Charlotte NC 1988: Kroger/Bi-Lo Swap

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Charlotte NC 1988: Kroger/Bi-Lo Swap

Post by Groceteria »

Hi all...

I know this was discussed on the old board, but I'm bringing it back to life here. In 1988, a strange series of swaps happened between Kroger and Ahold-owned Bi-Lo in Charlotte NC.

What happened, from my memory and miscellaneous research, is that Bi-Lo exited the Charlotte market in April 1988, after a decade or so, selling all its (relatively small and dumpy) stores to Kroger. Kroger rebranded these stores under its own name for several months. It was done rather cheaply, as I remember, and they may even have used some older signs from closed or remodeled stores; I vaguely remember that the converted Bi-Los were given old superstore-type signage from the 1970s.

About six months later, Kroger announced that it was pulling out of Charlotte. All the stores were sold to (you guessed it) the very same Bi-Lo who had left six months before. Also (you guessed it again) the old Bi-Lo stores which had been hastily rebranded by Kroger were closed in the process.

Anyone have any other info about this? I know it was about the time of the 1988 LBO attempt, and I've since learned there were also lots of other swaps going on between Kroger an Bi-Lo in South Carolina at the time.

What it looks like to me is that Kroger seized an opportunity to shut down a competitor early on, and then found itself in need of some cash when the LBO attempt hit later than same year. And Bi-Lo saw a good shot at re-entering Charlotte with stores that didn't suck. But maybe I'm wrong...
parkave231

Post by parkave231 »

Wow....from what I have read before, I had been under the impression that Kroger had been here a while before selling to Bi-Lo...but 6 months definitely isn't long at all! I'd love to hear more on this.

Matt
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Post by Groceteria »

parkave231 wrote:Wow....from what I have read before, I had been under the impression that Kroger had been here a while before selling to Bi-Lo...but 6 months definitely isn't long at all! I'd love to hear more on this.
Actually, Kroger had been in Charlotte for over a decade prior to this "swap". They got the extra stores from Bi-Lo in addition to the ones they already had on their own. That said, though, Kroger's total tenure in Charlotte was still only eleven or twelve years, much less than, say, in the Triad, where they had stores for about fifty years before departing in 1999...
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Post by krogerclerk »

I think you're on target with the sellout to BiLo due to Kroger being cash strapped.Essentially Charlotte was the base of the Carolinas KMA which covered stores in North Carolina, most of South Carolina, and Savannah, GA. South Carolina Kroger stores in Anderson, North Augusta, and Aiken were part of the Atlanta divsion, while M&M in Savannah and southeast Gerogia was a separte subsidiary of Kroger from its 1985 acquisition until being rebannered and consolidated into the Atlanta KMA in the early 90's.
Kroger pulled out of both Charlotte and Charleston, SC and the remaining stores were divided between Altanta getting South Carolina and Savannah and Mid-Atlantic(Roanoke) getting the remaining North Carolina stores.

There was also Kroger's attempt at a CUB-like superwarehouse format in Greenville, SC during the late 80's which also was sold to BiLo. IIRC is was named Welcome. It was located near the Mauldin, SC hq for BiLo, just off I-26. Also, BiLo ended up with the two reletively new Anderson, SC Krogers and Garners Ferry Kroger in Columbia, SC during these store swaps.

In the late 90's, when Ahold acquired Bruno's, Kroger ended up with the Milledgeville, GA BiLo which was in competition with two FoodMax stores and a FoodMax in Hinesville, GA as part of the divestures to satisfy the FTC.

BiLo also ended with Kroger locations in Chattanooga after they acquired the local Red Food chain. Red Food had taken the Kroger locations for the same reason BiLo had ended up with the Charlotte and Charlseton locations.
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Post by danielh_512 »

The 1999 swap mentioned in the Triad region of North Carolina was between Kroger and Harris Teeter. It got both chains an increased foothold on their respective trade areas, and limited the playing field.

Kroger left the Triad region of North Carolina, selling their stores to Harris Teeter, with Harris Teeter selling all their Virginia stores at the time to Kroger. The deal included Harris Teeter's small, dwindling store count in the Roanoke/Blacksburg area. Harris Teeter since re-entered Virginia, with a couple stores in the Tidewater area around Norfolk, 2 stores in Charlottesville, and a few stores in Northern Virginia near Washington.

