Save A Lot Sells 51 Retail Locations To Fresh Encounter

Discount supermarket retailer Save A Lot unveiled the sale of 51 retail locations run by the company in the Tampa, Florida market to existing Save A Lot Retail Partner licensee Fresh Encounter. The latter company will keep running the retail locations with the Save A Lot name, according to a Monday (Dec. 28) press release.

“The Fresh Encounter family of companies has a culture that prioritizes being positive, appreciative and resilient and we are eager to onboard the new Florida associates,” Fresh Encounter, Inc. President and CEO Michael Needler, Jr. said in the press release.

The sale of the Tampa retail locations to Fresh Encounter is part of a continuing re-licensing initiative. Save A Lot plans to move to a wholesale model through that effort by selling over 300 stores run by the company to new and current retail partners that will keep running the stores with the Save A Lot name.

Save A Lot has executed seven sale transactions made up of 82 retail locations, with the inclusion of locations being sold to Fresh Encounter. The firm anticipates finishing its re-licensing effort next year “as multiple sale transactions near completion” per the release.

“Through the re-licensing transactions we are executing across our footprint, we believe that we will be even better positioned to continue to serve the communities in which we operate,” Save A Lot CEO Kenneth McGrath said in the release.

Save A Lot is among the biggest off-price grocery store chains in the country with more than 1,000 company and licensed stores in 33 states in addition to 14 wholesale distribution hubs.

Even though the digital shift brought on by COVID-19 has quickly transformed the entire retail industry, its impact on the grocery vertical has been particularly pronounced. According to a new Omnichannel Grocery Report, 17.2 percent of all consumers have changed over from in-store to eCommerce shopping.