Giant Eagle-Backed Discounter Opens

JON SPRINGER

EASTLAKE, Ohio — A dark former Tops supermarket here reopened yesterday under a new limited-assortment banner: Valu King Food Market. The store is owned by Giant Eagle, but is run independently of the Pittsburgh-based retailer, a spokesman told SN.

“Valu King is a completely separate entity, operated with total autonomy,” the spokesman, Erik Yorke, said. “Giant Eagle’s relationship to the store is more akin to an investor.”

The store, approximately 28,000 square feet, offers between 6,000 and 8,000 SKUs, with an emphasis on meal staples and health and beauty items. The store also carries about 1,200 general merchandise items priced at $1 each. The majority of the products are Topco brands under the Valu Time, Food Club, Full Circle, Top Care and World Classic labels. A selection of national brands is featured in advertised “special buys.”

Yorke said there are currently no plans to open additional Value King locations. Valu King is located in a former Tops store that closed when that chain left the Cleveland market two years ago. Its nearest competitor is a Giant Eagle conventional store around four miles away in Willowick, Ohio.

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