Shoppers Food & Pharmacy Plans Purchase of Ellicott City Superfresh Store

The Ellicott City will be converted to a Shoppers Food & Pharmacy outlet this summer, according to a plan by a company that reached a tentative agreement to buy the store last week.

SuperValu Inc., the Minneapolis-based owner of supermarket chains nationwide, plans to convert the store to a Shoppers Food & Pharmacy location after it finalizes the proposed purchase, according to company spokesman Steve Sylven.

“Shoppers is consistently exploring its operations to identify the best ways to serve our customers and move the business forward, and we are excited by the prospect of potentially opening a store in Ellicott City,” Sylven said.

Further details will be announced once the transaction is finalized, which is expected in mid-June, Sylven said.

Currently, the Bowie-based Shoppers Food chain operates about 55 grocery stores in Maryland and northern Virginia.
    
Shoppers’ announcement failed to clear up questions about the fate of about 80 Superfresh employees currently working in the store.  

Beginning earlier this month, as early as July 6, according to the Maryland state labor agency.

But any announcement from Shoppers on hiring practices or policies is being deferred until after the purchase of Superfresh is complete, Sylven said.
     
The unionized Superfresh employees are represented by United Food & Commercial Workers Local 27. President George Murphy Jr. could not be reached for comment.

Sale of the Ellicott City store is subject to the approval of a U.S. bankruptcy court in White Plains, N.Y.  In late 2010, Superfresh’s parent company – the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. or A&P – sought bankruptcy court protection, citing high operating costs and heavy debts.

The bankruptcy court in April approved the auction sale of a total of 25 Superfresh stores in Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia.  A&P spokesman Scot Hoffman said last week that in addition to the SuperValu sale, a consortium of Village Super Market Inc. and Mrs. Green’s Management Corp. was the winning bidder in an auction for 9 stores in Maryland and one in the District of Columbia.

Those ten stores are the current Superfresh locations in Timonium, North Baltimore (41st St and Hickory), Parkville, Arnold, Cambridge, Chestertown, Charlestown, Brunswick, White Oak, and Washington, D.C.

All of these sales are subject to the approval of the federal bankruptcy court.  A&P expects to submit the recent auction sales for approval at a hearing scheduled for June 14, Hoffman  said.

Still undecided are the fates of a number of other Maryland Superfresh stores that were offered for sale in the auction, but where no winning bidder was identified by A&P. Included among those are Superfresh stores in Arbutus, Elkridge, Frederick, Glen Burnie, Perry Hall, Towson and others.

The Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (DLLR) announced last week that Superfresh had provided notices that it intends to eliminate the jobs of almost 1,500 hourly workers is the state.

Precisely 1,477 Maryland Superfresh workers have been notified that their jobs will be eliminated, according to DLLR spokesman Mike Raia.