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Best Yet Market Inc. buys East Rockaway Pathmark

Store to be renovated; jobs will be open to qualified applicants

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In an 11th-hour auction bid on Oct. 8, the Pathmark store in East Rockaway was saved by Best Yet Market Inc., which bought out the location.

When the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company recently announced its second bankruptcy in five years, residents and employees of the store wondered what would happen to the only supermarket in the village — especially when the store had no takers when it was put up for bid on Oct. 2. The Pathmark store, at 492 E. Atlantic Ave., is one of 296 stores that A&P operates under the brand names A&P, Best Cellars, Food Basics, the Food Emporium, Pathmark and Waldbaum’s. All the stores up for bid, including the stores auctioned last week, are scheduled to be reviewed and finalized in bankruptcy court on Oct. 16. Oct. 8 was the final auction.

“Best Market currently operates 20 stores in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, and we are enthusiastic about the opportunity to serve more communities in Queens and on Long Island,” said Best Yet Market Inc. CEO and President Rebecca Philbert, whose company purchased more than one location in the recent bidding. “We look forward to bringing our fresh, healthy, better-for-you brand to these locations, and are confident that new customers will be excited by the-transformation our stores represent.” There are other area Best Markets in East Meadow, Franklin Square and Merrick.

Philbert said that the company plans to fully renovate its newly acquired stores with all-new equipment, floors, ceilings and lighting. In addition, it will introduce healthy prepared food; fresh, store-made sushi, and an extensive selection of kosher foods.

“These two new locations will also benefit from the positive work environment for which Best Market is known,” she said. “Team members at Best Market have named the company a Great Place to Work” — a promotion of the Great Place to Work Institute — “citing productive, positive relationships with their team leaders and an inclusive environment that contributes to job satisfaction, all of which are benefits that come from steady family ownership.”

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