A U.S. District of Delaware Bankruptcy Court Judge signed a stack of orders Nov. 19 allowing Penn Traffic Company to take a number of steps to maintain what it calls normal business operations while negotiating a sale of the company's assets.
Those assets include P&C, the largest grocery store in Yates County, where more than 80 full and part time employees face a holiday season unsure about their future.
And the clock is ticking. If a buyer is not found, the store will close by Feb. 15.
While the Penn Traffic team works from their end of the issue, some local efforts to keep a large grocery store in Penn Yan are underway as well.
According to Michael Linehan, president of the Yates County Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber's Long Range Planning Committee, chaired by Harold Gray, is reviewing options and attempting to answer the question, "How do we, as a community, be proactive in terms of the potential loss of the store?"
He said members of the committee, which includes Finger Lakes Economic Development Center CEO Steve Griffin, are calling developers who have shown past interest in the community for the construction of a grocery store. Linehan said there was also mention of seeking local investors to take over the store and operate an independent, locally owned grocery store.
A Nov. 18 letter from Penn Traffic Company's Senior Vice President of Human Resources Christine McMahon to Penn Yan Mayor Douglas Marchionda Jr. laid out the solemn picture.
Written as official notice as required by the New York State Workers Adjustmeent and Retraining Act (WARN), the letter informs Marchionda that the Penn Traffic Company will close the P&C store in Penn Yan.
Marchionda had not returned a phone call seeking a comment by the time this was posted.
The letter says the company is working to sell the stores and warehouses. But if no deal is made before Feb. 15, 2010, the store will go dark.
The letter informs Marchionda, "Penn Traffic has been and continues to be actively working with its current lenders and pursuing other potential sources of capital and/or financing, as well as sole offers, in an effort to infuse enough capital into the business and stores to avoid a closing or shutdown before at least 90 days from the date of this notice (Nov. 18, 2009). The Company reasonably and in good faith believed that giving this notice prior to today would have precluded its efforts to obtain refinancing and/or capital investment. In the event that extended or new financing or alternative sources of capital and liquidity (in adequate amounts upon reasonable terms) are not obtained, or the Company is unable to sell stores and/or warehouses to a purchaser that acquires and maintains stores and/or warehouses as ongoing operations, the Company will be forced to close stores and/or the warehouses, as soon as on or about Feb. 15, 2010."
