Lower Saucon Pathmark Store Slated to Close

A landmark supermarket in Lower Saucon Township is on a list of stores its parent company says it will close as part of a bankruptcy restructuring effort announced Tuesday, according to published reports.

The Pathmark store is one of the anchor businesses in the Saucon Valley Square shopping center on Route 378 and one of 32 stores in six states A&P says it will close over the next two months. A&P, which is based in Montvale, N.J., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December. 

Originally opened as a Super Fresh store, the Lower Saucon supermarket was renovated and rebranded a Pathmark less than two years ago. In addition to a store in Walnutport, it is one of only two Pathmarks A&P operates in the Lehigh Valley. Many of Pathmark's stores are located in the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas, where news of the closures is already hitting hard in places like 

In recent years Pathmark has been a rarity among local supermarket chains, as one of the few remaining grocery businesses to employ unionized workers.

The closure of the Lower Saucon Pathmark will leave residents of the western portion of the township without a supermarket in the immediate vicinity and along the busy Route 378 corridor. The nearest other full-service local supermarkets are Fresh Market in the Promenade Shops at Saucon Valley,  in the Creekside Marketplace shopping center just south of Hellertown and Ahart's Market on Broadway in South Bethlehem.