Cleanup Auction Possible for Unsold A&P Stores

With as many as 70 of A&P's stores still unsold, a cleanup auction is likely to be scheduled in the near future, according to a published report citing union representatives.

Meanwhile, the unsold stores are expected to begin liquidating merchandise and closing down, with some locations already offering little on their shelves, the Bergen County Record reported, noting that one of the stores, in Washington Township, N.J., has received a $400,000 bid from a Foodtown store operator that said it would hire at least 80 percent of the store's union employees.

Some winning bids are being contested by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW), because they go against A&P's contract promise after its last bankruptcy filing in 2010 that it would sell stores only to union buyers. All bids are subject to approval by the court overseeing Montvale, N.J.-based A&P's bankruptcy.

John Niccollai, president of UFCW Local 464a, in Little Falls, N.J., told the newspaper that some area A&P store employees due to lose their jobs because of closings have been able to find jobs at other supermarket companies. Malvern, Pa.-based Acme Markets, which has acquired about 70 A&P stores, is reportedly interested. "Acme is taking quite a few people," Niccollai told the Record. "They need the help in the stores because the A&P stores were barebones. They cut the payroll as much as they could." The union is sending employees' resumes to Acme to help the process along.