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Save A Lot

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Save A Lot Food Stores Ltd.
Company typePrivate
IndustryDiscount Grocery Retail
Founded1977; 47 years ago (1977), Cahokia, Illinois
FounderBill Moran
HeadquartersSt. Ann, Missouri
Number of locations
900
Key people
Leon Berman (CEO) Mark Hutchens (Chief Finance & Transformation Officer) Karen Procell (Chief Legal & Administrative Officer) Tim Schroder (Chief Sales & Marketing Officer John Hird (Chief Supply Chain Officer) Jennifer Hopper (Chief Information & Digital Officer) Mark Lacey (SVP of Human Resources)
ProductsBakery, dairy, deli, frozen foods, general grocery, meat, produce, snacks, seafood, liquor
OwnerSupervalu (1994–2016)
Onex Corporation (2016–2020)
Websitesavealot.com
Footprint map of Save-A-Lot locations, as of February 2021
Save A Lot store in Murphy, North Carolina, in April 2023
Save A Lot store in Oxon Hill, Maryland, in July 2008
Save A Lot store with the old logo in Streetsboro, Ohio, in June 2003. This has since been remodeled with the current logo. This location closed in 2021.
Logo used until 2018
Former Shaw's store rebranded as a Save A Lot in Waterbury, Connecticut, in February 2011

Save A Lot Food Stores Ltd. is an American discount supermarket chain store headquartered in St. Ann, Missouri, in Greater St. Louis.[1] It has about 900 independently owned and operated stores across 32 states in the United States with over $4 billion in annual sales.

Stores carry most grocery products, with an assortment of fresh, canned and frozen produce, meat, meal products, household items and everyday groceries. Save A Lot grocery stores sell national brands and private label brands at a discounted price. A typical Save A Lot grocery store is 15,000 square feet (1,400 m2) with items displayed in their cardboard shipping boxes.

History

[edit]

Save A Lot was founded in 1977 by Bill Moran as an alternative to larger supermarkets. He opened the first Save A Lot store in Cahokia, Illinois, and remained with the company until his retirement in 2006.

In 1978, General Grocer Company expanded the company's presence in the greater St. Louis area. Eventually, the store network grew to 30 stores by the end of the decade. At the root of company's growth strategy is its licensee relationship, in which Save A Lot acts as a wholesaler to its independent store owners as opposed to a franchisor. Smaller, independent grocery retailers soon found the limited assortment model to be an effective defensive strategy against the larger chain supermarkets. With help from new licensees, in 1980 alone Save A Lot added 50 stores in the Mid-South region, and a warehouse in Jackson, Tennessee.

In 1984, Save A Lot purchased 75 similar format Jewel T stores and two distribution centers from Jewel in Florida and Pennsylvania. In 1987, Save A Lot was purchased by St. Louis-based food retailer and wholesaler Wetterau Inc, then owner of former sister stores Shop 'n Save.

Acquisition by SuperValu, 1994-2016

[edit]

In 1994, both the Save A Lot and Shop 'n Save banners became wholly owned subsidiaries of Supervalu Inc, one of the largest independent grocery wholesalers, and the owners of Cub Foods and Scott's Food & Pharmacy at the time. The acquisition opened up Save A Lot's licensee opportunities to conventional Supervalu-supplied operators, including Niemann Foods.

Save A Lot expanded into Southern California with the purchase of 21 discount-grocery Sav U Foods stores, and a distribution center from the Fleming Companies in late 1996.

In 2002, Save A Lot acquired discount variety store chain Deals with 45 stores in the Midwest. The typical Deal$ store had a slightly smaller footprint than Save A Lot and carried mostly non-food merchandise at dollar-increment price points. The Deal$ concept was expanded under Save A Lot to 138 stores by 2006. The acquisition also allowed Save A Lot grocery stores to stock more general merchandise in its grocery stores. The company experimented with hypermarkets which combined the discount grocery and merchandise concepts under one roof. This eventually led to 480 combination stores that did not carry the Deal$ banner. In 2006, Save A Lot sold Deal$ to Dollar Tree for $30.5 million plus inventory.[2] Save A Lot reduced the amount of general merchandise in its combination stores and returned them to its grocery-focused model.

In 2009, Save A Lot expanded its presence internationally. In the Caribbean, Save A Lot opened the first three international licensee grocery stores in Aruba, Freeport- Bahamas and Dominica. Expansion continued with secondary locations opening in Aruba and 8 mile Rock-Bahamas. International interest and growth continued with additional stores opening in St. Vincent, Curaçao, Trinidad and Tobago- (Mount Hope and Diego Martin). From the Caribbean, expansion moved to Central America establishing the brand with the opening of two retail sites in Guatemala City. Grenada was the last international licensee scheduled opening. As of 2018, with the change of corporate ownership the overall corporate strategy shifted to focus all efforts on stateside store growth. The international retail licenses were dissolved and existing international accounts were converted to wholesale accounts. The international stores no longer operate under the Save A Lot brand name or Save A Lot Licensee agreement but as independent retailers.

In late 2009, newly hired Supervalu CEO Craig Herkert announced the goal to double the Save A Lot grocery store network to 2,400 locations within five years.[3] The company opened nearly 100 stores in 2010 with a major focus on the Southeastern United States.

Save A Lot entered into a licensing affiliation with Hispanic grocer Rafael Ortega to rebrand six former Save A Lots in Houston, Texas, and South Texas as "El Ahorro Save A Lot".[4] new stores featured Save A Lot product offerings along with more traditional Hispanic staples.

