Ukrop's sale signals another loss for Richmond area

Another Richmond retailing institution is coming to an end. The Ukrop's grocery chain will fade away.

"I hope it doesn't change the way it's been," said Helen McIver, 70, who was shopping yesterday afternoon at a Ukrop's on Brook Road store in Henrico County. "If they lose their personal touch, I think they might lose their customers."

Word spread quickly to employees and shoppers yesterday that Ukrop's Super Markets Inc. is being sold to the U.S. division of the Dutch company Royal Ahold NV.

Managers were told of the deal at a 2 p.m. meeting yesterday. They, in turn, returned to their stores to tell workers and to show a video by the Ukrop brothers.

"I was upset," said Kai Kareng, 41, a sushi chef at the Brook Run Ukrop's who is a contractor and not a regular employee.

"I like Ukrop's a lot. We have holidays off. The customers are very, very nice."

David Urban, a professor of marketing and interim business school dean at Virginia Commonwealth University, said the Ukrop's deal continues a trend for the area.

"The departure of the Ukrop's brand is yet another milestone in an increasing homogenization of the Richmond retail market," Urban said. "The market is becoming defined less and less by homegrown retailers that made it big."

He cited said Thalhimers department store chain, catalog showroom retailer Best Products, consumer electronics giant Circuit City and home furnishings retailer Heilig-Myers as an example of homegrown companies that have disappeared.

Urban said the Ukrop's sale would be more significant to shoppers.

"The difference is that people who have shopped at Ukrop's for many years have stronger loyalty to the chain," he said. "People shop for groceries a lot more frequently. They get to know the employees in the store. They memorize the store layout so they can organize their shopping lists by aisle in the store. For many people, losing Ukrop's will be like losing an old friend."

While Ukrop's will keep its name for now, Ahold executives said that eventually will change.

But losing the grocer means more than just a name change.

"This is a bittersweet time for all of Richmond," said Nancy Thomas, president and CEO of the Retail Merchants Association. "I hope over the next few weeks people reflect on what Ukrop's meant to the area.

Thomas said she remembers the first time she went to a Ukrop's store in the late 1970s. She had just moved to Richmond to attend VCU.

"I didn't want the guy to take my groceries out," she said last night. "I didn't understand that. And then, he wouldn't take a tip."

She said that much of what differentiated Ukrop's was its customer service.

Many shoppers around the area said yesterday that they shopped at Ukrop's because of the customer service.

"I'll continue if they don't basically change the way they operate -- their customer service, taking your groceries out to the car, their courteous clerks, the foods that they carry, the prepared foods, the bakery. That's why I shop at Ukrop's," said Shirley Boyer, who was at the chain's store on Midlothian Turnpike across from Chesterfield Towne Center in Chesterfield County.

The new owners believe they can deliver the same level of service to customers.

"We hope it's perceived as good news in Richmond," Jochem van de Laarschot, Ahold's vice president of corporate communications, said yesterday afternoon from the Netherlands. "We're absolutely optimistic that we can meet the expectations of customers in Richmond and Virginia."

Some around the area worried that the sale could interfere with how much the company gives.

From 1990 to 2007, Ukrop's contributed more than $30 million through annual campaigns, capital gifts, sponsorships, donations and product discounts to nonprofit organizations.

"There's always that fear that the new company won't do as much," said Kim Scheeler, president and CEO of the Greater Richmond Chamber. "I guess we'll have to keep our eyes and ears open and encourage them to be involved. I'm going to be anxious to meet them."

Robert S. "Bobby" Ukrop, the grocery chain's chairman, president and CEO, said he and his family would remain active in the area.

"We're not going anywhere; we're still going to be involved," he said.

Gregory H. Wingfield, president and CEO of the Greater Richmond Partnership, said last night that there was one positive to the family selling the grocery chain.

"I think what's intriguing is that we'll have another international company represented here which has the possibility of growing its footprint here," he said.

But for many shoppers, including himself, the changing of the guard at Ukrop's will take some getting used to.

"I think we're going to see the public mourning the loss of the name because it has become so ingrained in the Richmond area."

Contact Louis Llovio at (804) 649-6348 or LLLovio@timesdispatch.com.

Staff writers Mark Bowes, Emily C. Dooley and Chris Young contributed to this report.