Save A Lot Food Stores Ltd. is an American discount

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more limit ...

chain store A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many p ...

headquartered in St. Ann,

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, in Greater St. Louis. It is a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a ...

Onex Corporation Onex Corporation is an investment manager founded in 1984. The firm manages capital on behalf of Onex shareholders, institutional investors and high net worth clients around the world. As of September 30, 2022, Onex had approximately US$47.2 ...

with about 900 independently owned and operated stores across 32 states in the United States with over $4 billion in annual sales. Stores carry most grocery products, with an assortment of fresh, canned and frozen produce, meat, meal products, household items and everyday groceries. Save A Lot grocery stores sell national brands and private label brands at a discounted price. A typical Save A Lot grocery store is with items displayed in their cardboard shipping boxes.

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. 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 Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In ...

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 Mid-South may refer to: * Mid-South (region), a region of the United States including portions of Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Missouri * East South Central States, a region of the United States * Memphis metropolitan area, Tennessee, U ...

region, and a warehouse in

Jackson, Tennessee Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Tennessee, United States. Located east of Memphis, it is a regional center of trade for West Tennessee. Its total population was 68,205 as of the 2020 United States census. Jackson ...

. In 1984, Save A Lot purchased 75 similar format Jewel T stores and two

distribution center A distribution center for a set of products is a warehouse or other specialized building, often with refrigeration or air conditioning, which is stocked with products ( goods) to be redistributed to retailers, to wholesalers, or directly ...

s from Jewel in Florida and Pennsylvania. 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. 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 Cub is an American supermarket chain. It operates stores in Minnesota and Illinois. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of SuperValu Inc., based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. History Beginnings Cub Foods was founded by Minnesota-based Hooley ...

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 Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...

with the purchase of 21 discount-grocery Sav U Foods stores, and a distribution center from the Fleming Companies in late 1996. In 2002, Save A Lot acquired discount variety store chain

Deals Deals (previously stylized as ''DEAL$'') was an American chain of discount variety stores owned by Dollar Tree. The chain operated more than 221 stores located in shopping centers, malls (until 2015), and urban areas in 19 states throughout the U ...

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 grocery stores to stock more general merchandise in its

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...

s. The company experimented with

hypermarket A hypermarket (sometimes called a hyperstore, supercentre or superstore) is a big-box store combining a supermarket and a department store. The result is an expansive retail facility carrying a wide range of products under one roof, includin ...

s 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. In 2006, Save A Lot sold Deal$ to

Dollar Tree Dollar Tree, Inc. is an American multi-price-point chain of discount variety stores. Headquartered in Chesapeake, Virginia, it is a ''Fortune'' 500 company and operates 15,115 stores throughout the 48 contiguous U.S. states and Canada. Its s ...

for $30.5 million plus inventory. Save A Lot reduced the amount of general merchandise in its combination stores and returned them to its grocery-focused model. In 2009, Save A Lot expanded its presence internationally. In the Caribbean, Save A Lot opened the first three international licensee grocery stores in Aruba, Freeport- Bahamas and Dominica. Expansion continued with secondary locations opening in Aruba and 8 mile Rock-Bahamas. International interest and growth continued with additional stores opening in St. Vincent, Curaçao, Trinidad and Tobago- (Mount Hope and Diego Martin). From the Caribbean, expansion moved to Central America establishing the brand with the opening of two retail sites in Guatemala City. Grenada was the last international licensee scheduled opening. As of 2018, with the change of corporate ownership the overall corporate strategy shifted to focus all efforts on stateside store growth. The international retail licenses were dissolved and existing international accounts were converted to wholesale accounts. The international stores no longer operate under the Save A Lot brand name or Save A Lot Licensee agreement but as independent retailers. In late 2009, newly hired Supervalu CEO Craig Herkert announced the goal to double the Save A Lot grocery 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 also entered into a licensing affiliation with notable Hispanic grocer Rafael Ortega to rebrand six former Save A Lots in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

, and

South Texas South Texas is a region of the U.S. state of Texas that lies roughly south of—and includes—San Antonio. The southern and western boundary is the Rio Grande, and to the east it is the Gulf of Mexico. The population of this region is about 4.96 ...

as "El Ahorro Save A Lot". new stores featured Save A Lot product offerings along with more traditional Hispanic staples. In late 2010, 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. 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. In April 2020, Save A Lot completed a recapitalization of the business with the company's lenders that canceled approximately $500 million in debt and provided a $350 million capital infusion to the company. Today Save A Lot is privately held by a number of institutional investors.

