Grocery Outlet Acquires 17 Yes! LESS Stores in Texas, Louisiana
Discount Grocer Retains Many Employees at Locations Acquired from Fleming Cos.
BERKELEY, Calif. (PRWEB) July 9, 2003 -
Value retailer with 118 locations in the western United States, has acquired the assets of 17 Yes! LESS discount grocery stores in Texas and Louisiana from Lewisville, Texas-based Fleming Companies Inc. (OTC Pink Sheets: FLMIQ). The move is the largest one-time expansion in Grocery OutletÂ’s 30-year history.
Grocery Outlet, which had over $500 million in revenue in fiscal year 2002, will assume capital leases and begin reopening stores under the Grocery Outlet Bargains Only brand within days, with plans to have all 17 open by late summer.
Shoppers in 15 Texas cities and in Shreveport, La., will be introduced to the bargain-focused stores popular on the West Coast. Grocery Outlet offers great deals to its customers by helping consumer packaged goods companies remarket their product overruns, package changes and overstocks. It sells a wide variety of brand name products including frozen and refrigerated foods, dry groceries, health and beauty care, over-the-counter drugs, and general merchandise.
In Texas, Grocery Outlet stores will open in Arlington, Athens, Dallas, Denison, College Station, Fort Worth (two locations), Garland, Hurst, Killeen, Longview, Mesquite, Pantego, Sherman, Waco, and Wichita Falls. One location in Shreveport is part of the transaction, which included the storesÂ’ equipment and fixtures. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
By reviving the retail operations, Grocery Outlet will maintain many community jobs. The company, following its practice of hiring and retaining workers based in the communities it serves, has rehired nearly all of the former Yes! LESS managers and staff, and is interviewing other employees for positions in the new stores.
“Grocery Outlet fosters a family-oriented, community friendly atmosphere in its stores for both those who shop the store and those who work there,” said James Patitucci, president and CEO of Grocery Outlet. “We believe that shoppers in Texas and Louisiana will enjoy our unique way of merchandising top-quality bargain products, and we know they’ll love the savings.”
The new locations are similar in size and layout to existing Grocery Outlet stores, which enables the company to focus on improving the service, quality and selection in the new territory. Grocery Outlet offers great prices and a wider selection of nationally known food and household items at the former Yes! LESS sites.
As it does at stores in eight western states, Grocery Outlet strives to deliver great bargains every day on popular products at up to 40 percent less than competing supermarkets, discounters or warehouse stores. “The goal of the acquisition is to build on Grocery Outlet’s ‘Bargains Only!’ philosophy to bring the best value in brand name food and household products to consumers in Texas and Louisiana,” Patitucci said.
“Our current customers frequently boast about the bargains they find in our stores. When we open these 17 stores, our new customers will have something to talk about too.”
Privately held, Grocery Outlet has grown in 30 years from one store to 118 outlets today located in Arizona, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Hawaii. In addition to the 17 new stores announced today, Grocery Outlet plans to open a new location in Las Vegas and two in Oregon in the next two months.
The acquisition from Fleming effectively increases Grocery OutletÂ’s distribution by nearly 10 percent, enabling the company to handle even larger deliveries from its suppliers and pass the savings on to its customers. Fleming has said it is exiting the retail business to focus on wholesale distribution.
“We are excited by the opportunity that this acquisition gives us to bring to this market the bargains our customers love to shop for at Grocery Outlets elsewhere,” Patitucci said. “These new stores should help broaden our distribution and increase our buying power, thus enabling us to deliver even better bargains to our customers.”
About Grocery Outlet, Inc.
Grocery Outlet provides more of the total grocery shopping experience consumers expect from supermarkets, while beating even the lowest of the low-price discount grocery competition from mass-market and extreme value retailers. For more information visit www. groceryoutlets. com.
Note to Editors: A media kit, including further background and art, is available for download at www. mbapr. com/goi (http://www. mbapr. com/goi).
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