ShopRite to shut stores across Capital Region of New York

Five ShopRite supermarkets in the Capital Region surrounding Albany, New York, are slated to close in early December.

ShopRite parent Wakefern Food Corp. on Friday confirmed published reports of the planned closures, including fuel stations, in an email to Winsight Grocery Business. The stores are being shut by Shop-Rite Supermarkets Inc., a Wakefern subsidiary.

“Shop-Rite Supermarkets Inc. (SRS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Wakefern Food Corp., has made the decision to close its ShopRite stores and gas stations in the Capital Region, including the stores located in Albany, Colonie, Niskayuna, Slingerlands and North Greenbush," Keasbey, New Jersey-based Wakefern said in a statement issued by Chief Communications Officer Karen Meleta. "The stores will close on or about Dec. 9."

Wakefern reported that the stores are being closed due to underperformance. "We entered the marketplace a little over a decade ago to bring a quality supermarket to the area," the grocery retail cooperative stated. "Unfortunately, we have not been able to sustain the level of sales needed to keep the stores operating today. We thank our customers for their patronage and our dedicated associates who served the community.”

A 2013 survey released by the Albany Times Union had ranked ShopRite supermarkets as the top retail workplace in the Capital Region. 

Related:ShopRite set to open in Sussex, New Jersey, next week

The planned closings come on the heels of openings of ShopRite’s in other market areas on the East Coast. For example, this week, ShopRite owner RoNetco Supermarkets Inc. announced its plans plans to open a state-of-the-art supermarket in Sussex, New Jersey, that will include everything from groceries to hardware. Located at 1 Wiebel Plaza, the newly built store is set to open on Wednesday and will bring 250 full- and part-time jobs to northwestern New Jersey.

Wakefern is the largest retailer-owned cooperative in the United States, with its members operating more than 300 stores under the ShopRite, Price Rite Marketplace, The Fresh Grocer, Dearborn Market, Gourmet Garage and Fairway Market banners throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.