Fairway Market Is On The Verge Of Declaring Bankruptcy

Is New York's hometown grocery store doomed? Fairway Market — the supermarket chain with locations mostly in the tristate area (and number 19 on our list of the best supermarkets in America) — is set to declare bankruptcy. Insiders say that after meeting with creditors, the Fairway Group Holdings Corp. is likely to file chapter 11 by the end of May, according to Bloomberg.

The deal with creditors would likely mean that Fairway would "restructure" its business model while attempting to climb out of the bankruptcy hole. While restructuring, lenders would take over Fairway and continue operations until internal negotiations could be worked out. Most likely this will result in massive layoffs and store closings.

According to Bloomberg analysis, the small grocery chain has been dealing with stiff competition from the likes of Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, and has yet to see a profitable quarter since they went public three years ago. The company's shares have dropped 94 percent over the past year.

"Fairway used to be really unique," said Ken Rosen, head of the bankruptcy and restructuring practice at Lowenstein Sandler. "Now, every supermarket everywhere has gone upscale."