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.

Whole Foods to open seven new NJ stores

Amidst increased competition from Trader Joe's, Fairway and Kings Food Market, Whole Foods plans to open seven new stores in New Jersey. According to Whole Foods, stores will open in Marlboro, Morristown, Cherry Hill, Parsippany, Clark, Closter and Newark. The Texas-based company currently operates 10 stores in the state.

Whole Foods plans to open more than three dozen stores in the U.S. by the middle of next year.

A&P close to a sale of its Food Emporium chain

According to a story in Crain's New York Business, the sale of A&P's 16-store Food Emporium chain in Manhattan is imminent. As of late last month, the investment banking firm Duff & Phelps was soliciting final bids from buyers, including Kings Food Markets, a 24-store chain that operates in New Jersey, Long Island and Connecticut, that wants several of the Food Emporium stores.

Gristedes, which operates approximately 30 stores in Manhattan and surrounding areas, submitted a bid for the entire chain, but it appears A&P is leaning towards a sale to multiple buyers.

The Crain's story also reports that the union representing some of Food Emporium's 1,100 employees is suing A&P to stop a sale to buyers who would not honor its current labor contracts, although such a buyer would only have to honor the contracts if A&P made it a condition of the sale.

A&P, officially known as the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, also owns Pathmark, Super Fresh, Waldbaum's and Food Basics grocery stores.