After almost 100 years of doing business, Joliet, Ill.-based Central Grocers filed for chapter 11 yesterday and will lay off about 550 employees at the company's Joliet warehouse, the Chicago Tribune reported yesterday. Central Grocers is a grocery cooperative that has long operated as wholesaler for more than 400 independent grocery stores in the Chicago area — including chains like Treasure Island, Pete's Fresh Market, Angelo Caputo's Fresh Market and Sunset Foods — distributing private-label Centrella products as well as produce, meat and dairy. It's also the parent company of Strack & Van Til and Ultra Foods stores in Illinois and Indiana, which are included in the bankruptcy filing. The layoffs are expected to occur between June 26 and July 10 as the cooperative's business gradually shuts down, according to a mass layoff notice sent to employees. Last month, Central Grocers announced plans to sell 22 Strack & Van Til stores while closing nine "underperforming" Ultra stores. About 750 workers at seven of those Ultra stores will be laid off by June 17, according the state's April 30 report on layoff notices. Yesterday, the company said that it expects to enter into a sales agreement for 19 of the Strack & Van Til stores soon with a "stalking-horse bidder" and intends to auction the nearly 1 million-square-foot Joliet warehouse and headquarters, as well as other assets.
