A&P WON'T SHUT 15 CANADA STORES

ELLIOT ZWIEBACH

TORONTO -- A&P Canada here has decided not to close 15 stores that had previously been slated to close.

Instead, it has reached agreement with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union here to convert the 15 stores to the chain's Super Fresh format.

According to Jack Moffatt, chairman and chief executive officer of A&P Canada, "The new agreement will enable A&P to compete more successfully and help to make these locations viable."

A&P has already converted 15 of a designated group of 25 stores here to its new low-cost Super Fresh format -- a cross between warehouse stores and conventional supermarkets, with a lower wage scale, in contrast to the full-service Super Fresh stores A&P operates in the United States.

A&P operates 195 stores in Canada, all in Ontario: 94 A&P's (including the 15 Super Fresh conversions), 63 Miracle Food Marts, 35 Dominion Stores and three pre-existing Super Fresh stores.

According to Michael J. Rourke, senior vice president of communications and corporate affairs for the Montvale, N.J.-based chain, UFCW agreed to allow the chain to convert the first group of 25 stores to the new Super Fresh format during negotiations late last year.

Because it did not agree to give up jobs and wages to convert another group of 15 stores, A&P disclosed plans in early February to close those stores, Rourke told SN.

However, when the union reconsidered and put the matter to a vote by the rank and file, union employees voted to allow A&P to convert the additional 15 stores and to accept lower paying positions rather than giving up those jobs altogether, and A&P reversed the decision to close them, Rourke said.

He said it is too early to say how well the first 15 stores converted to Super Fresh are doing. He also said A&P is considering converting additional stores to the Super Fresh banner but declined to discuss specific plans.