By: Vincent Moriarty

Fairway Market has reportedly filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in under four years.

Published reports also maintain that the company’s executives intend to sell as many as five of its retail locations, with more among the remaining nine stores to come.

In its Thursday court filing, Manhattan-based Fairway Group Holdings Corp. “said it has entered into a so-called “stalking horse” agreement to sell up to five of its New York City stores and a distribution center to Village Super Market Inc. for about $70 million,” reported newsday.com. “A stalking horse agreement represents an opening bid; other entities may offer higher prices for the assets.”

For its part, the company has said that stalking horse asset purchase agreement with Village Super Market, Inc. (EA) to sell up to 5 New York City Fairway stores also includes its Distribution Center, all for approximately $70 million.

In addition, the company will execute a Court supervised sale process to continue to negotiate for the sale of its remaining store locations, it said in a press release.

“An Ad Hoc Group of the Company’s senior lenders are supportive of the sale process and have agreed to provide the Company with up to $25 million in debtor in possession financing,” the release said. “Fairway Market will continue to conduct business and serve customers at its stores across the tri-state area and expects no interruption in service during the Court-supervised process. Fairway Market stores will continue to offer a complete range of high quality, specialty food products, and all existing customer promotional and loyalty programs will stay in place during this process.”

“We would like to extend gratitude to our employees, vendors, distributors and customers for their support, dedication and loyalty over the years. It has always been Fairway’s priority to ensure our patrons are provided with the most optimal grocery experience, with the freshest foods and best quality products, and our employees feel appreciated,” said Abel Porter, Chief Executive Officer at Fairway Market, in the statement posted on its web site. “After careful consideration of all alternatives, we have concluded that a Court-supervised sale process is the best way to meet our objectives of preserving as many jobs as possible, maximizing value for our stakeholders, and positioning Fairway for long term success under new ownership.”

Village Super Market, Inc. operates a chain of supermarkets and specialty markets in the Northeast under the ShopRite and Gourmet Garage banners. “Perry and Nick Sumas opened the first Village Market in 1937, and our family continues to believe deeply in the importance of neighborhood grocery stores. We appreciate that Fairway’s loyal customers are concerned about the future, and if we are successful in our bid, we are committed to keeping Fairway, including its name, unique product selection and value, a part of this community,” said Robert Sumas, CEO of Village Super Market, Inc.

Fairway Market has been known as a “unique food retailer offering customers a differentiated one-stop shopping experience as “The Place To Go Fooding,” the company said. “Fairway has established itself as a leading food retail destination in the Greater New York City metropolitan area, recently expanding with the opening of The Cooking Place in June 2019, a cooking school that brings the same passion and philosophy about fooding to its customers. Fairway Market offers an extensive selection of fresh, natural and organic products, prepared foods and hard-to-find specialty and gourmet offerings, along with a full assortment of conventional groceries.”