 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| NYSE: SVU | |
| Industry | Retailing |
| Founded | 1926; 99 years ago (1926), inMinneapolis, Minnesota |
| Defunct | October 22, 2018 (2018-10-22) |
| Fate | Acquired byUnited Natural Foods |
| Successor | United Natural Foods |
| Headquarters | Eden Prairie, Minnesota, U.S. |
Area served | United States |
| Products | Supermarkets, grocery store, pharmacies, food |
| Parent | United Natural Foods |
| Subsidiaries | SuperValu Pharmacies.Cub Foods and Shoppers |
| Website | supervalu |
SuperValu, Inc., was an American wholesaler and retailer of grocery products. The company, formerlyheadquartered in theMinneapolis suburb ofEden Prairie, Minnesota, had been in business since 1926.[1] It is a wholly ownedsubsidiary ofUnited Natural Foods (UNFI).
On July 26, 2018, SuperValu announced that it had agreed to be purchased by Providence, RI-basedUnited Natural Foods Inc., the largest distributor to Whole Foods Market and other natural foods stores. UNFI would pay $1.3 billion in cash and assume another $1.6 billion in SuperValu debt and liabilities. UNFI said it expects the deal to result in roughly $175 million in savings over three years and that it would divest itself of SuperValu's grocery stores.[2]
As of June 8, 2022, the SuperValu brand seems to be discontinued for everything besides some small-scale grocery stores. The distribution facility inHopkins, Minnesota, has been rebranded to UNFI.[citation needed]
In 1870,Hugh G. Harrison provided the money for B.S. Bull and Company, adry goodswholesaler serving Minneapolis. Though B.S. Bull and Company was short lived, itsfounders went on to create a similar company. In 1926, SuperValu's direct ancestor, Winston and Newell Company, was founded from the merger of Winston, Harper and Fisher and the Newell Company, two companies founded by B. S. Bull's backers.
Winston and Newell was acharter member of theIndependent Grocers Alliance in 1928, but left IGA in 1942 in favor of forming a "virtual chain" of independently owned stores that operated under the SuperValu and U-Save banners. However, it still serves as a supplier to many IGA stores. This concept proved to be such a success that in 1952, the company changed its name to SuperValu Inc. The name was modified to SuperValu in 1992.
The company was first listed on theNew York Stock Exchange in 1967.[3]
In 1955, SuperValu acquiredJoannes Brothers Company ofGreen Bay, Wisconsin, a wholesale and retail grocer serving Wisconsin and northern Michigan since 1872. Joannes Brothers became SuperValu's Green Bay Division, moving from its original downtown Green Bay location to a modern facility in the city's suburbs.[4]
In 1963, the company acquired the Food Marketing Corporation of Fort Wayne, Indiana, which traced its roots to the early 1800s, as Bursley & Company. The acquisition of Food Marketing brought SuperValu into the institutionalmarket.[5] George W. McKay, ThePresident of Food Marketing, joined SuperValu as an Executive Vice President and later as president andChief Executive Officer of SuperValu in 1970.[6]
In 1971, thediscount store chainShopKo was acquired by SuperValu, Inc., and wasspun off in 1991 to form a separate,publicly traded company. SuperValu retained a 46% interest in the new company, which Shopko later purchased in 1997. SuperValu founded the clothing storeCounty Seat in 1973 and sold it toCarson Pirie Scott in 1983.
In 1975, SuperValu acquiredHornbacher's.[7]
In 1980, the company acquired Minnesota-based Cub Foods, which operated five stores in theTwin Cities area. As of 2011, Cub is operating more than 73 stores inMinnesota andIllinois.
In the early 1990s, SuperValu started acquiring several chains such asScott's Food & Pharmacy in 1991,Wetterau, Inc. and its holdingsShop 'n Save andSave-A-Lot in 1992, andbigg's in 1994. Scotts & Biggs have been divested. Biggs was sold toRemke Markets andKroger bought Scotts.SuperValu acquiredRichfood Holdings for $1.5 billion, adding a Mid-Atlantic distribution presence and stores includingFarm Fresh Food & Pharmacy,Shoppers Food & Pharmacy, andMetro.
In 2003, SuperValu acquired the former Midwest operations ofFleming Companies fromC&S Wholesale Grocers, including the Sentry Foods and Festival Foods brands.[8]
On January 23, 2006, SuperValu announced that it, along withCVS Corporation and a collection of investors led byCerberus Group, agreed to acquireAlbertsons, Inc. for $9.7 billion. The acquisition was completed on June 2, 2006.
SuperValu acquired over 2150 stores in the deal including:
In 2009, formerWalmartexecutive Craig Herkert took over forJeff Noddle as CEO of SuperValu.[9]
On January 6, 2011, SuperValu announced it would close 20 underperforming stores. On January 11, 2011, SuperValu reported aloss of $202 million for thequarter;revenue also fell 6% to $8.67 billion.Stockprices fell 12percent to $7.52 pershare.[10]
In September 2011, SuperValu announced the sale of all but 27 of its fuel centers to severalconvenience store chains, includingTesoro,Holiday Stationstores,Couche-Tard (which operatesCircle K Stores), and Stinker Stores. The company announced that it was seeking buyers for the remaining fuel centers as well.
