&P stores, must also be approved by the Bankruptcy Court and could still face challenges from A&P creditors or employee unions. As we’ve previously reported, A&P has already received court approval for the sale of 71 stores to the Acme chain and 24 stores to Stop & Shop, including 11 in North Jersey.
Stores not sold during the auction process could be closed and returned to their landlords, and most likely would be divided up into several smaller spaces.
