Arbutus Superfresh Among 13 Stores with No Winning Bidders at Auction

The ShopRite grocery chain signaled a major move into Maryland this week when it emerged as the winning bidder to buy 10 food stores being sold off by the bankrupt owners of Superfresh.

But 13 Superfresh stores—including locations in , , Perry Hall, Towson, Frederick and Glen Burnie—had no winning bidder in the process.

ShopRite spokeswoman Santina Stankevich said it was too early for the New Jersey-based company to comment directly on its plans, but that ShopRite “is always interested in expansion opportunities, and Maryland is certainly an area that is interesting.” ShopRite currently operates eight stores in Maryland, according to its website.

A clearer signal came from Superfresh’s parent company, Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., also known as A&P.

A&P spokesman Scot Hoffman said that a joint venture involving ShopRite was the winning bidder this week in an auction sale of nine stores in Maryland and one store in Washington, D.C. Among the stores to be purchased are the existing Superfresh locations in Parkville, Lutherville and North Baltimore, Hoffman said.

Another result of the auction was a winning bid by Supervalu, parent company of Shoppers Food & Pharmacy, to purchase the Superfresh store in Ellicott City, according to Hoffman.

All of these sales are subject to the approval of a federal bankruptcy court in White Plains, NY, where A&P filed a Chapter 11 reorganization petition in late 2010, Hoffman said. A&P expects to submit the recent auction sales for approval at a hearing scheduled for June 14, he said.

Still undecided are the fates of a number of other Maryland Superfresh stores that were offered for sale in the auction, but where no winning bidder was identified by A&P. Included among those are Superfresh stores in , Frederick, Glen Burnie, Perry Hall, Towson and others.

Hoffman said he was unable to comment on the disposition of those individual stores but confirmed that employees there have been notified that their jobs may be eliminated as early as July 6. 

In all, some 1,477 Maryland Superfresh workers have been notified that their jobs will be eliminated, added spokesman Mike Raia of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. The state labor department is acting to assist those workers in transitioning to new employment, he said.