In late 2010, Rite Aid became a licensed Save A Lot operator when it converted 10 of its existing pharmacies in the Greenville, South Carolina, area to co-branded "Save A Lot/Rite Aid" units.[5]

In September 2012, Supervalu announced it would close 22 Save A Lot stores in seven states.[6][7] Several executive changes were made by Supervalu on March 4, 2013, including replacing Save-A-Lot CEO Roces with Ritchie Casteel. This came in the midst of plans by Supervalu to sell a number of its other grocery chains to Cerberus Capital Management.[8]

Sale to Onex Corporation, 2016-2020

[edit]

In October 2016, SuperValu sold Save A Lot to Onex Corporation.[9] In April 2020, Save A Lot completed a recapitalization of the business with the company's lenders that canceled approximately $500 million in debt and provided a $350 million capital infusion to the company.[10] Save A Lot is now privately held by institutional investors.

Transition to wholesale model, 2020-2023

[edit]

In early 2020, Save-a-Lot began a financial restructuring towards a wholesale model in order to reduce its debt load. It's sought to no longer operate its locations and instead license them off to independent retailers.[11]

List of deals, 2020–2023
operator date stores
Fresh Encounter Dec 2020 51 stores in the Tampa, FL area[11]
Yellow Banana (127 Wall Holdings) Sep 2021 32 stores in Ohio, Illinois and Wisconsin[11]
Ascend Grocery Dec 2021 33 stores in the greater Orlando, FL area[11]
Ascend Grocery Oct 2023 4 stores in Jacksonville
Leevers Supermarket Dec 2023 18 stores in the St. Louis area

In August 2023, Save-a-Lot revealed that the remaining 18 stores that it operated directly were to be acquired by Leevers Supermarkets. Leevers is an employee-owned company that also operate Leevers Locavore, El Mercado De Colorado, and had already been operating 29 Save-a-Lots.[12][13] As of February 2024, Leevers Supermarkets operated a total of 52 Save-a-Lots (14 in Colorado, 20 in the mid-Atlantic, and 18 in the greater St Louis area).[14]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Barker, Jacob. "Save-A-Lot wrapping up grocery chain's headquarters move to former Northwest Plaza mall". stltoday.com. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  2. ^ "Dollar Tree to buy Deal$ for $30.5M". American City Business Journals. February 22, 2006.
  3. ^ "Supervalu Inc. sees local growth potential for Jewel-Osco's discount sibling, Save-A-Lot". Crain Communications. January 30, 2010.
  4. ^ "Save-A-Lot Unveils Partnership for Hispanic Stores". Supermarket News. July 21, 2010. Retrieved September 10, 2012.
  5. ^ "Save-A-Lot, Rite Aid to Test Co-Branded Stores". Supermarket News. Supermarket News. September 13, 2010. Retrieved September 10, 2012.
  6. ^ "Supervalu announces additional store closures". Drug Store News. September 5, 2012.
  7. ^ "Supervalu closing 22 Save-A-Lot stores". September 6, 2012.
  8. ^ "Supervalu shakes up leadership of Save-A-Lot, Shop 'N Save". bizjournals. March 4, 2013.
  9. ^ "Supervalu to Sell Save-A-Lot Chain to Onex for $1.37 Billion". Bloomberg News. October 17, 2016.
  10. ^ "Save A Lot Nets $350M in Recapitalization". April 3, 2020.
  11. ^ a b c d Sam Silverstein (2022-01-22). "Save A Lot sells 33 locations as it continues shift to local ownership". Retrieved 2024-02-06.
  12. ^ "Save A Lot Acquired by Leevers Supermarkets". Specialty Food Association. 2023-08-08. Retrieved 2024-02-05.
  13. ^ "Save A Lot Sells Remaining Corporate Stores, Completes Transition to 100% Licensed Wholesaler". Business Wire. 2023-08-07. Retrieved 2024-02-06.
  14. ^ "Leevers Supermarkets". Retrieved 2024-02-05.
  1. ↑ Barker, Jacob. "Save-A-Lot wrapping up grocery chain's headquarters move to former Northwest Plaza mall". stltoday.com. Retrieved 2018-12-09.
  2. "Dollar Tree to buy Deal$ for $30.5M" . American City Business Journals. February 22, 2006.
  3. Sterrett, David (January 30, 2010). "Supervalu Inc. sees local growth potential for Jewel-Osco's discount sibling, Save-A-Lot". Crain Communications.
  4. "Save-A-Lot Unveils Partnership for Hispanic Stores". Supermarket News. July 21, 2010.
  5. Zwiebach, Elliot (September 13, 2010). "Save-A-Lot, Rite Aid to Test Co-Branded Stores". Supermarket News.
  6. "Supervalu announces additional store closures" (Archived 2012-09-08 at the Wayback Machine). Drug Store News. September 5, 2012. Retrieved September 10, 2012.
  7. "Supervalu closing 22 Save-A-Lot stores". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. September 6, 2012. Retrieved September 10, 2012.
  8. Solomont, E.B. (March 4, 2013). "Supervalu shakes up leadership of Save-A-Lot, Shop 'N Save" . American City Business Journals.
  9. "Supervalu to Sell Save-A-Lot Chain to Onex for $1.37 Billion". Bloomberg News. October 17, 2016.
  10. Save A Lot Nets $350M in Recapitalization". Winsight Grocery Business. April 3, 2020.
  11. "Save A Lot shifts to wholesale model". Supermarket News. December 28, 2020.
  12. Obtaining a Grocery Store License | Save a Lot
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