Kroger re-entered North Carolina as well, but only in the Raleigh/Durham area, where Kroger acquired former Hannaford locations in Richmond, Norfolk in Virginia, and the Raleigh/Durham areas. Hannaford's Charlotte locations went to Harris Teeter. Hannaford was a New England chain that expanded southward in the 1990's which was purchased in 1998 by Delhaize, owner of Food Lion, who kept the stronger name in Virginia and North Carolina alive with FTC concerns (Although with current market conditions with Wal-Mart, it may have been smarter to stay w/the more upscale Hannaford)
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Post by Dave »

danielh_512 wrote:... Hannaford was a New England chain that expanded southward in the 1990's which was purchased in 1998 by Delhaize, owner of Food Lion, who kept the stronger name in Virginia and North Carolina alive with FTC concerns (Although with current market conditions with Wal-Mart, it may have been smarter to stay w/the more upscale Hannaford)
In RIchmond, the word in 1998 was that Delhaize considered keeping the Hannaford stores and find a buyer for their Food Lion locations, in order to compete more effectively with Ukrop's, the locally owned market leader.
H2oSPRT

If I remember correctly...

Post by H2oSPRT »

Bi-Lo became seriously embroiled in Food Stamp fraud in the Charlotte market and was actually forced to close/exit/curtail operations which forged the alliance w/ Kroger. The "real" Charlotte KMA Kroger stores had always been badged "Kroger Sav-On" and the newly aquired Bi-Lo locations were labled "Kroger".
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Post by Groceteria »

I split off the emerging Hannaford/Charlotte discussion into a new topic which is now in "Specific Chains", but fprgpt to leave a shadow link. Sorry...
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Post by Dave »

krogerclerk wrote:...There was also Kroger's attempt at a CUB-like superwarehouse format in Greenville, SC during the late 80's which also was sold to BiLo. IIRC is was named Welcome...
Kroger came to Richmond in June, 1988 with one Welcome store (Pocono Crossing on Midlothian Turnpike) and plans for a second location. From what I can tell, the Richmond store came shortly after the Greenville store. Both the Greenville and Richmond stores were large - around 93,000 square feet.

The Welcome store was closed in September, 1988, ending Kroger's presence in Richmond until the acquisition of the Hannaford locations through the Delhaize acquisition. The Welcome store became a Rack 'N Sack (owned by Farm Fresh) and eventually was acquired by Community Pride, who ended up closing the store some time ago. It became a Burlington COat Facotry after being vacant for quite a while. The land for the second store, never constructed, was sold to Ukrop's who built a store there (Westpark on West Broad Street).

I didn't get a chance to visit the Welcome store often during it's short tenure. The connection with Kroger was played down - some Kroger merchandise, but the idea was that you weren't supposed to notice any Kroger connection (though the connection was well publicized in the newspaper).

Were there any other Welcome stores?
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Post by krogerclerk »

Yes I think Jacksonville, FL and Mobile, AL had Welcome stores as well.
They seemed to be in markets on the periphery of established Kroger markets.
Blair Bradford

Kroger in Charlotte

Post by Blair Bradford »

Hi guyz - Newbie poster here. Love the site!

I grew up in the Charlotte area (Cabarrus County, actually) and recall that when Kroger first came to Charlotte in the 70's that they were called Kroger Sav-On. Is there a connection to the Sav-On chain that's still out West?
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Re: Kroger in Charlotte

Post by Groceteria »

Blair Bradford wrote:I grew up in the Charlotte area (Cabarrus County, actually) and recall that when Kroger first came to Charlotte in the 70's that they were called Kroger Sav-On. Is there a connection to the Sav-On chain that's still out West?
No connection at all, although it's a good (and often-asked) question. I forget exactly how Kroger came to use the Sav-on name. I think it was covered in a thread on the old message board which I neglected to archive.

Anyone?
Peachy

Re: Charlotte NC 1988: Kroger/Bi-Lo Swap

Post by Peachy »

Hi everyone! I'm new to posting here, but I've been lurking for quite some time. I'm glad to (hopefully) have something of merit to add!

I grew up in Anderson, SC and I remember two Kroger stores (I will preface my stories by telling you that I was born in the early 80's, so my memory of Kroger in Anderson is fuzzy at best). One was on Mall Road, across the street from the Anderson Mall. The other was on River Street, near Forrest Junior College. The one on Mall Road was converted to a Bi-Lo, which has been remodeled and is still in use today. I believe that Kroger had the "greenhouse"(?) look to it before Bi-Lo removed all of the windows. Before the Wal*Mart moved to it's current Superstore location at the corner of Brown Road, it was housed in the same shopping center (Electric Avenue and More was there for a bit after Wal*Mart moved). I do believe that the old "IN" and "OUT" signs by the Mall Road entrance are leftovers from the Kroger era.

The Kroger building on River Street sat vacant for a long time. I can not recall another tenant in that space since Kroger left. According to my father, the building was recently purchased by Anderson County and converted to office space (my limited ability to research Anderson County deeds from my desk in Atlanta confirms this). I will have to make a point to take some photos the next time I am in the area. I meant to get over that way before the building was refurbished, but never got around to it.

It amazes me now that I had such a fascination with grocery stores at such a young age. I even remember thinking to myself "what happened to Kroger?" way back then. If any of my "memories" are wrong, please feel free to let me know. If you have more details, I'd love to hear them!

-Peachy :-)
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