Save A Lot shifts to wholesale model

Save A Lot is transitioning to a wholesale business model in which the discount grocer plans to sell more than 300 corporate-operated locations to current and new retail partners.

St. Louis-based Save A Lot said Monday that it has sold 51 company-operated stores in the Tampa, Fla., market to independent grocer Fresh Encounter Inc., which will continue to run those locations under the Save A Lot banner. 

Save A Lot is transitioning to a wholesale business model in which the discount grocer plans to sell more than 300 corporate-operated locations to current and new retail partners.

St. Louis-based Save A Lot said Monday that it has sold 51 company-operated stores in the Tampa, Fla., market to independent grocer Fresh Encounter Inc., which will continue to run those locations under the Save A Lot banner. 

“We are excited to expand our partnership with Michael Needler and the Fresh Encounter team, who have been fantastic partners, strong operators and excellent ambassadors of the Save A Lot brand,” Kenneth McGrath, CEO of Save A Lot, said in a statement. “Through the relicensing transactions we are executing across our footprint, we believe that we will be even better-positioned to continue to serve the communities in which we operate. We currently have a dedicated group of retail partners that we support, and we look forward to helping other entrepreneurs own, operate and succeed in their own business.”

Findlay, Ohio-based Fresh Encounter, a current Save A lot licensee, operates supermarkets in Ohio, Kentucky and eastern Indiana under such banners as Great Scot, Community Markets, Germantown Fresh Market, Needler’s Fresh Market, Remke Markets, Sack n’ Save, King Saver and Chief Supermarkets.