Village Supermarket Buys Fairway Stores

ShopRite’s parent company came out the victor in an auction for Fairway Market’s Upper West Side flagship store and three other Manhattan locations last week.

For $76 million, Village Supermarket, which owns ShopRite, bought four Manhattan stores, the Pelham Manor locations and Fairway’s distribution center in the chain’s bankruptcy auction.

Fairway also announced that Key Food purchased the Georgetowne, Brooklyn store for approximately $5 million and that Amazon would be taking over to real estate leases in Paramus and Woodland Park in New Jersey for $1.5 million. Amazon had originally bid on two additional stores, including the Pelham and Red Hook locations.

“We are pleased with the outcome of the auction and are grateful for our dedicated and hard-working employees, suppliers and distributors during this process which has taken place in these unprecedented times,” said Abel Porter, Chief Executive Officer at Fairway Market, in a statement.

Fairway plans to continue operating all of its stores, including those that were not sold in auction, according to a release, and plans to do so for the foreseeable future in order to accommodate the public during the pandemic.

“Serving our community has always been our top priority and we remain committed to providing quality items and a safe shopping environment for our customers and our employees during this global health crisis,” said Porter.

Seven of Fairway’s stores did not receive successful bids, according to the New York Post. These stores include the Chelsea location in Manhattan, the Douglaston store in Queens and the Red Hook store in Brooklyn, as well as stores in Westbury and Plainview in New York and Stamford, Conn. The Post also reported that Village Supermarket purchased only yjr parking lot of the Harlem location for $100,000.

The Sumas family will operate the Manhattan markets in addition to its 30 ShopRite stores in New Jersey and three Gourmet Garage stores in Manhattan.