Brach’s Supermarket quits, making way for KRM

Brach’s Supermarket in Lawrence will close after Pesach and it is expected that the cavernous site will eventually be filled by KRM/Moisha’s, a Brooklyn discount kosher grocer.

Confirmation of Brach’s closing came in a notice filed by Brach’s with the state Department of Labor under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. It said the store at 11 Lawrence Lane would close on May 1 and that 127 employees would be terminated.

The notice cited “economic” as the reason for the “dislocation.”

For months, shoppers have noticed empty shelves and encountered employees who declined comment when asked if the store was going out of business.

“We are … thrilled that the baton is being handed to someone whose culture of offering the kosher consumer the best possible value on the finest goods is not just a marketing tactic, but a mission,” the Brach family said in a statement on Thursday.

Both Brach’s and KRM/Moisha’s, owned by Moisha Binik and Barry Binik, declined to confirm the identity of the new operator which was first reported by TheJewishStar.com.

“In due time they will inform us all what they have in store. Literally,” the Brach family said.

KRM Kollel Supermarket is a massive discount-flavored enterprise at 1325 39th St. in Boro Park. Moisha’s Discount Supermarket, at 315 Ave. M in Midwood, which recently underwent a major expansion and renovation, is a smaller version of KRM.

Last year, Brach’s sold its original store, on Main Street in Kew Gardens Hills, to its across-the-street competitor, Wasserman’s Kosher Supermarket. The Main Street store was opened by Jack Brach, a Holocaust survivor, who transformed his small kosher butcher shop into a path-breaking kosher supermarket before opening the huge Lawrence store in 1997.

The closing comes as Brach’s competitors in the Five Towns and Far Rockaway were mounting major expansions in and beyond the area.