Buehler Food Markets Inc.’s Delaware location is under contract with a potential buyer but nothing is final, according to its city economic development director.
“It’s just in contract. There is no information on usage, etc. right now. We have not been given plans and it has not closed,” said Sean Hughes, city economic development director, in an email.
A company typically has 30 to 90 days for due diligence, he said, and the building, 800 W. Central Ave., was in contract before but the potential buyer backed out.
“So just being in contract is not a guarantee the building will sell,” Hughes said.
Wooster-based E&H Family Group closed the Delaware grocery store in mid-February because the store was considered to be under-performing, according to prior Gazette reports. The store, which opened in 1969 and moved to its Central Avenue location in 1986, employed 131 employees.
Buehler’s was founded in 1929 by former A&P employee E.L. (Ed) Buehler and his wife, Helen, in New Philadelphia.
“The painful decision to close came after a year of deliberating Buehler’s entire portfolio of stores,” the company stated at the time. “Buehler’s tried a number of initiatives over the last few years at Delaware, but were at a disadvantage with only one store in a heavily over-stored Delaware market.”
On the other hand, E&H Family Group’s Delaware ACE Hardware, adjacent to Buehler, remains open as one of the company’s top-performing stores.
With Buehler’s grocery store gone, the nearest one for the northwest side of Delaware is Kroger on Houk Road.
