A&P sells off intellectual property

The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., which entered bankruptcy nearly three years ago before closing all of its stores, sold "substantially all of its intellectual property assets," which consist of its store banners and private labels. Hilco Streambank, a company retained by A&P in 2015, announced that it brokered the sale of 23 A&P brand names, including the following:

Supermarket Banners: Pathmark, Super Fresh, A&P, Food Emporium, Waldbaum's, Food Basics, among others

Private Labels: America's Choice, Greenway, Woodson & James, Hartford Reserve, Great Atlantic Seafood Market, among others

According to a Hilco spokesperson, the sale resulted "in a seven-figure overall recovery."

Some of the transactions were disclosed publicly, and they included the $1.75 million sale of Food Emporium IP assets to the Key Food Cooperative, and the $1 million sale of Pathmark IP assets to a unit of Foodtown operator PSK Supermarkets.

A&P, founded in New York City in 1859, was the world's largest retailer by 1930 with nearly $3 billion in annual sales and 16,000 stores.

ShopRite tops in New Jersey with 139 stores

A story on NJ.com last month listed the 10 biggest supermarket chains (by number of stores) in New Jersey. Here's the list.

ShopRite - 139 stores
Acme - 77
Stop & Shop - 61
Target - 44
Aldi - 42
Walmart - 29
BJ's Wholesale Club - 23
Kings Food Market - 23
Save-A-Lot - 22
Key Food - 22

Stores in New Jersey with fewer locations include Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Wegmans, Weis Markets, and soon... Lidl.

Key Food Co-op acquires Super Fresh name

Earlier this month the Key Food Cooperative reported that it had acquired the Super Fresh brand from A&P and that it is "planning to open several stores under the Super Fresh banner in the near future, the first of which may be as early as this month."

Key Food previously acquired the Food Emporium banner in a bankruptcy auction and is using that name on properties it acquired from A&P in Manhattan.

Last November the Key Food Cooperative completed the purchase of 23 A&P stores, bringing the total number of stores under its management to 212. It is the largest grocer in New York City.

According to the report, the Super Fresh banner was created in Philadelphia in 1982 as part of a deal between organized labor and A&P. A&P filed for bankruptcy and ceased operations last year after 156 years in business.