Months Later, No Word on Closed A&P

Four months after Big Y bought and shut down the A&P Super Foodmart in Naugatuck, Big Y officials haven’t yet found a business to occupy the store’s empty space.

“We’re still looking and considering all options,” said Matt D’Amour, director of store development for Big Y. “We’re working in conjunction with the landlord.”

Big Y, which operates one of its own supermarkets on Bridge Street, acquired the Naugatuck A&P store last summer from the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, Inc., along with six other A&P stores in Connecticut. Big Y opted to close three of the A&P stores in October 2010 and turn the remaining four into Big Y supermarkets.

While the 84,000-square-foot building is outfitted for a supermarket, Town Planner Keith Rosenfeld said it could also be used for any similar commercial venture — such as electronics or retail merchandise.

D’Amour explained that Big Y still has a balance on the lease on the Naugatuck A&P store. Crosspointe Plaza LLC owns the building and the adjacent plaza and, according to the Secretary of State’s Office, the principal member is Melvin Fischman.

A message left at Fischman’s office at Park Avenue in New York City was not returned Wednesday.

So could the former A&P become a second Big Y in Naugatuck?

“I’d tend to say not likely,” D’Amour said. “Because we have a location in town.”

But D’Amour didn’t rule out the possibility. He said that if the company didn’t find any business to move into the space down the road then it could consider putting a Big Y in there.

“We would never say never,” he said.

Apart from the Big Y on Bridge Street, the borough also has a Super Stop and Shop on Rubber Avenue. But in the coming years there will be another food market coming to the borough: a Super Walmart. The superstore giant recently to expand its 1100 New Haven Road store 23,000 square feet to add a grocery wing.

D’Amour, who admitted he did not know about the expansion until being interviewed Wednesday, indicated he didn’t think it would have a substantial effect on the search to fill the vacant A&P

“It won’t help,” D’Amour admitted. “But I think it remains to be seen what will happen.”