Superfresh to Eliminate About 1,500 Jobs In Maryland

The Superfresh grocery chain Monday notified state officials that it intends to eliminate about 1,500 jobs in Maryland, with job terminations to begin as early as July 9.

Michael Raia, a spokesman for the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, said the agency had received notification from Superfresh for precisely 1,477 terminations at 22 separate stores across the state.

The Superfresh store at 7740 Ritchie Highway is among the stores expected to close. 

"I still remember when Superfresh moved from Hospital Drive to Ritchie Highway," said Glen Burnie resident Rose Quasney. "The parking lot was a mess, carts rolled everywhere. I have to say, I will miss the Superfresh. Good people. Good service."

Under state law, employers are required to notify state officials when they are planning mass firings, he said. So-called WARN notices are also required to be sent directly to the employees affected, Raia said.

George Murphy Jr., president of United Food & Commercial Workers Local 27, said union members employed at Superfresh first began receiving notices about April 29.

That was one day after a federal bankruptcy court in White Plains, NY, gave Superfresh’s parent company permission to sell off the 22 Maryland stores, in addition to two other stores in Delaware and one in Washington, DC, Murphy said.

Meanwhile, the corporate owner of the Superfresh chain—the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., or A&P—is scheduled to open bids Tuesday in the auction sale of the 25 stores. No sales or closures will be finalized until the bankruptcy court gives its approval, which is expected at the end of May.

While Superfresh is eliminating the 1,500, workers could theoretically remain employed if the stores' buyers choose to retain them. 

"These [layoff] notices are being distributed at this time because A&P intends to cease doing business at these locations at the conclusion of the sales process," the spokesman, Eric Andrus, said in a statement to The (Baltimore) Sun on Monday. "At that point, any employment decisions concerning these store locations would be made by their new owners."

Real estate experts have said that some of the stores are likely to remain as grocery outlets, but that others will be converted to other uses, or closed entirely.

In any event, the Superfresh jobs will be eliminated and displaced workers will have to seek jobs with the new owners, or in other workplaces.