2012 Food Retail Acquisitions: Tip of the Iceberg?

The Philadelphia region could possibly be the most explosive geography for ownership changes. With many of the legacy chain footprints such as A&P's SuperFresh and Supervalu's Acme underperforming, and with new entries such as Bottom Dollar, ALDI, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Fresh Market,
Target and Walmart, either expanding existing locations or opening new footprints, it would be hard to imagine any retailer purchasing these distressed chains as a whole. Many commercial realtors believe that once these legacy banners close, many locations will never be used by a food retailer ever again. As examples, An Acme which closed last year across from Wegmans in Mt. Laurel, N.J., reopened this week as a health center. And just a few miles to the South, a former Pathmark in Cherry Hill is reopening soon, as guess what? Another health center. Some years ago, a brand new A&P market, which closed after a short time, a few blocks from St. Joseph's University reopened as WPHL-TV17.