SuperValu, Inc. is an American retailing company. The corporation, headquartered
in the Minneapolis suburb of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, has been in business
for over a century. It is the third-largest food retailing company in
the United States, and ranks #75 on the 2012 Fortune 500 list. Supermarket News
ranked SuperValu #1 in the 2008 "Top Wholesalers for 2008".
On June 2, 2006, Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons, Inc. and 1,124 of its stores
were sold to SuperValu. The sale was approved by the shareholders of both
SuperValu and Albertsons on May 30, 2006. In January 2013, the company
announced it was selling the Acme Markets, Shaw's, and Jewel-Osco chains
and their remaining Albertsons stores to Cerberus Capital Management for $100
million in cash with Cerberus assuming $3.2 billion in existing debt. SuperValu
would keep its Cub, Farm Fresh, Shoppers, Shop ‘n Save and Hornbacher’s
brands as well as its wholesale supply operation while the Acme, Shaw's, Star
Market, and Jewel-Osco stores were reunited with Albertsons. The deal
closed March 21, 2013. History
In 1870, Hugh G. Harrison provided the money for B.S. Bull and Company, a dry
goods wholesaler serving Minneapolis. Though B.S. Bull and Company was short
lived, its founders 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 a charter member
of the Independent 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 has been listed on the New
York Stock Exchange since 1967, and was the first voluntary group to be listed
there. = Acquisitions =
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 institutional market.
George W. McKay, The President of Food Marketing, joined Supervalu as an
Executive Vice President and later as President and Chief Executive Officer of
Supervalu in 1970. In 1971, the discount chain ShopKo was
acquired by Supervalu, Inc., and was spun 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.
In 1975, Supervalu acquired Hornbacher's In 1980, the company acquired
Minnesota-based Cub Foods, which operated five stores in the Twin Cities
area. As of 2011, Cub is operating more than 73 stores in Minnesota and
Illinois. In the early 1990s, SuperValu started
acquiring several chains such as Scott's Food & Pharmacy in 1991, Wetterau, Inc.
and its holdings Shop 'n Save and Save-A-Lot in 1992, and bigg's in 1994.
Scotts & Biggs have been divested. Biggs was sold to Remke Markets and Kroger
bought Scotts. SuperValu acquired Richfood Holdings for $1.5 billion,
adding a Mid-Atlantic distribution presence and stores including Farm Fresh
Food & Pharmacy, Shoppers Food & Pharmacy, and Metro.
On January 23, 2006, SuperValu announced that it, along with CVS Corporation and
a collection of investors led by Cerberus Group, agreed to acquire
Albertsons, Inc. for $9.7 billion. The acquisition was completed on June 2,
2006. SuperValu acquired over 2150 stores in
the deal including: Acme
Acme Express, Jewel Express, and Albertsons Express
Albertsons Bristol Farms
Jewel and Jewel-Osco Lazy Acres Market
Max Foods Osco Pharmacy and Sav-on Pharmacy
Save-A-Lot Shaw's
Star Market = Today =
Today, SuperValu operates 2,505 food and food/drug combination stores, 878
in-store pharmacies, 117 fuel centers and serves as primary distributor to an
additional 2,200 stores. SuperValu also supplies a network of
independent retailers that sometimes use the Supervalu name. However, these
stores are not owned by the company. Supervalu also franchises the Cub Foods
and Save-A-Lot brands to independent retailers.
In 2009, former Walmart executive Craig Herkert took over for Jeff Noddle as CEO
of SuperValu. On January 6, 2011, SuperValu announced
it would close 20 underperforming stores on the East and West coasts as it
attempts to save money by allowing corporate and office employees to take
unpaid time off. The company, despite being profitable, is facing financial
problems due to a weak economy, tight margins, falling revenue and asset
values. On January 11, 2011, SuperValu has reported a loss of $202 million for
the quarter, and revenue also fell 6% to $8.67 billion. Stock prices fell 12
percent to $7.52 per share. The company operates on a strategy of effective and
efficient food distribution. The Company conducts its Retail food operations
through a total of 2,349 retail food stores and are supplied by 23 dedicated
distribution centers and 9 distribution centers.
In September, 2011, SuperValu announced the sale of all but 27 of its fuel
centers to several convenience store chains, including Tesoro, Holiday
StationStores, Couche-Tard, and Stinker Stores. The company announced that it
was seeking buyers for the remaining fuel centers as well.
On July 11, 2012, after the close of trading, SuperValu reported net sales of
$10.6 billion and net earnings of $41 million for the first quarter of fiscal
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 its high yield bonds and CDS.
On July 30, 2012, Craig Herkert was terminated as CEO of SuperValu, replaced
with Wayne Sales. Sales is a former CEO of Canadian Tire.
On January 13, 2013, Sam Duncan, who had retired as CEO of Naperville,Ill-based
Office Max in 2011, was named CEO of SuperValu
Overview As a supplier to IGA stores for over 80
years, SuperValu necessarily has formed close relationships with these
family-owned grocery businesses, some of which have had relationships with the
corporation for over two or three generations. 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 the Pittsburgh market as a
result of being unable to compete with Walmart and fast-growing local chain
Giant Eagle. Most will be sold to independent owners, and continue to
operate under the Shop 'n Save banner. SuperValu will continue to supply all
area FoodLand, Save-A-Lot and the independent Shop 'n Save locations of
western Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia.
