A very familiar name to grocery store shoppers in New Castle County a generation ago may be making a comeback in Wilmington.
The new owners of the Pathmark brand are in discussions with the future owner of the Adams Four Shopping Center in Wilmington to bring a modified version of the store into a city lacking many supermarkets.
Chicago TREND entered into an agreement to purchase Adams Four, which is expected to finalize in January 2027.
The group currently owns 7 shopping centers worth $44 million, including two in the Baltimore area, with the intention to double that number over the next year, according to their website.
Under TREND's "social enterprise" model, community members and small impact investors are invited to invest in the property.
"It creates the incentive for community members to invest in the property as low as $1,000 and have some real equity in the success of this shopping center, and get some return on their investment," Wilmington Economic Director Sean Park said.
When the Great Valu Markets closed its West Center City location, it wiped out Wilmington's only downtown full-service supermarket.
Wilmington had committed up to $500,000 from the Strategic Fund to help anchor investment in the 4th Street area, as Adams Four currently has less than 50% of its storefronts leased, since the closing of Great Valu.
Currently, Wilmington's only two supermarkets are the Acme in Trolley Square, and the ShopRite at Christina Landing, otherwise, residents have to leave the city limits to go to locations like the Food Lion in Edgemoor.
Pathmark's intellectual rights were sold from A&P after bankruptcy by Allegiance Retail Services, which owns other brand names including Shop n Bag, Foodtown, and Brooklyn Harvest.
Allegiance opened their first Pathmark branded store in Brooklyn in 2019, and a smaller concept store called "Pathmark Daily" in East Meadow on Long Island in May.
At its peak, Pathmark had over 140 stores in the Mid-Atlantic, including Delaware locations in Newark, Glasgow, Kirkwood Highway, Lancaster Pike, and the Concord Mall.
Adams Four has had recent trouble in keeping businesses, including an empty drugstore space that was a Rite Aid in the past.
Wilmington has currently committed about $1.1 million to try to help locally owned business set up shop in the city, as they try to boost a city that has struggled to attract many national brands to open locations within the city limits.