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ASSOCIATED 'OPEN TO OPPORTUNITIES'

SALT LAKE CITY (FNS) - Associated Food Stores will be "open to any opportunities that may arise" in the wake of Albertsons' recent breakup, Rich Parkinson, president and chief executive officer, AFS, told SN at the co-op wholesaler's recent annual meeting here.Albertsons operated stores across a broad swath of AFS' territory. Most of the Albertsons stores in Utah, Nevada and Idaho were acquired by

SALT LAKE CITY (FNS) - Associated Food Stores will be "open to any opportunities that may arise" in the wake of Albertsons' recent breakup, Rich Parkinson, president and chief executive officer, AFS, told SN at the co-op wholesaler's recent annual meeting here.

Albertsons operated stores across a broad swath of AFS' territory. Most of the Albertsons stores in Utah, Nevada and Idaho were acquired by Supervalu, Minneapolis, while stores in Colorado were acquired by a group of investors led by Cerberus Capital Management, New York. Many of the Cerberus stores have already been put up for sale.

In an address to members at the meeting, Parkinson said independent retailers can exploit market opportunities by combining their inherent strengths - flexibility, market know-how and hometown involvement - with Associated's procurement, financial and retail execution support. During the past year, Associated retailers have seen further "proliferation of mass marketers, as well as the dissolution of a great chain," he said.

Wholesaler/retailer solidarity in the face of increasing competition, especially along the Salt Lake City/Wasatch Front metropolitan area in northern Utah, will help the co-op's sales to keep pace with the 3%-4% projected rate of annual companywide growth, Parkinson told SN. This past fiscal year's consolidated sales increase was 3%.

"As independent retailers, we cannot miss opportunities and must take a proactive role in capitalizing on the resources available to each of us," urged Lee Badger, who recently began his second, two-year term as chairman of AFS and is president of Lee's Markets in Logan and Smithfield, Utah.

Consolidated sales for the year that ended March 26, 2006, totaled $1.44 billion at AFS, up from the previous year's $1.39 billion. Retained earnings, which derive primarily from corporate stores, totaled $66.4 million, up 18% from the year prior. Patronage allocation to members was $28.6 million, up 3.2%.