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ARMONK, N.Y. A long era in Armonk commerce concluded Tuesday when the A&P supermarket on Main Street closed.
The supermarket, which had been open in Armonk since the 1960s, closed after a failed plan to expand led to a lease signing by CVS, which plans to move into the store later this year.
The closing leaves Armonk without a supermarket temporarily, although the construction of a DeCiccos Family Markets at Armonk Square is in progress.
The closing of the A&P and the opening of DeCiccos Family Markets are related, according to North Castle Town Board member Diane Roth, who said the plan for the new supermarket was hatched after A&Ps attempts to expand werent approved by the Town Board in 2010.
The Planning Board approved A&Ps expansion plans but the town board didnt approve it.
We lost our A&P and had to scramble, so we decided to open a new supermarket in Armonk Square, Roth said. Armonk Square was initially going to be boutique type stores and town houses above it but we turned it into a supermarket instead of an elite shopping center.
Al DelBello, the former New York lieutenant governor who is an attorney at DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Wise & Wiederkehr, White Plains, represents Werber Management, the company that leases out the A&P store.
The Werbers were extremely cooperative with the town, he said. They kept asking them to rebuild the store and the Werbers were agreeable. They suggested we put in additional parking behind the Rec Center but neighbors opposed it and the town changed its mind. We had a parking study done, which said the spaces were never fully used on the busiest day of the year but the town board never granted the waiver so the Werbers were constrained to lease it to CVS.
A few parking spaces may have cost Armonk its A&P. Roth said the hamlet will have two large box stores, the CVS and the supermarket, which will change the character of the town forever.
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