Hundreds of jobs will be lost.
More importantly, though, the small community in Wayne County, which has relied on Tops supermarket to serve as a staple will be no more.
Geneva and Lyons locations were the two primary locations in the Finger Lakes – excluding those in Syracuse and Rochester, which will be shut down by November.
For shoppers in Lyons – it means just one supermarket remains.
While residents in Geneva will still have multiple options – shoppers provided a mixed bag of responses to the news that Tops would be shuttering multiple locations in the region.
“I’m not surprised,” Alex Taylor, a Geneva resident, who was shopping at the store on Thursday. “You can tell this store is doing well – but when we heard that the company wasn’t doing well – we assumed that this store would be one of the ones to shut down.”
By closing 10 stores, Tops heading into home stretch of its journey through bankruptcy. https://t.co/SeeSDw3hN2
— David Robinson (@drobby) August 31, 2018
Alice Mallor, a lifelong Geneva resident who has shopped at Tops for decades said it will be a difficult change to seem come. “I can’t imagine what the folks in Lyons will do. We have options down here, but I don’t think they have as many options up there, which will really make things tough for them,” she said on Thursday. “Community leaders need to think about getting new stores in these locations, especially for those who rely heavily on having grocery stores within walking distance.”
Lyons Town Supervisor Brian Manktelow told local reporters on Thursday that he remained hopeful that a new grocery tenant might find the location in his community. While it’s too soon to know for sure, who, or when the vacancies might be filled – the news will leave two definite holes in both Geneva and Lyons.
Altogether ten under-performing stores will be closed by November.
The store closings are part of a financial restructuring process to help the company emerge from bankruptcy.
The Tops location at the Liberty Plaza in Seneca Falls, West Genesee St. in Auburn and on Liberty Street in Penn Yan will remain open.
Three of those under-performing stores are located in the Rochester area:
- 710 Lake Avenue, Rochester, NY
- 175 N. Winton Rd., Rochester, NY
- 6720 Pittsford/Palmyra Rd., Fairport, NY
The company intends to file a motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The company is seeking authority to assume the leases of continuing stores, reject leases and conduct store closings at the 10 underperforming locations.
“The vast majority of our stores are profitable and we are seeing strong customer support continue to drive growth in these locations,” according to Frank Curci, CEO of Tops. “That said, there are a few stores that are not performing to our standards, due to a number of factors including location, store size, lack of visibility, and lease costs.”
