After feeding families and a whole community for decades, a supermarket fails to survive the bankruptcy and breakup of its parent company
MONTCLAIR -- The fruits and vegetables, toothpaste and toilet paper, laundry detergent and prescription drugs that Carolyn Walker would buy for decades at the Montclair Pathmark supermarket weren't merely the wares of just another retail establishment.
"It's the stuff of life," Walker, who lives in Orange, said on Friday night. "It really is."
The last of that life was drained out of the Montclair supermarket on Friday night, when after clearing the shelves with discounts of up to 99 percent off, the store closed down for good. It was a casualty of the bankruptcy and liquidation of the Montvale-based Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, which owned the A&P and Pathmark chains.
Some of the bankrupt company's locations survived the collapse under a new name, including Montclair's A&P on Valley Road, which was bought by Acme and now bears that name. Others were sold to Stop & Shop.
But the Montclair Pathmark, located inside the Lackawana Plaza at Bloomfield Avenue and Grove Street, was not one of them. And while Mayor Robert Jackson said he was optimistic a new supermarket would eventually occupy the site, for the time being Walker and other shoppers will have to buy their groceries elsewhere.
"It's sad, very sad," Walker said, clutching a bag full of greeting cards she had just bought for literally pennies on the dollar. "I'll just have to choose another place."
Empty shelves, bins and freezers once brimming with food and other essentials, and whole aisles cordoned off with yellow police tape made for an eerily sad scene, as bargain hunters picked through the final, meager offerings: pet flea collars; airplane spoons and bread crust cutters for kids; packets of mustard bound in clear plastic bags.
RELATED: Which A&P stores have been sold? Use our map
"Attention shoppers," read a flier on the glass door of the locked, emptied pharmacy inside the store, explaining that their prescriptions had been transferred to CVS.
Jackson recalled Pathmark's grand opening in the mid-1980's, a brand new, high-quality supermarket and anchor tenant of the newly redeveloped Lackawana Plaza, a former train station. But over the last decade in particular, Jackson said, the store's appearance, atmosphere and even the quality of its wares had deteriorated, and the closing was not entirely unexpected or even unfortunate.
"The Pathmark has been underserving the community for at least 10 years," Jackson said. "It met what I would call a natural death."
Lackawana Plaza is owned by a joint venture of the Pinnacle Companies in Montclair and Morristown-based Hampshire Corporation. Last month, the Pinnacle CEO
Brian M. Stolar issued a statement that the Pathmark location was being marketed to other supermarket chains.
"Some aren't candidates because their existing stores are too close to Lackawanna Plaza, or this location isn't part of their business plan," Stolar stated. "Our goal is to bring in a food store operator that will well serve the Lackawanna neighborhood and the Montclair Township overall."
To help shoppers adjust, Jackson said the town has been coordinating with Essex County, a privately run senior center, Senior Care, and a Shoprite supermarket near Brookdale Park in Bloomfield, about two miles away, to provide individualized transportation from residens homes and regular shuttle service from the Pathmark location to the ShopRite store.
Shoppers who need a ride are asked to call 973-509-4970.
Out in the Pathmark parking lot, Kenny Boggs was working his last shift after 3 1/2 years of rounding up the store's blue shopping carts. Boggs, 52, who lives across the street from the Pathmark, said he would be out of job come closing time.
Asked where he might look for work, Boggs had no idea.
"I don't know what to do," he said.
Out of the 90 A&P and Pathmark stores in New Jersey, nine were shut down immediately, while more than 40 were sold to Acme, Stop & Shop and Key Foods. This map below, which will be updated as more sales are finalized, indicates whether a store has sold (green), closed (red), or is up for auction (grey). The yellow points indicate stores that don't fall in any of the prior categories, but where A&P plans to make layoffs. Click the points for details on buyers or bidders.Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
