They weren’t there very long.
Mrs. Green’s Natural Market, a Westchester-based chain of natural and organic food supermarkets, announced today that it will be closing its 20,000 square-foot Hartsdale store on Central Avenue on November 12, 2015. The store opened its doors there only two years ago, on November 22, 2013.
That is also the same day that the Edgemont A&P, also on Central Avenue, is expected to close its doors.
Mrs. Green’s had substantially expanded its operations locally in early 2014, after a corporate takeover when, in addition to taking over the former Turco’s supermarket at 381 North Central, it opened up stores in several other Westchester locations.
At the time it opened at Turco’s, Mrs. Green’s closed a smaller store — the original Mrs. Green’s — which it had operated since 1991 in an Edgemont strip mall.
Mrs. Green’s sent an announcement of its Hartsdale store closing this morning to all customers on its email list. The announcement stated that it will work “very hard” to find new jobs for its employees and would “continue to service the customers of central Westchester County in many of our other locations like Rye, Tarrytown and Eastchester.”
No reason was given for the store’s abrupt closing, but there have been reports of legal troubles stemming from its bills not being paid and customers who shop at Mrs. Green’s in Hartsdale have reported seeing very few people there.
To clear its shelves in Hartsdale, Mrs. Green’s announced that prices on all inventory in the store would be marked 50% off, effectively immediately until the store closes next week.
Mrs. Green’s has for years operated a smaller store on White Plains Road in Eastchester, next to the Equinox just over the Scarsdale border.
Meanwhile, there has been no information on the future of the Edgemont A&P which will soon join the list of vacant storefronts on Central Avenue. That list also includes the former LazyBoy furniture store directly across the street from the A&P, which has been vacant for at least a year.
When the A&P closes, the site’s owner will presumably post for rent signs in hopes of attracting another retail merchant.
While they were both supermarkets, Mrs. Green’s and the A&P generally served different markets, with Mrs. Green’s catering mainly to customers looking for natural and organic foods, often sourced locally. That market has become increasingly competitive with similar offerings frequently available at nearby Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods in White Plains, Fresh Market in Eastchester, and Balducci’s in Scarsdale.
A more serious problem is what will become of the vacant stores. The Town of Greenburgh is considering a comprehensive plan, but the plan’s latest iteration for Central Avenue essentially codifies the status quo — which is to say town leaders have come up with nothing to encourage new businesses to consider locating there.