Price Chopper to buy six Tops stores

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. Price Chopper plans to purchase six stores from Tops Friendly Markets, Price Chopper announced Thursday.

The acquisition of six P&C stores, which Price Chopper expects to complete in early April, would give the Schenectady, N.Y.-based  family-owned chain 125 stores in upstate New York and New England. One of the stores is in Lincoln, N.H., while the other five are in the northern New York towns of Canton, Gouverneur, Massena, Potsdam and West Carthage.

Tops purchased the stores as part of its acquisition of the assets of Penn Traffic Co., which declared bankruptcy in November. Tops also plans to close former Penn Traffic stores under the P&C and BiLo banners in Brandford, Vt., Hornell, N.Y., Blairsville, Pa., and Clarion, Pa.

“We look forward to serving the residents of the North Country of New York and in Lincoln, N.H., with our signature offers,” Price Chopper president and CEO Neil Golub said in a statement.

Price Chopper plans to open new stores in Warwick, N.Y., Middletown, Conn., and Shrewsbury, Mass., over the next year while expanding stores in the Vermont towns of Barre and Essex.