Manor Ink learned several months ago that a sale of the four Peck’s Markets, Sullivan County’s employee-owned local grocery stores, was imminent. The sale was favored by the stores’ associates, but management asked that the paper refrain from printing the story until the sale had been finalized.

In mid-August, it was announced that the sale was under contract, and the buyer was another employee-owned grocery store chain based in New York called PSK Supermarkets. PSK operates 14 stores in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania under the name Foodtown, Freshtown and Pathmark, and the company has promised that every Peck’s associate will retain their job, with no change in pay or benefits. The four Peck’s stores will also retain the name Peck’s Markets.

“We are thrilled to be part of this. It’s going to be very exciting for everyone. Our theme for the transition is to keep everything going,” said Noah Katz, president of PSK. “Everything that the associates are doing, every vendor and everything the stores are doing for the community.”

The original Peck’s Market was opened in Narrowsburg in the 1970s, and a decade later became employee-owned. Additional stores were opened in Callicoon, Jeffersonville, Eldred and Livingston Manor in following years, but the Narrowsburg location was sold in 2014 and is now Pete’s Market.

PSK Supermarkets opened its first grocery store in New York City in the 1950s. The company became entirely employee-owned in 2020.

The sale is expected to be completed later this month, and customers should see no change in Peck’s Markets’ usual services and product and produce offerings. Becoming part of a larger company, however, may offer the stores an advantage in competitive pricing due to an increased ability to buy in greater volume and thus at a discount. The savings could then be passed on to consumers.