The New York Post reports that D'Agostino's, the longtime independent, family-owned urban retailer, "has been quietly shopping its remaining nine Manhattan stores."
In business for more than eight decades, D'Agostino's has been gradually getting smaller in recent years. At its peak it had 26 units, but was half that size a year ago. Now down to nine, the retailer is "getting squeezed by Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, FreshDirect and other rivals, as well as leases that were too expensive to renew."
One of the companies aid to be interested is Key Food, which the Post describes as "a cooperative that bought the Food Emporium brand and some of its stores in the A&P bankruptcy last year, according to sources. Key Food owns four Food Emporiums and would like to expand the portfolio in Manhattan, where the brand is better known than Key Food and is seen as a more upscale chain."
However, Robert James, D’Agostino’s president/COO, says that the company has "had no formal discussions recently and are not in discussions with anyone regarding a potential sale."
In business for more than eight decades, D'Agostino's has been gradually getting smaller in recent years. At its peak it had 26 units, but was half that size a year ago. Now down to nine, the retailer is "getting squeezed by Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, FreshDirect and other rivals, as well as leases that were too expensive to renew."
One of the companies aid to be interested is Key Food, which the Post describes as "a cooperative that bought the Food Emporium brand and some of its stores in the A&P bankruptcy last year, according to sources. Key Food owns four Food Emporiums and would like to expand the portfolio in Manhattan, where the brand is better known than Key Food and is seen as a more upscale chain."
However, Robert James, D’Agostino’s president/COO, says that the company has "had no formal discussions recently and are not in discussions with anyone regarding a potential sale."
- KC's View:
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This is a sad story, but hardly a surprise. I haven't been in every one of the remaining D'Agostino's stores, but the ones I have been into hardly seem any different than they were decades ago. It is like they are caught in some sort of stasis, while the rest of the retailing world - and customers - have changed in ways large and small.
I suspect this company will end of being a case study in how not to compete in a fast-changing world.
Dead company walking. Barely.
