So who’s buying 166 grocery stores?
A: C&S Wholesale Grocers
https://www.cswg.com/services/private-label-brands/
Best Yet
That’s Smart!
Piggly Wiggly - Never been in one, but I’ve at least heard of it.
IGA - This one I know, rare to see in the wild here.
TopCare
Simply Done
Full Circle
Culinary Tours
Crav’n Flavor
Paws Premium
Pure Harmony
Tippy ToesC&S is just a fulfillment warehouse and not buying anything. They handle the logistics and provide stock behind the scenes. What you’re seeing in what you linked is just them handling the “Store brands” for that particular chain.
Whomever the owners of the new chains are will have a choice of which warehouse they choice to do business with as there are a few larger players, but that depends on the region.
I worked IT for grocery for years and have had to deal with C&S as a middleman numerous times.
Then why would they be buying 166 grocery stores from Albertson’s and Kroger?
I’d bet they’re just parking the stores temporarily only to buy them back later after the deal happens. But then I’m a cynic.
one of the primary arguments against the original sales package was that C&S does not have meaningful operational experience
Your guess is as good as mine, but the section I quoted may indicate they might be trying to break more into front-end operations.
They have extraordinarily robust market channels set up already and have their hands in the vast majority of the grocery industry for grocers that aren’t large enough to have their own vertically integrated warehousing like Walmart, Kroger, etc.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they negotiate regional buyouts to their existing clients or just sell off the assets. I hope they don’t become a brick and mortar store because honestly that would just be another industry monopoly coming into the forefront.
I hope they get denied, because they can rebuy those stores again.
Ma Bell came back with a vengeance after it was split
