Food Emporium Closes.  The Food Emporium at 325 Mamaroneck Ave, where we shopped for the last five years, closed yesterday.

For years, it was the only supermarket in downtown White Plains. It opened in 1967 as a Daitch Shopwell, became a Food Emporium in 1986, and expanded several years ago by taking over a MailBoxes, Etc. storefront. But the expansion, and the midrise condominium going up across the street, were not enough to keep the store from closing, its lease sold to CVS.

In an industry where profit margins are slim -- 2-3% bottom line is typical -- it doesn't take much to make a supermarket unprofitable. Two things doomed the White Plains outlet: space and people. The space problem was paramount. Food Emporium, A&P's upscale cousin, caters to a clientele expecting big, bright, clean stores offering a variety of gourmet products. The former Daitch Shopwell was too small by half.

But the problem of too few square feet can sometimes be overcome by motivated personnel. Unfortunately, that's a rarety in White Plains. The middle-income housewives, retirees, and students who staff stores in suburbia are almost non-existent in White Plains, which gets its clerks by bus from lower-income Bronx and Yonkers neighborhoods. It isn't a Food Emporium problem, it's a city-wide problem requiring management to recruit and train with energy and care. Now how likely is that?