P&C supermarkets set to close in February as company files for bankruptcy

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Ithaca, 25 November 09 -- The Penn Traffic Company has filed a notice with the New York State Department of Labor that they will be selling or closing all of their supermarkets on February 15th. While the company is looking for buyers for its stores, it's likely that all three P&C Foods supermarkets in the Ithaca area will close this winter.

The Department of Labor filing says 161 employees (all but five of them unionized workers) will be affected in the three Ithaca stores. Penn Traffic currently operates P&C stores at the Cayuga Mall in the Village of Lansing, at East Hill Plaza in the Town of Ithaca, and on Hancock Street in the City of Ithaca's north side. The company is closing dozens of P&C Foods and Quality Stores locations throughout Central New York, the Southern Tier, Western New York, and the North Country, with a total loss of 4,142 jobs.

While the Lansing store is right across Triphammer Road from a shopping plaza with a newer Tops Friendly Markets store, the other two P&C stores in Ithaca are in parts of town not served by other nearby supermarkets.

It's the company's third Chapter 11 filing.