GILROY
– PW Market Place, one of four city supermarkets, removed its
signs Monday, but it’s not ready to go out of business – yet.
The Tenth Street store was still open for business Tuesday, and
employees said their managers hadn’t told them anything about a
closure.
Closure is imminent, however, according to sources with the
company and the city.
GILROY – PW Market Place, one of four city supermarkets, removed its signs Monday, but it’s not ready to go out of business – yet.
The Tenth Street store was still open for business Tuesday, and employees said their managers hadn’t told them anything about a closure.
Closure is imminent, however, according to sources with the company and the city.
“The store is not closing at this time, although I have been retained to work with PW to find a replacement tenant for that store,” said John Machado, a real-estate broker with Collier’s International in San Jose and PW’s in-house broker for the last 15 years.
PW took down the signs – one on the store and an aerial one on Tenth Street – in order to relocate them to a PW building elsewhere, Machado said. The company plans to put a temporary sign on the Gilroy supermarket “in the interim” until PW officials make a decision on whether to close it, Machado said.
Nevertheless, there was still no visible signage of any kind at PW as of Tuesday afternoon.
“As of today’s date, there is no definite date for closing that store,” Machado said.
Machado declined to speak about possible future tenants for the PW building.
PW officials were not talking about the store’s situation Tuesday. An assistant manager gave a quick “No comment” response when asked about the signs’ removal and whether the store would close. Staff at the regional chain’s headquarters in the Alum Rock neighborhood of San Jose referred all questions to Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Mike Stigers, who did not return phone calls.
Meanwhile, Bill Lindsteadt, executive director of the Gilroy Economic Development Department, said the store has been on its way out for some time.
“That was a decision made a long time ago that they were going to close,” Lindsteadt said Tuesday. “Then they would change their mind and keep it open a little while longer.”
PW has been beset with new, nearby grocery competition since the beginning of 2003. First, locally owned Arteaga’s Super Save added a full-size second location at a nearby shopping center, an expansion from its much smaller First Street store.
Next, Costco Wholesale opened on the other side of U.S. Highway 101 in spring 2003, selling some groceries. Target did the same in the fall, and in mid-March of this year the Gilroy City Council allowed Wal-Mart to move from its current location into a Supercenter with a full grocery selection. All four stores are or will be within three blocks of PW.
In August, Stigers said PW planned to remain in its Tenth Street store regardless of whether the Wal-Mart Supercenter opened. The store had surpassed its earnings projections by 6 percent, he said, although he acknowledged that it had reduced these projections since Costco opened.
In late October, Stigers acknowledged that PW sales in Gilroy had dropped off since Costco and Target opened.
At the time, Stigers said PW was interested in moving to northwest Gilroy if an opportunity arose, but he added that leaving Gilroy was an option.
Lindsteadt said there are locations available if PW wants to move within Gilroy.
“There’s room for another grocery store here in town, for sure,” Lindsteadt said.
Nevertheless, Lindsteadt said, “I think PW would be a big success in (its current) area if it remodeled that store and set it up like modern stores.”
The Gilroy store is different from most PW supermarkets, Lindsteadt said – “more of a warehouse store” than a standard supermarket layout.
Arteaga’s manager Oscar Renteria said food vendors told him in December that PW was going to close. He acknowledged that Arteaga’s probably would get more business as a result, but he added, “This is not really good news.
“I think we can pick some business from those guys, but not much business,” Renteria said. “We’re not happy that that store is clos(ing).”
