PASADENA, Md. -- Two months after putting $5 million worth of real estate holdings on the market, Lucky Convenience Markets has pending deals or offers on each of its seven sites, reported the Annapolis Capital.
Officials for the Pasadena, Md.-based company, which filed for bankruptcy in October after 46 years in business, told the newspaper that the company has signed contracts to sell two of its sites to a former employee and received a letter of intent from an individual offering to buy five properties.
Former maintenance supervisor [image-nocss] Dwight Rust, who worked for Lucky's for nearly 16 years, signed a contract to purchase two storesone in Severn and one in Glen Burniefor $600,000, said the report.
He plans to start his own version of the chain under a company called "Luckies Stores Inc.," the report added. Rust also signed a contract last month to purchase a store in Pasadena for $600,000 from company President Charles Lynch Jr., who owns the property separately from the bankrupt firm. On November 30, Rust signed a lease for the Millersville store from Five Pumphrey's Partnership LLC, which formerly leased the property to Lucky's.
Along with former employees Charles Jones and Stephen Ellison, Rust said he plans to run his chain of stores in a fashion similar to Lucky's, with an emphasis on good deals on lunch meat and excellent customer service. "I'm very excited," he told the paper. "Some of the [former Lucky's] employees will be invited back."
He said he hopes to sign a lease with Chuck Gerber, who bought the Baltimore city store on Fort Avenue from Lucky's in May.
Company Treasurer Charles Lynch III said he was pleased former employees were taking over some of the locations. "They are going to continue in the Lucky's tradition," he told the paper. "Dwight Rust is a Christian. We were a Christian company.... These guys will do the same thing."
Meanwhile, Lucky Convenience Markets was offered a letter of intent last month from an individual who expressed interest in purchasing four stores including two Baltimore County locations, and its warehouse in Baltimore City, company attorney Arthur Rhoads told the Capital. Rhoads declined to name that individual or disclose financial terms of the offer, except to say it was "substantial."
Lynch said the company is considering the offer. Rhoads said the company will reach a decision on whether to accept the offer on the five properties within the next two or three weeks.
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court must approve the sale of any store after it is reviewed by committee of creditors, the report said.
Although bankruptcy court has not approved any sales, the potential deals bring the company one step closer to erasing its $2.3 million in debt, Lynch said. The company already has reduced some of debt because some vendors reclaimed merchandise from company stores, he said.
Whatever cash is left after the company sells off its real estate and repays its creditors will be distributed among employees who owned company stock, Rhoads said.
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