Former Waldbaum’s in Mattituck set to reopen today as Key Food ‘Marketplace’

The former Waldbaum’s in Mattituck is scheduled to reopen today under new ownership and with a new name.

The supermarket, which was closed yesterday as workers readied its aisles for the transition,  will reopen as a Key Food Marketplace operated by Dan’s Supreme Supermarkets Inc.,  a member of the Key Food Stores Cooperative. Key Foods purchased 16 stores owned by A&P and its subsidiaries in a bankruptcy sale last month.

The Mattituck location will likely be called the Mattituck Marketplace,  Dan’s operations director Steve Decarlo said yesterday.  Decarlo said a renovation is planned there, but would be undertaken in a manner intended to minimize inconvenience to customers.

Waldbaum’s workers let go
A former Waldbaum’s employee told SoutholdLOCAL yesterday that 14 employees had been let go by the new owner, despite workers having been told initially that they’d keep their jobs after the store changed hands. The store had employed about 40 people when it was sold last month to Key Food for $4.375 million.

Decarlo confirmed some layoffs, but said the “majority” of employees had been retained, though he said he did not know the “exact count”; some employees had been kept on at “less” of a position, he said.

The company is working with the employees’ union to address the situation, Decarlo said. “I’m sure we can come up with a solution to any issues we have,” he said. Rumors that Key Food is a “non-union” operation are not true, Decarlo said.

Waldbaum’s employees in Mattituck were represented by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 342, which also represents employees at many Key Food locations, according to the union’s website. Workers in Mattituck were told Local 342 would continue to represent them after the sale, longtime employee Ryan Anderson told SoutholdLOCAL last month. A union representative could not immediately be reached for comment yesterday.