Mrs. Green’s Neighborhood Market announced on Nov. 15 that it would be closing multiple stores in New York and Connecticut to shift focus to five of its “core” Westchester stores as part of a new strategy.
Amid customer complaints of supply shortages in some of its Westchester locations, the Irvington-based company released plans to close its Rye and Tarrytown stores, as well as two locations in western Connecticut and a location in the West Village in Manhattan.
According to David Kiser, a Mrs. Green’s manager, the Rye location will close its doors on Nov. 18 or Nov. 19, depending on how much inventory is left over following a close-out sale which featured 50 percent off on all items.
A spokesperson for the company said that the store’s locations in Tarrytown and Fairfield, Connecticut, launched the same sale, and would also be closed by the end of the week based on the same criteria. The Stamford, Connecticut, and West Village locations were closed immediately.
On Wednesday morning, shoppers perused the almost vacant isles at the Rye store.
“It wasn’t my No. 1 store that I visited frequently, but if I ever need milk or fruit, I would try and stop in as often as I could,” said Colleen Scott, a Rye resident who was sifting through the remainder of the store’s lean merchandise. “It always had nice alternatives, like green home products. It’s definitely sad for the town for sure. I wished it worked out.”
In a released statement, Mrs. Green’s said that it planned to shift attention to its five flagship locations within the county: Eastchester, Yorktown, Briarcliff, Mount Kisco and Larchmont. “While the closure of any location is difficult—especially because our customers and communities have supported us—they are also necessary as we focus on our core, profitable stores,” the company said.
In 2014, the company announced plans to expand from 18 locations to 40 by the end of that year, and planned to have 100 stores open within the next few years. That plan included a store at the Rivertowns Square Shopping Center currently being developed in Dobbs Ferry. Plans for that store have been cancelled.
Also, Mrs. Green’s CEO Pat Brown has resigned as a component of the company’s new direction. John Collins, a spokesman for the company, told the Review that existing management has taken over Brown’s responsibilities while the company conducts an internal and external search for a new CEO.
