Roundy's Supermarkets (also known as Roundy's) is an American

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

operator. It owns and operates stores under the names of Pick 'n Save, Metro Market, and Mariano's Fresh Market. The chain is a

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

Kroger The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States. Founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cinc ...

. Roundy's operates 149

s and 107 pharmacies throughout the states of

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. Based on fiscal year 2012 sales, Roundy's was the 37th largest grocery store chain and the 89th largest

retailer Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesal ...

in the United States. As of December 2015, Roundy's became a subsidiary of Kroger of

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

. Roundy's is known historically as a wholesale supplier to independent retailers. It operates food production facilities in

Kenosha Kenosha () is a city in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is the fourth-most populous city in Wisconsin, with a population of 99,986 at the 2020 census. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, Ke ...

and other locations and has two main distribution centers in Mazomanie and

Oconomowoc, Wisconsin Oconomowoc ( ) is a city in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States. The name was derived from Coo-no-mo-wauk, the Potawatomi language, Potawatomi term for 'waterfall'. The population was 18,203 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. T ...

. The company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on February 8, 2012, and ceased trading on December 18, 2015, when it became a subsidiary of Kroger.

History

The company was founded in 1872 in Milwaukee as Smith, Roundy & Co. by William E. Smith, Judson Roundy and Sidney Hauxhurst. In 1942, the company purchased Clark & Host coffee roasting company from Charles Clark. Roundy's was a major warehouse distributor to non-company supermarkets, including

IGA IGA or IgA may refer to: Businesses and organizations * IGA (supermarkets) (initially Independent Grocers Alliance), a name used by many independent supermarkets throughout the world ** IGA (Australian supermarket group), the local Australian v ...

, but it moved out of the wholesale market to focus on retail. Roundy's was taken private in 2002 through purchase by the Chicago private-equity firm

Willis Stein & Partners Willis Stein & Partners was a private equity firm focused on leveraged buyout transactions for middle-market companies. The firm was wound down in 2012. The firm's most notable investments included Ziff Davis, Roundy's, Jays Foods, Lincoln Sna ...

. Roundy's took the company public via an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

(IPO) in 2012, posting an initial share price of $8.50 per share. Beginning in 2002, the CEO of the corporation was Robert "Chairman Bob" Mariano, who had been the CEO of

Dominick's Dominick's was a Chicago-area grocery store chain and subsidiary of Safeway Inc. Dominick's distribution center was located in Northlake, Illinois, while its management offices were located in Oak Brook, Illinois. History Founding Dominick DiM ...

prior to Dominick's sale to

Safeway Safeway, Inc. is an American supermarket chain. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, delicatessen, floral and pharmacy, as well as Starbucks coffee shops, and veh ...

in 1998. On December 2, 2013, Roundy's and Mariano announced it would purchase 11 Dominick's stores to rebrand them as Mariano's, after Safeway finished closing the chain early in 2014. On November 11, 2015, Roundy's announced its sale to Kroger, a deal valued at $800 million including debt, which was completed on December 18, 2015. Following completion of the sale, Roundy's retained its headquarters in Milwaukee. It was suggested that Kroger primarily was interested in the Mariano's division, which allowed Kroger to enter the Chicago market for the first time. Underlining this, Kroger normally doesn’t acquire chains in financial difficulty; the Roundy's divisions in Wisconsin had been, and continue to be, in decline. The sale of Roundy's to Cincinnati-based Kroger, about two years after Safeway shut down its Chicago-based

supermarket chain, selling many of the stores to other operators, was a matter discussed in the regional business press. CEO Bob Mariano retired on September 1, 2016.

Banners and brands

Roundy's includes three front-facing brands and one former brand while Roundy's is used mainly as a

private label 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 ...

brand. * Pick 'n Save stores are warehouse food store concept in 1975, but over time with the decline of former competitor

Kohl's Food Stores Kohl’s Food Stores was a Milwaukee-area grocery store chain and subsidiary of The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company. Kohl’s Food Stores distribution center was located in Waukesha, while its management offices were located in Milwaukee, ...

under its A&P ownership and major changes to

Piggly Wiggly Piggly Wiggly is an American supermarket chain operating in the American Southern and Midwestern regions run by Piggly Wiggly, LLC, an affiliate of C&S Wholesale Grocers. Its first outlet opened in 1916 in Memphis, Tennessee, and is notable ...

, now operates as a traditional supermarket chain. * Metro Market, a smaller-store concept, launched in 2004, prevalent in the

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

and Madison markets, mainly competing with Sendik's,

Trader Joe's Trader Joe's is an American grocery store chain headquartered in Monrovia, California, with 597 locations across the US. The first Trader Joe's store was opened in 1967 by founder Joe Coulombe in Pasadena, California. In 1979, the chain was s ...

and

Whole Foods Market Whole Foods Market, Inc. (colloquially referred to as simply Whole Foods) is an American multinational supermarket chain store, chain headquartered in Austin, Texas, which sells products free from Hydrogenated fat, hydrogenated fats and artificia ...

. * Mariano's Fresh Market, the same concept as Metro Market in the Chicago market; named for former Roundy's CEO "Chairman" Bob Mariano. Mariano's was launched in 2010. * Copps Food Centers was acquired by Roundy's in 2001. Several attempts were made to convert those stores to the Pick 'n Save name under Roundy's ownership, which were generally unsuccessful and scattered due to customer sentiment against the rebranding. Kroger finally completed the rebranding of Copps locations to Pick 'n Save in 2017.

References

External links

* {{Kroger Companies based in Milwaukee Kroger Retail companies established in 1872 1872 establishments in Wisconsin Supermarkets of the United States 2015 mergers and acquisitions

History

Banners and brands

References

Further reading

External links