Store brands

Save A Lot has an extensive array of

store brand A private label, also called a private brand or private-label brand, is a brand owned by a company, offered by that company alongside and competing with brands from other businesses. A private-label brand is almost always offered exclusively by th ...

s. Aces - candy & confectionery Allsoft - bath & facial tissue Being Well — health and beauty products Boardwalk - carbonated soft drinks Bramley's - jellies & spreads Cahokia Farms - beef patties Caracara - Caribbean foods Coburn Farms — milk, cheese & dairy Cody's - meat snacks Countryside Station - potato products Crown Creamery - premium ice cream Crystal Falls — purified drinking water Dish'd - meal completers Easton's - Frozen appetizers & meals Farmington — sliced deli & smoked meats Ginger Evans — baking products Glo - cleaning products Good Nature - eggs Grissom's — bread and bakery items Hargis House - canned meats Home Churned - buttery spreads J. Higgs — salty snacks Jade Dragon — Chinese food Kaskey's — soups Kiggins - Cereals & snack bars Kurtz — condiments & sauces Liv - feminine products Mantia's — Italian-inspired pastas, sauces & frozen pizzas Marcum - seasonings Market Selections - deli items McDaniel's — coffee Medeiros - oils & shortening Morning Delight — breakfast foods Newbury Mills - crackers Nutsome — nut-based snacks, nut butters & baking nuts Oliver & Scout - pet food Optim - laundry products Pick 5 - value items Pickwell Farms - frozen, packaged & canned fruits & vegetables Portside — seafood Save Today — discount products Señora Verde — tortillas and tortilla chips Skillet Simple Earth - rice So Cheezy — cheese products State Street Poultry - frozen chicken Summerset - tea Sunny's - cookies & snacks Tío Santi — Mexican food Tipton Grove - bottled juices Triumph - paper products Truli - almond milk World's Fair — frozen desserts Wylwood — canned beans

Licensed owners

In 2020, Save A Lot launched an initiative to convert all company-owned stores to license ownership. Today nearly all Save A Lot locations 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 urban, suburban and rural communities in 32 states in the contiguous United States. Major licensees include Houchens Industries, Fresh Encounter, Yellow Banana, Saver Group, Leevers, and the Janes Group.

References

# ↑ ''Barker, Jacob.
Save-A-Lot wrapping up grocery chain's headquarters move to former Northwest Plaza mall
. stltoday.com. Retrieved 2018-12-09.'' # ''"Dollar Tree to buy Deal$ for $30.5M" (https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2006/02/20/daily28.html). American City Business Journals. February 22, 2006.'' # Sterrett, David (January 30, 2010). "Supervalu Inc. sees local growth potential for Jewel-Osco's discount sibling, Save-A-Lot" (https://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20100130/ISSUE01/100032970/supervalu-inc-sees-local-growth-potential-for-jewel-osco-s-discount-sibling-save-a-lot). Crain Communications. # ''"Save-A-Lot Unveils Partnership for Hispanic Stores" (https://www.supermarketnews.com/latest-news/save-lot-unveils-partnership-hispanic-stores). Supermarket News. July 21, 2010.'' # Zwiebach, Elliot (September 13, 2010). "Save-A-Lot, Rite Aid to Test Co-Branded Stores" (https://www.supermarketnews.com/retail-amp-financial/save-lot-rite-aid-test-co-branded-stores). Supermarket News. # ''"Supervalu announces additional store closures" (http://drugstorenews.com/article/supervalu-announces-additional-store-closures). Drug Store News. September 5, 2012. Retrieved September 10, 2012.'' # ''"Supervalu closing 22 Save-A-Lot stores" (https://www.stltoday.com/business/local/supervalu-closing-save-a-lot-stores/article_344740da-f824-11e1-b9ad-001a4bcf6878.html). St. Louis Post-Dispatch. September 6, 2012. Retrieved September 10, 2012.'' # ''Solomont, E.B. (March 4, 2013).

American City Business Journals.'' # "Supervalu to Sell Save-A-Lot Chain to Onex for $1.37 Billion" (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-17/supervalu-to-sell-save-a-lot-to-onex-for-1-37-billion-in-cash). Bloomberg News. October 17, 2016. # Save A Lot Nets $350M in Recapitalization" (https://www.winsightgrocerybusiness.com/retailers/save-lot-nets-350m-recapitalization). Winsight Grocery Business. April 3, 2020. # "Save A Lot shifts to wholesale model" (https://www.supermarketnews.com/retail-financial/save-lot-shifts-wholesale-model). Supermarket News. December 28, 2020. # https://ownasavealot.com/licensing-opportunities/ {{Supermarkets of the United States Onex Corporation American companies established in 1977 Retail companies established in 1977 Companies based in St. Louis County, Missouri Supermarkets of the United States Discount stores of the United States 1992 mergers and acquisitions 2016 mergers and acquisitions