With Pathmark Closing, Weiner, Markowitz, Kruger, Fidler, & Nelson Announce Plan to Help Open New Supermarket in Sheepshead Bay

Press Release

Today, outside the Nostrand Avenue Pathmark in Sheepshead Bay that is set to close, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D -- Brooklyn & Queens), Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, State Senator Carl Kruger, and Councilmembers Lew Fidler and Michael Nelson announced their plans to help bring a new supermarket to the area.

In 2002, Rep. Weiner and a coalition of local officials, including Borough President Markowitz, Senator Kruger, and Councilmembers Fidler and Nelson, spearheaded the effort to bring a major supermarket to Sheepshead Bay to ensure that the community and its residents would be able to access fresh fruits and groceries without being forced to leave the comfort of their neighborhood.

The plan included recruiting several major supermarkets to the neighborhood and enlisting the support of the business community and local leaders -- and their efforts culminated in the establishment of a Pathmark supermarket at 3785 Nostrand Avenue.

With A&P announcing the shutdown of 31 Pathmark stores across the nation, including the one located on Nostrand Avenue, Rep. Weiner, Borough President Markowitz, Senator Kruger, and Councilmembers Fidler and Nelson renewed their efforts to secure a new, major supermarket for the neighborhood.

Weiner's office has already written letters to Stop & Shop, White Rose, D'Agostino Supermarkets, Key Food, and Whole Foods in an attempt to find a suitable replacement for the community. With the closure of Pathmark, over 100 employees will lose their jobs and residents -- including the neighborhood's large senior population -- will be forced to walk over 10 blocks to find another equivalent store to purchase their everyday groceries.

"Residents of Sheepshead Bay deserve a neighborhood supermarket, and we're going to do everything we can to make sure they get one," Weiner said. "It's all hands on deck."

"The loss of a supermarket in Brooklyn, particularly when so many of our neighborhoods are lacking quality food at affordable prices, is not only a major quality of life issue but a public health issue. When supermarkets close, our residents--especially seniors--are forced to travel greater distances, often at greater expense, to provide for basic needs for themselves and their families," Brooklyn Borough President Markowitz said. "The preservation and creation of supermarkets has been, and continues to be, a top priority of my office, and it has been my ULURP policy to seek the inclusion of supermarkets as part of my discretionary land use review where deemed appropriate. While I am disappointed the Pathmark on Nostrand Avenue will be closing, I am working with our elected officials and other stakeholders to identify a supermarket retailer to replace Pathmark and provide the residents of Sheepshead Bay and surrounding communities with the access to the fresh food they deserve."

"Years ago, we fought long and hard to bring a supermarket to this site, and we're not about to give it up now," Senator Carl Kruger said. "We need to keep a supermarket at this location. Many thousands of residents, including the neighborhood's large numbers of senior citizens, have come to depend on the accessibility and convenience of this site. For the Nostrand Avenue shopping strip, too, a supermarket is a magnet that draws people here and enhances the vitality of the entire commercial district. It is essential that we keep this important resource."

"That location needs a supermarket. I worked with then-Councilman Weiner more than 10 years ago to get Pathmark in to replace Waldbaums and will do so again to get any legitimate supermarket into that location," said Councilman Lew Fidler. "The neighborhood needs a supermarket and the shopping center desperately needs its anchor store to be tenanted by one."

"Approximately ten years ago, Congressman Anthony Weiner in concert with Community Board 15 assured area residents that a supermarket would open. Through the Congressman's efforts with the landlord, Pathmark opened. Now today we are back at square one and I as well as the Congressman will do whatever it takes to get a supermarket here again," said Theresa Scavo, Chairperson of Community Board 15.

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