Food Bazaar–Fairway Deal Gets Court OK

Bogopa Service Corp.’s bid to acquire two Fairway Market stores was approved by the judge overseeing Fairway Group Holdings’ Chapter 11 bankruptcy case this week.

Bogopa, the Queens, N.Y.-based operator of the Food Bazaar banner, intends to convert the Fairway stores in the Douglaston neighborhood in Queens and the Red Hook neighborhood in Brooklyn to its own banner.

The bid, which according to court records totaled $2.43 million and consisted primarily of equipment and inventory at the still-open stores, survived a late-arriving competing bid submitted by Seven Seas, an independent supermarket operator associated with the Key Food Stores Cooperative. Seven Seas earlier this year successfully acquired Fairway’s Georgetown, Brooklyn, store and is operating it now under the Foodway banner.

Seven Seas in court papers said it was willing to pay $4.2 million for the two stores but the Bogopa offer was deemed “highest and best.”

Food Bazaar is known for high-volume stores featuring assortments of hard-to-find ethnic foods and massive fresh food departments. It operates 28 stores in and around metro New York.

Fairway’s representatives are still at work finding potential buyers for Fairway stores in Harlem, N.Y., Westbury, N.Y., and Stamford, Conn. The retailer ceased operations at all three locations recently. Fairway filed for Chapter 11 protection in January with intentions of selling itself to raise money to pay creditors. Five of its best-performing stores and the brand name were acquired earlier this year by Village Super Market, the Springfield, N.J.-based ShopRite operator. Bogopa was the runner-up for those assets.