EAST ELMHURST — The neighborhood Waldbaum's will become a Key Food after the supermarket chain's owner filed for bankruptcy this week, officials said.
The store, located inside the shopping plaza on 31st Avenue near 75th street, is one of 120 stores owned by The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A&P) that have been sold to other businesses after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, A&P said.
Some stores will become Stop and Shop supermarkets, while others — including the 31st Avenue store — will transition to Key Food, according to the company.
A&P said the "vast majority" of the supermarkets will continue to operate normally and be fully stocked. All customer promotions and loyalty programs will also continue to be honored.
"Serving our customers has been and will continue to be our No. 1 priority," the company wrote on its site.
The supermarket workers' union, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, put out a statement reminding the stores' new owners that the employees are the "heart and soul of these stores."
"We remain united and look forward to working with any company that will do what is right by our members and their families," the statement said.
A representative for Key Food did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.
A manager at the Waldbaum's, who asked that her name not be used, said she wasn't sure when the supermarket would become a Key Food but that employees were told about the change this week.
She's been with the company for two decades, and remembers when Julia Waldbaum, the matriarch of the supermarket family, would visit stores around the city to check up on them.
Waldbaum's was bought by A&P in the 1980s, and Julia Waldbaum died in 1996.
"It's sad," the manager said. "We don't know what's going to happen to us."
► See what's happening to your local supermarket:
The following shops will transition into Stop and Shop supermarkets:
- Pathmark (1720 Eastchester Rd., Bronx)
- Pathmark (2136 Bartow Ave., Bronx)
- Pathmark (625 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn)
- Pathmark (2965 Cropsey Ave., Brooklyn)
- Pathmark (134-40 Springfield Blvd., Jamaica)
- Pathmark (92-10 Atlantic Ave., Ozone Park)
- Pathmark (31-06 Farrington St., Whitestone)
- Pathmark (1351 Forest Ave., Staten Island)
- Pathmark (961 East 174th St., Bronx)
- Waldbaums (156-01 Cross Bay Blvd., Howard Beach)
- Waldbaums (112-15 Beach Channel Drive, Rockaway Park)
- Waldbaums (213-15 26th Ave., Bay Terrace)
These supermarkets will become Key Food supermarkets:
- A&P (5661 Riverdale Ave., Bronx)
- Food Basics (2185 Coyle St., Brooklyn)
- Food Emporium (10 Union Square 14th & Park, Manhattan)
- Pathmark (1525 Albany Ave., Brooklyn)
- Pathmark (410 West 207th St., New York)
- Waldbaums (196-35 Horace Harding Expressway, Flushing)
- Waldbaums (35-09 Francis Lewis Blvd., Bayside)
- Waldbaums (82-35 153rd Ave., Howard Beach)
- Waldbaums (81-21 New Utrecht Ave., Brooklyn)
- Waldbaums (75-55 31st Ave., East Elmhurst)
- Waldbaums (2424 Flatbush Ave., Brooklyn)
- Waldbaums (259-01 Union Turnpike, Glen Oaks)