SuperValu enjoys economies of scale when dealing with the well-known national
food firms like Kraft Foods, General Mills, Kellogg's, the beer
manufacturers, meat suppliers, produce suppliers and dairy suppliers, as well
as the health and beauty product suppliers, by purchasing in bulk and
then distributing the goods by Direct Store Delivery from its distribution
centers, which are located nationwide. The ethnic foods market is an emerging
sector and remains a challenge for this business, as well as the natural and
organic 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. SuperValu brands include:
"Arctic Shores," "Baby Basics," "Carlita," "Culinary Circle,"
"Equaline," "Essential Everyday," "Farm Fresh," "Farm Stand," "Flavorite,"
"WholeCare Pet," "Homelife," "Java Delight," "Max Velocity," "NutriPlan,"
"Richfood," "Shoppers Value," "Stockman & Dakota," "Stone Ridge Creamery,"
"SuperChill," "SuperCrunch," and "Wild Harvest"
SuperValu also owns two third-party logistics firms, Advantage Logistics and
Total Logistic Control. In 2005, SuperValu launched a specialty produce
company, W. Newell & Company which is headquartered in Champaign, Illinois.
Market share As of 2006, SuperValu has a leading
market share position in several markets where it has operations.
First Philadelphia, PA-NJ +
Minneapolis-St.Paul, MN Fargo, ND
Chicago, IL + Billings, MT+
Nampa/Boise, ID+ Las Vegas, NV+
Orange County, CA+ Second
Norfolk/Virginia Beach, VA Boston, MA-NH-ME +
Spokane, WA+ St. Louis, MO
Riverside-San Bernardino, CA+ San Diego, CA +
Ventura, CA+ Duluth, MN/Superior, WI
Third Pittsburgh, PA+
Seattle-Bellevue-Everett/Tacoma, WA + Washington, D.C./Baltimore, MD
Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA + Chains
The company operates under multiple retail banners, or chains:
Cub Foods 77 locations of which 31 are franchised
Farm Fresh Food & Pharmacy 46 locations Hornbacher's 6 locations
Save-A-Lot 1250 locations of which 860 are franchised
Shop 'n Save 42 locations not to be confused with the Pittsburgh-area Shop
'n Save stores which are no longer owned by Supervalu
Shoppers Food & Pharmacy 56 locations SuperValu Pharmacies 109 pharmacies
Rainbow Foods 4 locations SuperValu is not related to SuperValu.
= Former chains = Acme Markets 117 locations Sold to
Albertsons LLC Albertsons 453 locations Sold to
Albertsons LLC Acme Express, Albertsons Express and
Jewel Express Fuel centers and convenience stores - sold in 2011
bigg's Locations sold to Remke Markets in 2010
Bristol Farms Spun off in 2010 Lazy Acres
Max Foods Locations rebranded Lucky Jewel-Osco 182 locations in IL, eastern
IA, northwestern IN and southeastern WI) Sold to Albertsons LLC
Lucky Stores 5 locations Sold to Albertsons LLC
Osco Pharmacy and Sav-on Pharmacy 722 pharmacies Sold to Albertsons LLC
Scott's Food & Pharmacy Sold to The Kroger Co. in 2007
ShopKo Spun off in 1991, remaining interest sold in 1997
Shaw's and Star Market 169 locations Sold to Albertsons LLC.
Sunflower Market Five locations closed in 2008
Twin Valu Hypermarket concept, closed in 1996
Product labels 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: Hillfarm
Economy Buy Home Best
Essensia Chateau
Quality Plus Elf
Culture = Diversity =
SuperValu received a 100% rating on the Corporate Equality Index released by the
Human Rights Campaign starting in 2008. SuperValu sponsors employee resource
groups globally for black, GLBT, Latino, young, handicapped, and other
minorities. = Environment =
Cub Foods and its parent company, SuperValu, was the first grocer in
Minnesota to be awarded LEED Gold NC2.2 Certification for one of its stores. The
Cub store, located in the Phalen neighborhood of St. Paul is one of just
three grocery stores in the nation to successfully achieve LEED Gold
Certification. Albertsons was the first major retailer
to earn a LEED Certification on their remodeled La Habra store. It features
water saving faucets, over 40 skylights, "Night" curtains over open cold cases
and LED lighting. In August 2009, SuperValu was recognized
by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for achieving their emissions
target. Controversy
In June 2002, SuperValu announced to 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 about employing improper accounting practices regarding the cost
of goods sold for at least the past four years, and paid $4,000,000 for
settlement. Customer Data Security Breaches
SuperValu sent a letter to My CLUB Rewards members on August 25, 2014 who
provided their data and shoppers who used credit cards during the period
between June 22, 2014 through July 17, 2014 at 209 SuperValu stores and
stand-alone liquor stores who may have been affected by a data security breach.
SuperValu posted this information on their website in a press release dated
August 14, 2014. Information on the affected stores and eligibility for
customers on identity protection programs are available on SuperValu's
press release site. See also
Grocer List of supermarket chains in the United
States List of S&P 500 companies
List of companies based in Minneapolis–Saint Paul
George R. Newell House References
External links SuperValu and a SuperValu History
SuperValu store brands SuperValu 2008 Annual Report
Most recent Quarter Results.Oliver, David. "SuperValu Reports Record First
Quarter Fiscal 2009 Earnings". BUSINESS WIRE. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
Supermarket News:SuperValu Profile Craig Herkert Forbes Profile
Cole, Heather. "Family-owned SuperValu survives in battle against superstores
." St. Louis Business Journal. December 1, 2002.