April 12--The three remaining Joe Caputo Sons stores will be sold at auction in May, the latest and perhaps final blow for the financially troubled grocery chain.
Property, inventory and fixtures at Caputo Sons stores in Algonquin, Palatine and Des Plaines will be auctioned at 10 a.m. May 12 at the Hyatt Regency Rosemont, according to Emily Dretzka, a research associate for Paine Wetzel TCN Worldwide, a Chicago-based commercial real estate firm that's been retained along with Murray Wise Associates to manage the auction.
Caputo Sons -- which has no business affiliation to Angelo Caputo's Fresh Markets or Caputo Cheese Market -- finds itself in this situation about two months after a federal judge froze its assets because of a $3.6 million debt owed to produce wholesaler Anthony Marano Co.
In February, U.S. District Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan ordered Caputo Sons to turn over a full accounting of the company's liabilities and assets to Marano's attorney if the debt wasn't paid within seven days. He also gave Marano the power to manage the "continued operation and/or liquidation" of Caputo Sons stores until the debt was paid in full.
"Our goal is to maximize the value of these assets with minimal disruption to the ongoing store operations. A public auction will make it possible to achieve the highest value possible for the creditors in a timely way," Robert Marcus, Marano's attorney and now court-appointed trustee overseeing the auction process, said in a statement Monday. "This path forward will provide the greatest opportunity for these locations to continue to serve their neighborhoods."
In February, Caputo Sons closed its Elk Grove Village store, which followed the shutdown of stores last year in Northbrook and Arlington Heights.
A spokeswoman at Caputo Sons headquarters, who declined to give her name, said Monday the three stores in Algonquin, Palatine and Des Plaines will remain open leading up to the auction, and the company hopes to remain in business thereafter. Beyond that, she declined to comment.
