Douglaston Fairway's Future In Limbo Amid Bankruptcy Woes

DOUGLASTON, QUEENS — Fairway is preparing to sell all its grocery stores after declaring bankruptcy Thursday, and locations that don't get a buyer may close.

The beloved supermarket chain plans to sell five of its locations to Shoprite's parent company, Village Super Market, for $70 million, according to bankruptcy court declarations.

But Douglaston Plaza's Fairway Market isn't one of them, which thrusts the store's future into uncertain territory.

Village Super Market's stalking-horse bid for the Upper West Side flagship, Harlem, Chelsea, Kips Bay and Upper East Side locations will set the price for Fairway's 14 remaining grocery stores, court records show.

Fairway's stores will remain open as it negotiates sales for the rest of its stores in a court-supervised process, the company said.

Fairway filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy shortly after company representatives disputed a New York Post report that it was filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and closing all its stores.

"We have concluded that a Court-supervised sale process is the best way to meet our objectives of preserving as many jobs as possible, maximizing value for our stakeholders, and positioning Fairway for long term success under new ownership," Fairway CEO Abel Porter said in a statement.

This is the second time Fairway has filed for Chapter 11 in recent years. In 2016, the iconic grocery chain declared bankruptcy but managed to bounce back by borrowing money and shifting ownership from Sterling Investment Partners to a consortium led by Blackstone's GSO Capital Partners.

That history doesn't bode well for Fairway: A bankruptcy attorney told the New York Post that most companies that file for Chapter 11 a second time will end up in liquidation.