Kings Moves to Close 5 Unsold Stores

The parent of Kings and Balducci's stores has asked the court overseeing its bankruptcy proceedings to approve the rejection of leases for five New Jersey stores not included as part of Acme’s pending acquisition of the chain.

The rejected leases, which turn stores back to their respective landlords, are for Kings grocery stores in Bernardsville, Hoboken, Maplewood, Ridgewood and Warren, N.J. The company separately filed WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) notices with the state of New Jersey that those sites would have layoffs no later than Jan. 12. The stores employ between 41 and 59 employees each, according to those records. Kings’ corporate headquarters in Parsippany, N.J., which employs 116, was also included in its WARN notices. Reports this week indicated the Maplewood Kings store has already closed. Some of the units have existing Acme stores nearby or are close to stronger competition like ShopRite or Stop & Shop.

The five store closures, along with previously rejected leases of a Balducci's store in Reston, Va., and a Balducci's Gourmet on the Go location in the Hearst Building in Manhattan, would reduce parent KB Holdings to operators of 27 stores—or the same number of units agreed to be acquired by Acme Markets Inc., the company behind Albertsons Cos.’ Mid-Atlantic division.

The total would include 18 Kings stores (16 in New Jersey and one each in New York and Connecticut), seven locations of Balducci's, and two Balducci's To Go stores in the Philadelphia Airport and Johns Hopkins University.

Acme was declared high bidder for the assets of KB in a bankruptcy auction in October, saying it would pay $96.4 million for 27 stores. That deal is expected to close before the end of Albertsons' fiscal year.

KB Holdings, under the weight of heavy debt and intense competition in the Northeast, filed for bankruptcy in late August with the intention of selling itself.