When the deal closes on the sale of Ukrop's Super Markets Inc., the family-owned chain will belong to a Dutch conglomerate with operations in 11 countries and more than 141,000 employees.
But Royal Ahold NV's supermarket experience has not all been positive.
As a holding company, the firm has 6,500 stores.
Its Ahold USA division operates Stop & Shop, Martin's and Giant supermarkets up and down the East Coast and into the Midwest. And Ahold Europe operates in the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the Baltic States.
Buying Ukrop's is part of an expansion plan that Ahold announced in November.
The Ukrop's purchase by Ahold USA's Giant-Carlisle division will be the first since September 2006, Jochem van de Laarschot, Ahold vice president of corporate communications, said by telephone from the Netherlands.
Van de Laarschot said the Ukrop's tradition of customer service and quality fits with Ahold, which traces its roots to a single store opened in Amsterdam in 1887.
The Giant-Carlisle division got its start in Carlisle, Pa., in 1923 when David Javitch opened a small meat market.
He expanded over the years, took on the Giant name and then bought the Martin's supermarket chain in 1970.
Today, the division operates 152 stores, including 26 Martin's locations, nine of which are in Virginia.
"We will make sure to integrate the stores very carefully and make sure the customers will see no disruption," he said.
But restaurant analyst David J. Livingston, who runs DJL Research in Wisconsin, said the retailer has not been successful in past ventures.
"To me, Ahold has just been this incredibly shrinking company," Livingston said. "The only way they can grow in the U.S. is by acquisition, and then they end up selling off stores."
In 2007, the firm sold restaurant distributor U.S. Foodservice.
Two years earlier, the firm sold off its BI-LO and Bruno's chains, which combined had 455 supermarkets in seven states, stretching from North Carolina to Alabama, according to an Ahold news release.
At the time, Ahold said the move was to reduce debt and focus more on Giant-Carlisle and its sister Giant-Landover division, which operates stores in the Washington area.
"Ahold was probably the highest bidder, not the best bidder," Livingston said. "I would just be very concerned about the future of Ukrop's stores based on the history of Ahold's failures."
Contact Emily C. Dooley at (804) 649-6016 or edooley@timesdispatch.com.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement