Bogopa wins bid for pair of Fairway Market stores

Bogopa Service Corp., operator of Food Bazaar supermarkets in the New York metropolitan area, won its bid to acquire two Fairway Market stores in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens.

At a supplemental auction as part of Fairway’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, Bogopa was awarded Fairway’s Red Hook (Brooklyn) and Douglaston (Queens) supermarkets with an aggregate bid amount of $2.43 million. Both stores are slated to be converted to Food Bazaar locations.

“Knowing that Food Bazaar will continue to provide the communities we currently serve with the highest quality and variety of perishables, groceries and other unique food offerings is extremely gratifying,” Fairway Market CEO Abel Porter said in a statement. “We celebrate their commitment to offer jobs to our employees at these locations and welcome them to the Food Bazaar family.”

New York-based Fairway Market has so far been able to sell 10 of its 14 grocery stores. The company announced yesterday that it’s continuing to seek buyers for its supermarkets in Westbury, N.Y., and Stamford, Conn.

So far, New York-based Fairway has been able to sell 10 of its 14 grocery stores. The company announced yesterday that it’s continuing to seek buyers for its supermarkets in Westbury, N.Y., and Stamford, Conn. According to Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act filings by Fairway, both stores would be closed down sometime between July 31 and Aug. 14 if they’re not sold.

Fairway already has closed down a store in Plainview, N.Y., and has begun a going-out-of-business sale at its Harlem (Manhattan), N.Y., store. The company stated in a July 24 New York WARN filing that it expects to close its corporate office sometime between July 29 and Aug. 12.

Related:Fairway Market to sell two stores to Food Bazaar operator Bogopa

New York-based Fairway entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in late January and, upon filing, said it aimed to sell all of its 14 stores. In late March, Fairway awarded bids in court-supervised asset auction for the sale of eight stores. Amazon acquired Fairway’s Paramus and Woodland Park, N.J., store leases, while ShopRite operator Village Super Market bought four of Fairway’s Manhattan stores (Upper East Side, Upper West Side, Chelsea and Kips Bay, plus the parking lot of the Harlem store), as well as Fairway’s Pelham Manor store in New York’s Westchester County and its production and distribution center in the Bronx. Key Food Cooperative member Seven Seas Georgetowne LLC acquired Fairway’s Georgetown store in Brooklyn.

In purchasing the Red Hook and Douglaston Fairway locations, Bogopa outbid Seven Seas. Overall, Brooklyn-based Bogopa has 26 Food Bazaar grocery stores in New York City, Westchester County, Long Island, New Jersey and Connecticut. The company had previously bid for a larger package of Fairway assets, with a $75 million offer for Fairway’s five Manhattan stores, Pelham Manor store and Bronx DC.

Related:Fairway Market files for Chapter 11, plans to sell all stores