Key Food Renews Interest In Shuttered New Utrecht Avenue Waldbaums

A Key Food partner and local franchise owner announced that he is “very interested” in buying the Waldbaums on New Utrecht Avenue — a casualty of A&P’s recent bankruptcy filing — during a rally to save the doomed supermarket on Thursday.

Sam Obeid, owner of Bath Avenue’s Key Food and the neighboring ethnic market Abassi, said that he and Key Food have offered the store’s parent company $5-$6 million for the property on 8121 New Utrecht Avenue, but that A&P has been stalling for a better offer.

“I have a deeply committed interest in this neighborhood,” Obeid said. “I don’t want to see this location turned into anything else but a supermarket, because residents need a convenient place to shop.”

Obeid’s news came as such a surprise during the rally, because Key Food had previously expressed interest in buying the supermarket, but according to news reports, the dealings fell through when complications arose over the divided ownership of the parcel of land that Waldbaums sits on.

A landlord owns the 60,000 square foot parking lot of the New Utretcht Avenue store, while A&P owns the remaining third of the property — the building. Obeid, it turns out, has a 39-year lease on the parking lot.

Obeid, who is on Key Food’s executive board, told us another snag they encountered was a law that bars against opening two supermarkets of the same name within a mile of each other. Waldbaums is located just six blocks (.5 miles) from Obeid’s Key Food store on Bath Avenue and 18th Avenue.

When another investor expressed interest in Waldbaums, A&P decided to pull the supermarket from a package deal, instead allowing Key to purchase 16 other A&P locations without ever going to auction, reported Supermarket News — a deal too good for the company to pass up.

A supermarket executive told us that the New Utrecht Avenue store is still tied up in bankruptcy court and will likely be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

With Waldbaums on the verge of closing for good after 37 years, at yesterday’s rally, Obeid’s sunny news cut through the gloomy afternoon, prompting dozens who had gathered in front of Waldbaums to cheer, “Supermarket, yes! Anything else, no!”

The rally was attended by, among others, Councilman Vincent Gentile, Assemblyman William Colton, Councilman Mark Treyger, and Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce President Carlo Scissura.

“As someone who grew up in Bensonhurst and shopped there for decades, I know firsthand how critical it is that this location remains a supermarket,” said Scissura. “People need regular access to fresh produce and groceries, and the Brooklyn Chamber will partner with local elected officials to guarantee this vital community resource is not lost.”

Gentile, whose district includes the supermarket, vowed to get to the bottom of the business dealings with A&P.

“When this place goes dark tonight, A&P will have left us in the dark. I understand there are some ownership issues that remain with the parking lot and the building — so let me say right here and right now that whatever the issues, whatever the hurdles, I am prepared to sit down and work them out so that we restore a supermarket grocery to this location as soon as possible,” said Gentile.

Colton added, “We must find a way to keep this supermarket a supermarket.”

Within five minutes of the rally, Obeid made the announcement that Key Food was back in the bidding ring to buy the store. If Key Food prevails, it will be good news for the workers, who, as we previously reported, said that they weren’t notified about the closing early enough for them to look for other jobs.

Along with promises to open up a Key Food, Obeid said that he is already in talks with the supermarket workers’ union Local 388 to keep as many of the 70 Waldbaum workers as possible.

A store manager, Marie, who didn’t want her last name used, said that because of the corporation’s lack of communication, workers didn’t have enough time to apply for positions at the Stop & Shop that opened on Cropsey Avenue to replaced a Pathmark last month.

“We were kept in the dark the whole time. We thought we were bought, but after Key Food backed out, they never told us anything,” she said.

[Additional reporting by Rachel Silberstein]