Stop & Shop has bought the Long Island-based supermarket chain King Kullen, which industry analysts said is good for Long Island. King Kullen will transfer its 32 stores and its Bethpage headquarters to Massachusetts-based Stop & Shop.
A price for the deal has not been disclosed.
Burt Flickinger III, director for the Strategic Resource Group, a firm that studies retail economics, said the merger is a sign of a healthy food market on Long Island.
“Shoppers are going to save more on food, it’s going to be locally sourced, better quality, better prices. And protecting full-time workers’ jobs with benefits and living wages so it’s a winner all the way around.”
Flickinger also said that the merger is in response to a supermarket arms race as firms like Amazon, Walmart and Lidl push into Long Island.
The King Kullen deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2019.
