TURNERS FALLS — All eight Food City grocery stores in New England, including the Turners Falls location at 250 Avenue A, are undergoing a proposed change in ownership, CEO Zak Sclar confirmed on Thursday.
The proposed sale involves the Food City locations in Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine. Though Sclar declined to disclose the sale price, he said the ownership transition will retain all 64 employees who are working in Turners Falls and at each store location.
“It’s definitely bittersweet,” Sclar said, emphasizing that the decision to sell the chain was made in the best interest of the employees, who he shared his gratitude toward for their dedication to the store over the past 30 years since its opening in the late 1990s.
The sale, if approved, will include a buy-out of employees that are part of the Employee Stock Ownership Plan that the grocery chain instituted in 2019, thus bringing an end to the employee ownership model. Sclar said employees will receive a “meaningful payout.” The sale could be finalized by the end of the summer.
Shiv Holdings Corporation is the prospective buyer, and as part of the sale, the Montague Selectboard approved the transfer of Food City’s wine and malt beverages license from current licensee Crooked River Corporation to Shiv Holdings Corporation last week, beginning the process of the store’s sale.
Matthew Porter, an attorney for Shiv Holdings Corporation, confirmed to the Selectboard the planned sale of Food City, and spoke on behalf of Nishantkumar Patel, of Lowell, who is listed on the Business Entity Summary filed on the secretary of state’s website as Shiv Holdings Corporation’s director, president, treasurer and secretary.
“Mr. Patel is very well-experienced in this area. He owned a supermarket in Maine for several years, which had an alcohol license there as well,” Porter said on behalf of his client. “Recently, he’s been running a convenience store that has liquor as well.”
Selectboard Chair Richard Kuklewicz sought to clarify if it’s just the entity that owns the store that is changing, which Porter confirmed, saying there will be “no change to the business outwardly.” This means there will be no changes to staffing or store layout.
In 2019, all eight Food City locations in Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine became 100% employee-owned through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. Food City, then owned by Zak Sclar’s father, Stanley Sclar, opened its doors in Turners Falls in October 1999, replacing the former SuperValu grocery store. Food City is the only grocery store in Montague, and serves its 8,850 residents with low-cost foods.
Moving forward, Zak Sclar wants to emphasize that he is confident in Patel and the new ownership of the company, and he wants to encourage residents to support Food City.
