Penn Traffic files for Ch. 11, to sell stores

SYRACUSE —Northeast supermarket operator Penn Traffic Co. announced Nov. 18 that it had filed for Chapter 11 protection after receiving an Oct. 30 notice from its creditors that it was in default. Pending Bankruptcy Court approval, the company plans to sell off its stores and other assets and lay off its employees in the process. In a Nov. 30 statement, however, the company said it had not found any buyers for its 79 stores, which operate under the P&C Foods, Quality Markets and BiLo Foods banners in New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont and New Hampshire, and include 22 supermarket pharmacies.

“Our P&C, Quality and BiLo supermarkets remain open for business to serve our customers and communities,” president and CEO Gregory Young said in a Nov. 18 statement. “We intend to continue to work closely with our vendor partners to provide the fresh products and good value that our customers have come to expect from our stores.”

Penn Traffic’s demise follows problems that had plagued it throughout the decade. The company had filed for bankruptcy in May 2003, though it managed to emerge from it after agreeing to pay its debts and close or sell off its Big Bear stores in Ohio and West Virginia, as well as 37 other stores.

In December 2008, the company sold its wholesale business to C&S Wholesale Grocers for $43 million, a month after it had closed two stores: one in Oswego, N.Y., and another in Lebanon, N.H. In January 2009, the company announced plans to close an additional eight P&C Foods and Quality Markets stores in New York and Vermont.