Penn Traffic

Penn Traffic

The Penn Traffic Company was founded in 1854 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania as a food service company for stagecoaches. It eventually became a general-merchandise department store but by the early 1960s had also returned to the food business through the acquisition of Super Value Corporation, operator of the 10-store Riverside supermarket chain. In 1982, the company sold its department stores and concentrated solely on the food and supermarket business. Decades later, a series of financial troubles led to Penn Traffic's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in November 2009 and sale of assets to Tops Markets in early 2010.

At the time of sale, Penn Traffic was the parent company for 79 retail supermarkets in the Northeastern United States, concentrating mostly in Central New York. Its headquarters were in Syracuse, New York. Penn Traffic formerly had operated supermarkets in Pennsylvania, Vermont and New Hampshire under the Insalaco's, Bi-Lo/Riverside, P&C and Quality trade names. The company had also operated a wholesale food distribution business (purchased in 2008 by C&S Wholesale Grocers) serving approximately 121 independent operators.