Allegiance Reviving Pathmark Banner

Supermarket cooperative Allegiance Retail Services LLC has revealed its plans to resurrect the Pathmark Supermarkets banner with a 49,000-square-foot store currently under construction in Brooklyn, N.Y., and slated to open its doors in late March or early April.

Ironically, the store is located at a site that operated as a Pathmark until the bankruptcy of the chain’s parent company, A&P, in 2015.  

Following A&P’s bankruptcy, Allegiance purchased the intellectual property of the Pathmark name and its associated marks to boost the number of banners available to the co-op’s members, as well as to develop a format targeting what the company characterized as “a specific and underserved consumer segment”: Millennial families seeking wide variety, strong promotions, everyday values and ingredient-based products.  

Having purchased Pathmark’s IP assets, Allegiance undertook a brand review and market analysis, and then then developed a business plan and refined the format’s operating principles.  Additionally, the company established rigorous guidelines for a go-to-market operating strategy, physical requirements, and the experience necessary to potentially be designated as a Pathmark operator. 

Among the physical requirements of the revamped Pathmark format are a store measuring at least 30,000 selling square feet, a full parking lot with easy entry and exit, and a local consumer base that aligns with the profile associated with the banner’s previous success. The PSK Supermarkets-owned location in Brooklyn, at 1525 Albany Ave., met all of the criteria set by Allegiance.

Although describing itself as “very optimistic about this banner’s future,” Allegiance said it would “assess the response to this first unit before announcing any additional new or retrofitted existing units.”

Iselin, N.J.-based Allegiance has 32 members operating 120 independent supermarkets in three states: New York; New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  The co-op’s banners include Foodtown, Freshtown, Frescho, D’Agostino, LaBella Marketplace, Brooklyn Harvest, Market Fresh and Big Deal Food Market, for which Alliance provides marketing, advertising, technological and merchandising support, as well as a full line of private label items.