INDIANAPOLIS — More Marsh grocery stores will close within two months unless the struggling company can find buyers or business partners, the locally based supermarket chain warned in a letter to state officials.
Marsh has identified 16 more stores for closure — including 11 in the Indianapolis metropolitan area — which would eliminate 1,454 full- and part-time jobs. The grocer said that figure was equivalent to 986 full-time jobs.
Greenfield’s Marsh location closed earlier this month; the New Palestine location on U.S. 52 has not been included on a closure list to date.
“The company is currently seeking buyers or business partners that would allow our locations to continue operations and avoid closures,” Marsh said in its letter to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. “If the company is unsuccessful in its efforts, the company will be forced to permanently close the locations identified on the enclosed list and terminate employees at those locations in 60 days from the date of this notice or sooner.”
The owner of Marsh Supermarkets is seeking a buyer for the 44 grocery stores that would remain after a spate of closings already scheduled for this month, a spokesman for the company said Tuesday morning.
Sun Capital Partners has hired Peter J. Solomon Co., a New York City-based investment banking firm, to help the company in its quest to unload the stores.
“They’re actively shopping them,” said Thomas Mulligan, a spokesman for Sun.
Indianapolis-area stores slated to close in 60 days if a buyer isn’t found:
5151 E. 82nd St., Indianapolis
1435 W. 86th St., Indianapolis
227 W. Michigan St., Indianapolis (Axis at Block 400)
6965 W. 38th St., Indianapolis
2350 Broad Ripple Ave., Indianapolis
320 N. New Jersey St., Indianapolis
843 E. Main St., Brownsburg
2140 E. 116th St., Carmel
2904 S. State Road 135, Greenwood
10679 N. Michigan Road, Zionsville
5 Boone Village, Zionsville
Others are in Bloomington, Kokomo and Marion, as well as two in Muncie.
Marsh said in its letter to the state that the company “has experienced a period of unexpected difficulties and increased competition resulting in poor sales performance” and the closings of several stores in recent months.
Greenfield’s location, 1240 N. State St., is one of three stores that closed this month: 2135 N. Post Road in Indianapolis and 11865 Hamilton Ave. in Cincinnati also closed.
Seven more are set to shut their doors Sunday, including three in Indianapolis, at 7481 Shadeland Ave., 6243 E. Washington St., and 5104 N. Franklin Road. Also closing on that date are Marsh stores in the Indiana cities of Frankfort, Logansport and Portland, and in Union City, Ohio.
The company announced Thursday that it would close nine more stores by the end of the month, bringing the total number of stores expected to close in May to 19.
Slated to close May 21:
3633 Kentucky Ave., Indianapolis;
8766 E. 96th St., Fishers;
1960 E. Greyhound Pass, Carmel;
500 South Buffalo Street, Warsaw.
Stores set to close May 27:
5830 W. 86th St., Indianapolis (Traders Point);
17901 River Ave., Noblesville;
2002 Stafford Road, Plainfield;
2940 N. Broadway, Anderson;
1900 S. Hoyt Ave., Muncie.
After the 19 stores close in May, Marsh will operate just 45 stores, down from 120 in 2006, when Florida-based Sun Capital Partners acquired the company.
But the number of Marsh stores in Sun’s portfolio would fall to just 29 if all 16 close that are listed in the letter to the state.
The closings come as Marsh announced April 28 that it had sold its customer prescription accounts to pharmacy giant CVS and would close all in-store pharmacies May 3. The pharmacy closures will prevent Marsh from selling hard liquor.
Marsh operated 37 pharmacies in its 64 stores, according to its website.
