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Byline: Associated Press Associated Press Staff report Associated Press Associated Press Associated Press

Supermarket wholesaler Peter J. Schmitt Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors, citing the recession and tough competition in the grocery business.

The company, the nation's 13th-largest food wholesaler, made the filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del.

Schmitt President D. Clark Ogle said in a prepared statement that the company's financial problems made Chapter 11 filing "the only course of action open to it."

The move came a day after Schmitt closed two warehouses in Youngstown and North Jackson, Ohio, eliminating 540 jobs. Those warehouses were part of Schmitt's Tri-State Division, which has been losing money for …