Ahold Delhaize (Stop & Shop) buys King Kullen

[cathandler]

It's all over for the first supermarket chain after an 89-year run
https://www.supermarketnews.com/retail- ... ing-kullen

[storewanderer]

With as boring, uninspired, and high priced as Stop & Shop is, it is hard to imagine King Kullen was any worse. This is clearly a loss. And there appear to be a lot of overlapping stores.

[mjhale]

With as boring, uninspired, and high priced as Stop & Shop is, it is hard to imagine King Kullen was any worse. This is clearly a loss. And there appear to be a lot of overlapping stores.

Any thought as to who might be interested in any overlapping stores? The only big players I can think of are Acme (Albertsons) or ShopRite. Would any of the ethnic grocers be interested especially closer to NYC?

As someone who watched Ahold destroy Giant-MD and turn it into a clone of the boring, already Aholdized Stop and Shop I can only imagine what they might do to King Kullen whether it was a quality operator or not.

[klkla]

Any thought as to who might be interested in any overlapping stores? The only big players I can think of are Acme (Albertsons) or ShopRite. Would any of the ethnic grocers be interested especially closer to NYC?

If the FTC does not require any divestitures I think they would prefer to close overlapping locations instead of selling them to competitors.

[Alpha8472]

I was in New York a few months ago and visited a King Kullen. It looked clean and presentable. The store did look like it had not been remodeled since the 80s.

[mbz321]

With as boring, uninspired, and high priced as Stop & Shop is, it is hard to imagine King Kullen was any worse. This is clearly a loss. And there appear to be a lot of overlapping stores.

Any thought as to who might be interested in any overlapping stores? The only big players I can think of are Acme (Albertsons) or ShopRite. Would any of the ethnic grocers be interested especially closer to NYC?

Acme's acquired stores from A&P in North Jersey and New York have been performing horribly. I don't see them expanding at all in that region, and possibly closing more stores. They are getting killed in their home turf too, but that's another discussion. I wonder if ShopRite would expand its 'The Fresh Grocer' banner to NY.

[pseudo3d]

Despite planning for the acquisition to close in early 2019, it was still pending as of August 2019 (when King Kullen closed a few underperforming stores) with no news since. I wonder what's taking them, if one of the parties is stalling out or if the FTC is talking about divestment.

[Alpha8472]

Ahold announced record sales with Food Lion and Giant Food leading the way. They say the deal to buy King Kullen will go through in the second half of the year. Several King Kullen stores have been closed since the deal was first announced.

[klkla]

The King Kullen deal is not going to happen.

The two chains, along with Stop & Shop parent Ahold Delhaize USA, said Wednesday that they have mutually decided to terminate the deal because of “significant, unforeseen changes in the marketplace,” mainly triggered by the COVID-19 outbreak. The acquisition was announced in early January 2019, after the agreement was signed in the previous month. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

https://www.supermarketnews.com/retail- ... ition-deal

[pseudo3d]

The King Kullen deal is not going to happen.

The two chains, along with Stop & Shop parent Ahold Delhaize USA, said Wednesday that they have mutually decided to terminate the deal because of “significant, unforeseen changes in the marketplace,” mainly triggered by the COVID-19 outbreak. The acquisition was announced in early January 2019, after the agreement was signed in the previous month. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

https://www.supermarketnews.com/retail- ... ition-deal

I knew it! COVID-19 may have done it in, but it was clear they had been stalling for months.