The replacement of a local grocery store with a larger chain may offer Syracuse residents and Syracuse University students a new choice when deciding where to get their groceries.

P&C Foods, a supermarket chain based in Syracuse and owned by the Penn Traffic Company, officially opened its doors to consumers on Dec. 14. Penn Traffic bought out the bankrupt Peter’s Groceries store near South Campus on Dec. 10, ending another era of independent grocery stores and disappointing many longtime patrons of the store.

Customers and employees alike have already begun to notice the changes that have occurred since Peter’s became P&C.

‘The store is overall cleaner,’ said Natalie Peterman, a Syracuse resident and current employee at the new P&C. ‘The quality and quantity (of the merchandise) will be better.’

Penn Traffic now owns and operates 22 supermarkets in the Syracuse area.

Though Tanya Shenandoah, a resident of southern Syracuse, holds a positive opinion of the takeover, there will also be some things about Peter’s that she will miss.

‘I’ve noticed a lot of changes,’ she said. ‘I miss the paper brown bags with the handles.’

Other former Peter’s customers are not as confident as Shenandoah about P&C’s ability to adequately replace Peter’s.

‘It’s going to be more nationalized,’ said Dan George, a junior engineer major and patron of the former Peter’s store, whose father also worked there 30 years ago. ‘Service and prices will be the same, but there won’t be that homey atmosphere anymore.’

Peter’s, a local, family-run chain that had been in business since 1944, declared bankruptcy on Feb. 3, 2003, and has since then been forced to close all of its stores in the area. Many of Peter’s 200 former employees, however, now work for P&C.

‘My brother worked at Peter’s,’ Peterman said. Though she was not an employee when Peter’s was in business, she was a frequent shopper there.

‘I feel bad for the people who owned Peter’s,’ she said. ‘But from what I hear, they’re still doing pretty well.’

Peter’s once consisted of five separate stores in the Syracuse area, founded by John Peter and operated by his son, Joseph. At the time of its bankruptcy, Peter ran two stores in Syracuse.

Shenandoah is looking forward to the competition the new P&C store will offer to other large grocery stores in the area.

‘It’s good to have a competition with Wegmans,’ she said. ‘It seemed Peter’s was struggling. I’m glad that some of the staff are the same.’

Published on January 18, 2005 at 12:00 pm