Luxury Grocer Dean & DeLuca Struggles to Survive as Sales Fall

Dean & DeLuca, the gourmet grocer whose trend-setting New York store introduced Americans to international delicacies more than four decades ago, is struggling to hold on amid stalling sales and a cutthroat competitive landscape.

Some shelves at its flagship store are bare, and suppliers have gone to court over unpaid bills. Other U.S. locations have been shut, leaving Dean & DeLuca with only four company-operated stores in the country, its chief executive said.

A pedestrian walks past the Dean & DeLuca store in Soho.

Photographer: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg

Dean & DeLuca’s pioneering business model helped create a cohort of upscale gourmets, but now those same consumers are being targeted by bigger rivals with deeper ...