Fairway Gets Investment for Growth

JON SPRINGER

NEW YORK — Specialty food retailer Fairway Market here is seeking additional area locations after receiving new investment from a private-equity firm.

Sterling Investment Partners, Westport, Conn., will provide ongoing capital and strategic resources and has taken a significant ownership stake in the family-run specialty retailer, Howard Glickberg, Fairway's chief executive officer, told SN in an interview last week. Fairway and Sterling declined to disclose terms of the agreement.

Glickberg said Fairway has been seeking new investment since one of the partners that own the four-store retailer retired three years ago, and had been in touch with a number of private investors over the years. He said he selected Sterling because it understood Fairway's business and would not sacrifice its long-term health for short-term financial gains.

“While every investor wants to make some money on their investment, with Sterling, just making the last penny wasn't the primary motivation,” Glickberg said. “There's the feeling that they care about the business too.”

Fairway is known for extensive fresh offerings, and a large variety of imported and specialty foods, set in unique store environments. The company claims to have the highest volume sales per square foot of any grocery in the country.

But additional competition from newer concepts such as Whole Foods Market and FreshDirect has challenged Fairway to grow.

Its newest store, which opened last year in a converted warehouse overlooking New York Harbor in Brooklyn, “has been more successful than we ever imagined,” Glickberg said. Fairway is currently negotiating leases for two additional locations in the New York metropolitan area, Glickberg added, but he declined to say where.

Fairway operates a store at 74th Street and Broadway in Manhattan, the site of the fruit stand founded by Glickberg's grandfather in 1940. The chain added a second location in Harlem in 1994 and a store in Plainview, Long Island, five years ago.

“Each of our stores has its own unique personality,” Glickberg said. “Any new store we open will also be unique. So we will only open one when we're ready to.”

Glickberg said he would remain CEO of the company, assisted by his 23-year-old son, Dan. Harold Seybert, a longtime partner, will also remain an owner. Other managers and long-time employees also own stakes in the business, Glickberg said.