Save-A-Lot is an American discount supermarket chain headquartered in Earth City, Missouri, near St. Louis, Missouri, United States. The subsidiary of Onex Corporation comprises more than 5,900 stores across 36 states in the United States with over $4 billion in annual sales.
While stores carry most typical grocery products, they feature less variety than conventional supermarkets. A typical Save-A-Lot is 15,000 square feet (1,400 m2) with items displayed in their cardboard shipping boxes.
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History
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. Moran oversaw the expansion of his company from the one Cahokia store to more than 1,000 locations across the country. He was succeeded as President and CEO by Bill Shaner, previously COO of Save-A-Lot. Shaner began his career at Save-A-Lot in 1999 after spending 15 years in the operations division at parent company Supervalu. In May 2011, Bill Shaner was replaced as President and CEO of Save-a-Lot by Walmart veteran Santiago Roces, who most recently served as senior vice president and general manager of Walmart's small format division.
In September 2012, Supervalu announced it would close 22 Save-A-Lot stores in seven states. 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.
In October 2016, SuperValu sold Save-A-Lot to Onex Corporation.
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Expansion
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.
Acquisitions
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.
The next year became the company's biggest in terms of store growth. In 1984, Save-A-Lot purchased 75 similar format Jewel T stores and two distribution centers from Jewel in Florida and Pennsylvania.
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.
Deal$
In 2002, Save-A-Lot acquired discount variety store chain Deal$: Nothing Over a Dollar with 45 stores in the Midwest. The typical Deal$ 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 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.
Four years later, Save-A-Lot sold Deal$ to variety store rival Dollar Tree for $30.5 million plus inventory. Save-A-Lot has reduced the amount of general merchandise in its combination stores and returned them to its grocery-focused model.
Recent expansion
In late 2009, newly hired Supervalu CEO Craig Herkert announced the goal to double the Save-A-Lot store network (to 2,400 locations) within five years. The company would open nearly 100 stores in 2010 with a major focus on the Southeastern United States. Save-A-Lot plans to open a new distribution center in Davidson County, North Carolina, in 2011 that will service a portion of the new and existing stores.
Save-A-Lot also entered into a licensing affiliation with notable Hispanic grocer Rafael Ortega to rebrand six former Save-A-Lots in Houston, Texas, and South Texas as "El Ahorro Save-A-Lot". The new stores feature Save-A-Lot product offerings along with more traditional Hispanic staples.
In late 2010, drug store chain 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. The stores have preserved the pharmacy, but replaced the bulk of its health and beauty general merchandise with Save-A-Lot grocery products including fresh meat, produce, and frozen items.
Save-A-Lot exclusive store brands:
- America's Choice -- premium grocery items
- Kaskey's -- soups
- Coburn Farms -- dairy
- Ginger Evans -- baking products
- Fairgrounds -- deli meats
- J. Higgs -- salty snacks
- Señora Verde -- tortillas and tortilla chips
- Jade Dragon -- Chinese food
- Kurtz -- condiments
- Malone's -- canned meats and beans
- Mantia's -- pasta and Italian
- Morning Delight -- breakfast food
- Nature Trails -- wholesome snacks
- Port Side -- seafood
- Portman's -- salad dressing
- Skillet Masters -- meal mixes
- Save Today -- low-end discount products
- World's Fair -- frozen desserts
- Wylwood -- canned vegetables
Licensed owners
A majority of Save-A-Lot stores are owned and operated by independent licensees. Save-A-Lot supplies much of these stores with its exclusive branded products, but the licensed owners have the freedom to sell other non-Save-A-Lot products at their stores. Some licensees have added services beyond the traditional Save-A-Lot model that includes bakeries, delis, liquor, tobacco, money transfers, and fuel services.
The distribution of licensed stores is spread across the contiguous United States. Most of these stores are located in small rural communities in Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, and Western New York.
After announcing it would double the size of the company in 2009, Save-A-Lot began offering a licensee incentive program to spur growth in its licensed division. Pending financial approvals of each individual applicant, Save-A-Lot offered to provide a minimum of $200,000 in capital assistance per new store. The program began in late 2009 and is in effect through early 2011.
In 2010, Save-A-Lot expanded its presence into the Caribbean with licensed stores in San Nicolas, Aruba and Roseau, Dominica. In 2013, it opened a branch in Champs Fleurs, Trinidad on the Eastern Main Road.
Major licensees include Houchens Industries of Bowling Green, Kentucky; Alliance Foods of Coldwater, Michigan; Saver Group of Campbellsville, Kentucky; and Lofino Food Stores in Beavercreek, Ohio.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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