Seasons, the supermarket chain that declared bankruptcy, relaunching under new ownership

(JTA) — Seasons, the kosher supermarket chain that declared bankruptcy last year, has new owners and is reopening one of its closed locations.

The bankruptcy filing in September was big news because Seasons, founded in New York City’s Queens borough in 2011, had national ambitions. In addition to stores across the city, Seasons had opened a location in Maryland and was on the verge of doing so in Ohio.

But those stores were closed, along with the Seasons supermarkets on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and in suburban Scarsdale, New York. At the time of the bankruptcy filing, Seasons was more than $40 million in debt. Though the debt is still being dealt with, a spokesman told JTA that management is “charging full steam ahead.”

According to a news release sent Thursday, Seasons is under the ownership of the family of businessman Joseph Bistritzky, CEO of the Maramont Corp., a food services company.

The Scarsdale location will be one of six stores to open, but the chain wants to make sure it can succeed in and around New York City, so national ambitions are on hold. The Upper West Side Seasons also will remain closed. In addition to Scarsdale and Queens, Seasons will continue operating stores in two New Jersey locations, Clifton and Lakewood, and two others in Lawrence in the heavily Jewish Five Towns area of suburban Long Island, New York.

“Together, we have years of familiarity with kosher food manufacturing and distribution,” Bistritzky said in the news release. “We have redeveloped the operational side of many businesses, by forming and training managerial teams to have a keen understanding of community relations and family interface.”