Price Chopper/Market 32 Buys 5 New York State ShopRite Stores
To boost its presence in upstate New York’s Capital Region, Price Chopper/Market 32 has purchased the leases, store equipment and fixtures of five former ShopRite stores in the area, with the aim of rebranding at least two of them as Market 32 locations. Wakefern Food Corp. cited an “influx of food retailers” in the Capital Region as a contributing factor in the closures.
“Our Market 32 brand has been extremely well received, and this gives us an excellent opportunity to expand our footprint in the Capital Region, provide our customers with the shopping experience they are looking for and our teammates with career growth opportunities right here in our hometown,” noted Blaine Bringhurst, president of Price Chopper/Market 32 president, which recently held grand reopenings for the the chain’s 39th and 40th Market 32s in Rutland and West Rutland, Vt., last month.
The grocer currently plans to convert the ShopRite stores in Niskayuna and North Greenbush into Market 32s, while the Slingerlands location, which sits directly across the street from an existing Market 32, will be marketed for sublease. As Price Chopper/Market 32 continues discussions with landlords in Albany and Colonie, it will decide on the future of those properties and the current Price Chopper/Market 32 stores located nearby in Westgate and Colonie Plazas. The company’s current employees will receive priority in staffing, whichever of the locations are ultimately occupied. Price Chopper/Market 32 doesn’t plan to operate the locations’ gas stations, however.
Added Bringhurst: “Price Chopper/Market 32 is excited about the prospect of growing scale right here in New York’s Capital Region, where we’ve been serving customers for more than 90 years. We have always been and will remain an employer of choice for our valued teammates. We are here to stay and will continue to invest in modernizing our stores, providing opportunities to our workforce, delivering an exceptional shopping experience to our customers, and supporting the community around us.”
Schenectady, N.Y.-based Price Chopper/Market 32 operates 130 Price Chopper and Market 32 grocery stores and one Market Bistro, employing 18,000 associates in New York, Vermont, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. Parent company Northeast Grocery Inc. is No. 45 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2023 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. Keasbey, N.J.-based Wakefern comprises nearly 50 members that independently own and operate 360-plus supermarkets under the ShopRite, Price Rite Marketplace, The Fresh Grocer, Dearborn Market, Gourmet Garage and Fairway Market banners in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Together with its member companies, Wakefern employs nearly 80,000 people. The company is No. 29 on PG’s list.
