Thirty percent increase in floor space
By Michael Turton
The long-awaited expansion of Cold Spring’s Foodtown supermarket is well underway. Noah Katz, co-president of PSK Supermarkets, the store’s parent company, told The Paper he expects renovations to be complete in four to six weeks. Work began two weeks ago. The project will see the former Cold Spring post office converted to become part of the grocery store. According to Katz, the expansion will increase Foodtown’s floor area from 6,500 to 8,500 square feet. He declined to indicate the cost of the project saying only that it represents “a substantial investment.”
Seafood department among new features
The expanded area previously occupied by the post office will include four new grocery aisles, a craft beer area and “a little bit of everything” from the current store, Katz said. The additional floor space and alterations to the existing store layout will facilitate a number of other improvements such as a new, fresh seafood department and expanded deli and bakery. The fruit and vegetable area will increase considerably in size.
“There is going to be a huge focus on local and organic produce,” Katz said of the newly constituted store. “That’s very important to our customers. We give our produce manager complete authority to buy local.”
An area featuring vitamins and dietary supplements will be added near the checkout area — a feature that Katz said is common at other Foodtown stores. The supermarket’s public restrooms have already been upgraded and improvements to the office and customer service area are also in the works. Katz said he also hopes to add decorative graphics to the exterior of the former post office.
Part of a family-run business
Transparent plastic sheeting now separates the existing store from the area under construction. Katz said that during the next four weeks every shelf in the store will be emptied and scrubbed to ensure “perfect cleanliness.” The location of the entrance and exit will remain the same with access to the new area via an opening created in the southeast corner of the store near the current ice cream section.
Katz said that local plumbers and electricians are being used on the project with Brooklyn-based Alco Store Development serving as general contractor.
PSK Supermarkets was established in 1956 by Paul Katz, Noah’s grandfather. Today the company owns 11 Foodtown and Freshtown stores from Brooklyn to the Catskills. Noah’s father Sydney and brother Daniel are also part of the company.
“We also belong to the 80-store Foodtown Cooperative which gives us greater buying power and enables us to keep prices down,” Katz said. “Our stores use an entrepreneurial style of management. Our employees can do whatever it takes to make customers happy. We’re family run — not corporate.”
Foodtown’s Cold Spring branch has 45 employees.