In 2012, SuperValu operated 2,505 food and food/drug combination stores, 878 in-storepharmacies, and 117fuel centers and served as primarydistributor to an additional 2,200 stores. SuperValu also supplied a network of independent retailers (often found in smallercities) that sometimes use the SuperValu name. However, these stores were not owned by the company. SuperValu alsofranchised the Cub Foods and Save-A-Lot brands to independent retailers. The company operated on astrategy ofeffective and efficient food distribution, conducting its retail food operations through a total of 2,349 retail food stores that were supplied by 32 distribution centers.[11]
On July 11, 2012, after the close oftrading, SuperValu reportednet sales of $10.6 billion andnet earnings of $41 million for the first quarter offiscal year 2013, compared to net sales of $11.1 billion and net earnings for $74 million for the year-earlier period. Those results sent SuperValu shares down some 45% after the start of trading on July 12, 2012, and hurt performance of other outstanding SuperValu debt, including itshigh yieldbonds and CDS (credit default swap).[12]
On July 30, 2012, Craig Herkert was let go as CEO of SuperValu, replaced withWayne Sales.[13] Sales was CEO ofCanadian Tire from 2000 to 2006.[14][15]
In January 2013, the company announced it was selling theAcme Markets,Shaw's, andJewel-Oscochains and their remaining Albertsons stores toCerberus Capital Management for $100 million incash with Cerberus assuming $3.2 billion in existingdebt.[16] SuperValu would keep itsCub,Farm Fresh,Shoppers Food & Pharmacy andShop ‘n Savebrands as well as itswholesale supply operation while the Acme, Shaw's,Star Market, and Jewel-Osco stores were reunited with Albertsons.[17] The deal closed March 21, 2013.On March 14, 2018 Supervalu announced it would be closing 21 of its 38 Farm Fresh locations, selling 18 to Kroger and 3 to Food Lion.[18]
On January 13, 2013, Sam Duncan, who had retired as CEO ofOfficeMax in 2011, was named CEO of SuperValu.[19][20] Duncan announced his retirement in October 2015.[20]
In July 2016, it was announced that SuperValu had entered into a purchase agreement withAhold andDelhaize Group for 22Food Lion locations inMaryland,Pennsylvania,Virginia andWest Virginia as part of thedivestiture of stores to gain clearance from theFederal Trade Commission for the Ahold/Delhaize merger. The 22 stores were rebranded under the Shop ‘n Save retail banner.[21]
On February 3, 2016, Mark Gross was named CEO of SuperValu, replacing Sam Duncan.[22]
In October 2016, SuperValu announced they were sellingSave-A-Lot toOnex Corporation.[23]
In April 2017, the company announced that it had entered into a $375 millionmerger agreement withUnified Grocers, based inCommerce, California, in which Unified Grocers would become a wholly ownedsubsidiary of SuperValu when the merger is completed.[24] The deal is expected to be finalized in late summer 2017, with the merger process then taking about two years to implement.[24] Later in 2017, SuperValu acquiredAssociated Grocers of Florida.[25]
On July 26, 2018,United Natural Foods agreed to buy Supervalu for $2.9 billion in cash.[26]
On October 22, 2018, UNFI completed the acquisition of Supervalu. Sean Griffin was named the CEO of Supervalu, replacing Mark Gross.[27]
As a supplier to IGA stores for over 80 years, SuperValu necessarily has formed close relationships with thesefamily ownedgrocery businesses, some of which have had relationships with the corporation for over two or threegenerations. But Walmart's newly arrived grocery competition to these stores also affects SuperValu, Inc. In addition, SuperValu is selling its Shop 'n Save stores in thePittsburgh, Pennsylvania market as a result of being unable to compete with Walmart and fast-growing local chainGiant Eagle. Most will be sold to independent owners, and continue to operate under the Shop 'n Save banner. SuperValu will continue to supply all areaFoodLand,Save-A-Lot and the independent Shop 'n Save locations of westernPennsylvania and northernWest Virginia.[citation needed]
SuperValu enjoyseconomies of scale when dealing with the well-known national foodfirms likeKraft Foods,General Mills,Kellogg's, thebeermanufacturers,meat suppliers,produce suppliers anddairy suppliers, as well as the health andbeauty product suppliers, by purchasing inbulk and then distributing the goods byDirect Store Delivery from itsdistribution centers, which are located nationwide.[citation needed]
Theethnic foods market is an emerging sector and remains a challenge for this business, as well as the natural andorganic foods sector, as there are no clear market leaders for the corporation to deal with in these sectors. It remains to be seen whether SuperValu's tradition of dealing with small grocery businesses can be extended to these emerging markets.[citation needed]
SuperValu brands include:
SuperValu also owns two third-partylogistics firms, Advantage Logistics andTotal Logistic Control. In 2005, SuperValu launched a specialtyproduce company, W. Newell & Company which is headquartered inChampaign, Illinois.
At the time of its acquisition by United Natural Foods in 2018, the company operated under multiple retail banners, or chains:
SuperValu had previously operated other chains:
Many of the banners have "private labels".
These are the current active private label brands for SuperValu:
Some of the older inactive private label brands are:
SuperValu received a 100% rating on theCorporate Equality Index released by the Human Rights Campaign starting in 2008.[28]
Cub Foods and its parent company, SuperValu, was the first grocer in Minnesota to be awarded LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold NC2.2 Certification for one of its stores. The Cub store, located in the Phalen neighborhood ofSt. Paul is one of just three grocery stores in the nation to successfully achieve LEED Gold Certification.[29]
Albertsons was the first major retailer to earn a LEED Certification on their remodeled La Habra store.[30] It features water saving faucets, over 40 skylights, "Night" curtains over open cold cases andLED lighting.
In August 2009, SuperValu was recognized by theU.S. Environmental Protection Agency for achieving theiremissions target.[31]
In June 2002, SuperValu announced it would restate previous financial reports due to accounting irregularities uncovered at its pharmacy division. As a result, shares of the company slumped 18 percent. On July 12, 2002, SuperValu lost a lawsuit over the use of improper accounting practices regarding the cost of goods sold for at least the previous four years, and paid a $4,000,000 settlement.[32]
| Chains | |
|---|---|
| Related | |
| Albertsons |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Other | ||
