Martin's Food Markets will hire as many as 150 employees as it increases hours and adds a day to the operations of the 25 stores it bought from Ukrop's.
The Carlisle, Pa.-based grocery chain is in the process of hiring cashiers, courtesy clerks and others to work at the stores, regional Vice President Jim Scanlon said yesterday.
Today, the chain also will announce a new pricing strategy that he said will save shoppers an average of 5 percent on a typical shopping trip when compared with what they would have spent at Ukrop's.
Martin's, a division of Dutch supermarket conglomerate Royal Ahold NV, began converting Ukrop's stores to its nameplate Saturday. The 25 stores the company bought for $140 million in February will be renovated at a clip of four at a time during the next six weeks. Five stores will be redone one of the weeks.
The first group of four stores open as Martin's on Monday morning. When the former Ukrop's locations become Martin's, the stores will operate from 6 a.m. to midnight except for four unnamed locations that will open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Most Ukrop's stores now open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
While Martin's nine other Virginia stores are open 24 hours, Scanlon said the market here wouldn't sustain that schedule. "Richmond, in general, is not a 24-hour market."
To staff the stores properly, Martin's need the additional employees, he said. The chain initially thought the company would hire about 50 workers but decided it needs as many as 150.
Martin's would not say how much the jobs will pay. Potential applicants will be able to apply at stores.
The changes to the company's pricing strategy are permanent and range across multiple categories, Scanlon said.
"Martin's has a tradition of being a low-price leader and offering the most competitive prices to our customers," he said.
Ukrop's held the No. 1 spot in local market share from 1986 until last year, when its market share slipped, according to Food World, an industry publication covering the grocery industry in the mid-Atlantic.
North Carolina-based Food Lion LLC, which took over the top spot from Ukrop's last year, began an aggressive price restructuring at all of its stores nationwide in February.
Food Lion had 19.34 percent market share among retailers selling groceries for the 12 months that ended March 31, 2009. Ukrop's was second with a 17.58 percent share. Wal-Mart commanded 12.14 percent, while Kroger had 11.38 percent.
Jeffrey W. Metzger, publisher of Food World, has said he expects Kroger to react quickly to changes in competitors' pricing.
As part of the new strategy, Martin's also will double manufacturers' coupons every day, Scanlon said. Ukrop's offers double coupons only one day a week.
Scanlon also said Martin's plans to increase the number of products it carries at stores, including significantly expanding the assortment of produce and adding beer and wine.
The chain will replace the private-label brands carried at Ukrop's, including Food Club and Joe's Market, with its Giant, Nature's Promise and Simply Enjoy brands.
During the transition, Martin's will donate the Ukrop's private-label merchandise, as well as some perishables, currently in stores to the Central Virginia Foodbank. The grocer said it gave 12,000 pounds of food to the food bank from the first batch of four stores that closed Saturday.
Contact Louis Llovio at (804) 649-6348 or LLLovio@timesdispatch.com.
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