Business

Riverhead’s King Kullen on Route 58 is closing in November

Riverhead King Kullen pedestrian

First Waldbaum’s. Now King Kullen.

The King Kullen at the Riverhead Plaza shopping center on Route 58 is closing next month, the company confirmed Thursday afternoon, marking the second major supermarket to shut down.

“The store is closing due to the lease expiring and our decision not to renew,” King Kullen senior vice president Joseph Brown said in a statement.  

The news was first reported by RiverheadLocal on Thursday afternoon.

Mr. Brown said the company doesn’t plan to layoff employees “as they will be offered relocation to other stores.”

This closing comes three months after supermarket giant The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, better known as A&P, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced the Waldbaum’s on Route 58 in Riverhead would be shut down. A Mattituck Waldbaums location has since been sold to Key Food.

This isn’t the first time the Riverhead Plaza shopping center has lost an anchor store. In January 2014, the Walmart — which had been the anchor tenant in Riverhead Plaza since 2001 — moved to a larger location further west on Route 58. Since then, two restaurants have been proposed for the shopping center, though the stores wouldn’t fill up the still-vacant former Walmart building.

Phillip International, the owner of the property, couldn’t be immediately reached for comment Thursday.

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