Tops Markets LLC supermarket chain is preparing to leave bankruptcy protection after cutting costs and resolving several battles with labor unions, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Tops Markets yesterday received approval to execute the final phase of the company’s debt-cutting plan from Judge Robert Drain of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y., who called the plan “remarkably consensual.” The clearance will enable the Williamsville, N.Y.-based grocery store chain, which filed for bankruptcy with roughly 170 supermarkets in New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont in February, to emerge from chapter 11 protection. Before the filing, Tops Markets struggled with competition, payments due on borrowing deals that were made by previous owners and a record run in falling food prices last year that hurt supermarket chains across the U.S., company officials said in earlier court papers. Amid the trouble, the chain lost about $80 million on about $2.5 billion in revenue last year. Tops Markets used the chapter 11 process to renegotiate the terms of the company’s loans. Under a new borrowing agreement, the company will save $36 million a year and get access to $35 million once it emerges from bankruptcy.
