The new King Kullen supermarket in Garden City Park is slated to open on Nov. 4 at 8 a.m. in the location vacated last fall by Pathmark in the shopping center at the intersection of Jericho Turnpike and Nassau Boulevard.
King Kullen plans to shutter its current, smaller supermarket located west of the new location at 2020 Jericho Turnpike in New Hyde Park on Nov 3 at 9 p.m.
Thomas Cullen, vice president of King Kullen Grocery Co., recently said the company was “excited” to be trading up to the new location.
“We will be closing our nearby New Hyde Park store because the new supermarket is in a better location and, at 51,000 square feet, will allow us to offer customers more products and specialty departments,” he said.
“Customers will be able to enjoy greater variety throughout the store,” Cullen said of the new location.
The Garden City Park store will feature a “Wild By Nature” natural foods section and a sushi bar.
None of the employees in the New Hyde Park store will be laid off, according to Cullen, who said they’ll be working in the Garden City Park store or nearby locations. The supermarket chain currently has stores in Mineola and Franklin Square.
The exact number of workers in the store has not been revealed. Approximately 90 percent of the store employees will be members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500. Approximately 10 percent of the employees in the new location will be members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 342, which is affiliated with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America.
Cullen has said most of the people being hired will be from the local area.
The Bethpage-based supermarket chain had been negotiating a lease since last October, when the Pathmark supermarket had closed its doors, according to H.A. Johnston, King Kullen director of real estate.
Commenting on King Kullen’s plans in June, Johnston said the supermarket chain saw a need for the new store in what it considered an “underserved” market.
