Retail Watchers

Are there any Cub stores still using the format adopted by the northwest stores that eventually became WinCo?

I believe that most if not all of the Cub Locations are more of a conventional supermarket compared to 20-25 years ago

bm10k wrote:http://www.startribune.com/supervalu-pl ... 438604343/

Look Like Supervalu is trying to revitalize Cub.it makes me wonder if it too little too late

Probably not. Hy-Vee only entered a few years ago and is rapidly eroding Cub Foods' market share away, but it's not too late to save Cub Foods. More likely, SuperValu wants to invest money in it so it can be sold off to a third party.

http://kfgo.com/news/articles/2018/apr/ ... ible-sale/

Is this the end for SuperValu or what we know of it

bm10k wrote: ↑April 8th, 2018, 12:05 pm http://kfgo.com/news/articles/2018/apr/ ... ible-sale/

Is this the end for SuperValu or what we know of it

Maybe Albertsons will buy them.

rwsandiego wrote: ↑April 8th, 2018, 11:31 pm

bm10k wrote: ↑April 8th, 2018, 12:05 pm http://kfgo.com/news/articles/2018/apr/ ... ible-sale/

Is this the end for SuperValu or what we know of it

Maybe Albertsons will buy them.

I can imagine a scenario where SpartanNash buys SuperValu to concentrate its Midwestern market, possibly selling the "better" Cub Foods stores to Hy-Vee, with maybe selling some brands like Equaline back to Albertsons.

rwsandiego wrote: Maybe Albertsons will buy them.

One of Retail’s most celebrated on-again/off-again relationships.

lola42 wrote: ↑April 11th, 2018, 9:31 pm

rwsandiego wrote: Maybe Albertsons will buy them.

One of Retail’s most celebrated on-again/off-again relationships.

But really, though, I would argue they have more to gain from buying SuperValu than Rite Aid.

- No divestments except for a handful of old Food Lion stores that SuperValu ended up buying and some odd Shoppers Food & Pharmacy stores
- It's already public, so they can just replace SVU on the stock exchange
- Terminates the SuperValu phase-out contract
- Tons of accounts for wholesaling that can be sold off
- They get Equaline back to re-create a stronger drug line
- They can keep Cub Foods in Minneapolis and go head on with Hy-Vee
- No need to do large-scale rebrandings of pharmacies

pseudo3d wrote: ↑April 14th, 2018, 8:07 pm

lola42 wrote: ↑April 11th, 2018, 9:31 pm

rwsandiego wrote: Maybe Albertsons will buy them.

One of Retail’s most celebrated on-again/off-again relationships.

But really, though, I would argue they have more to gain from buying SuperValu than Rite Aid.

- No divestments except for a handful of old Food Lion stores that SuperValu ended up buying and some odd Shoppers Food & Pharmacy stores
- It's already public, so they can just replace SVU on the stock exchange
- Terminates the SuperValu phase-out contract
- Tons of accounts for wholesaling that can be sold off
- They get Equaline back to re-create a stronger drug line
- They can keep Cub Foods in Minneapolis and go head on with Hy-Vee
- No need to do large-scale rebrandings of pharmacies

The issue is the large number of independent customers supplied by Supervalu. In territories (like the west coast) where Albertsons/Safeway is a major competitor, do you think those independent stores would continue to buy wholesale from them? Maybe, but maybe not. Supervalu did have its wholesale operation in OR/WA/MT even while owning Albertsons, but it seemed like Supervalu-supplied independents were always few and far between compared to Unified ones. C&S,. URM, and Associated Food Stores would love a deal like that, they could make great inroads in the Pacific Northwest which does still have a fairly large base of independent stores...

I think Supervalu is trying to get back to wholesale with its transactions on the west coast and in Florida last year. Retail is clearly not their strong point and never really has been.

storewanderer wrote: ↑April 14th, 2018, 11:09 pm

pseudo3d wrote: ↑April 14th, 2018, 8:07 pm

lola42 wrote: ↑April 11th, 2018, 9:31 pm

One of Retail’s most celebrated on-again/off-again relationships.

But really, though, I would argue they have more to gain from buying SuperValu than Rite Aid.

- No divestments except for a handful of old Food Lion stores that SuperValu ended up buying and some odd Shoppers Food & Pharmacy stores
- It's already public, so they can just replace SVU on the stock exchange
- Terminates the SuperValu phase-out contract
- Tons of accounts for wholesaling that can be sold off
- They get Equaline back to re-create a stronger drug line
- They can keep Cub Foods in Minneapolis and go head on with Hy-Vee
- No need to do large-scale rebrandings of pharmacies

The issue is the large number of independent customers supplied by Supervalu. In territories (like the west coast) where Albertsons/Safeway is a major competitor, do you think those independent stores would continue to buy wholesale from them? Maybe, but maybe not. Supervalu did have its wholesale operation in OR/WA/MT even while owning Albertsons, but it seemed like Supervalu-supplied independents were always few and far between compared to Unified ones. C&S,. URM, and Associated Food Stores would love a deal like that, they could make great inroads in the Pacific Northwest which does still have a fairly large base of independent stores...

I think Supervalu is trying to get back to wholesale with its transactions on the west coast and in Florida last year. Retail is clearly not their strong point and never really has been.

Right, the wholesaling accounts are just assets that can be sold off. And yes, the question why they're buying accounts just to sell them off, they could make for great collateral, like trading a bunch of former Unified stores to Associated in exchange for relinquishing some of their associate stores to get a market share in the area, or by using the fact that they're the supplier to independents to take valuable store space where they might want it. The trick would be similar to Rite Aid, drive down the stock so it's cheap but not worthless when it becomes Albertsons stock, then make money off what they can sell.

1. As part of the merger process, SuperValu Inc. forms a subsidiary, SVU Inc., and that merges with Albertsons Companies LLC (or, the former ABS Acquistion LLC). SuperValu Inc. then merges with Albertsons Companies LLC as the surviving entity, and is renamed as Albertsons Companies Inc. (this is common process in reverse mergers, in Rite Aid's situation, Rite Aid Corp. becomes Albertsons Cos. instead).
2. Albertsons reorganizes and puts Cub Foods Inc. under the NAI banner (the "East Coast" stores including Jewel-Osco), and continues running Cub Foods (or just "Cub") as a normal supermarket banner, with some integration into the greater Albertsons system.
3. Albertsons systematically strips SVU of its assets. It takes some brands like Equaline back, and takes back Shoppers Food & Pharmacy, which are eventually converted to Safeway stores, and sells off DCs, accounts, and others, eventually even putting the Eden Prairie headquarters on the market.
4. Now emptied of its assets, SVU merges with NAI with NAI with NAI as the surviving entity.
It seems a bit implausible, especially as trying to melt down those assets while being public is a bit risky, and it doesn't really address the current Wall Street "What about Amazon" questions (despite doing things like Plated and their version of curbside pickup), but I could see it happening.