EXCLUSIVE: How Save A Lot Is Learning a Lot by Becoming a Wholesaler
It’s been a busy month already for Save A Lot, which sold off its last owned locations in the St. Louis area in early August to Leevers Supermarkets, Inc. The company also announced new ownership for nine stores across Nashville, Memphis, and Oklahoma, now helmed by independent operator Richard Gunn.
As Save A Lot completes the transition away from corporate ownership, the chain is focusing on its goals as a licensed wholesaler. Progressive Grocer recently talked with CEO Leon Bergmann to see what’s in store for the organization and its strategies going forward under the new model.
Progressive Grocer: What are some key learnings you have taken away during the transition process? Are there any that surprised you?
Leon Bergmann: One of the things that was obvious and great to confirm is the strength of our retail partners and what great merchants and entrepreneurs they are. I’ve been to quite a few stores in the last 18 months – there is no substitute for being in the stores – and have seen it across all of our trade areas. We have a great format and a great core, but our retail partners are the ones that build around our edges to create local relevance and bring it to life. It’s fulfilling to go into a store and sense a vibe that customers appreciate what we have to offer and look at this as adding something to their life.
PG: I think a good example of that is the recently-opened Save A Lot in Englewood neighborhood of Chicago, owned and operated by Yellow Banana in a longtime food desert. They work with several local suppliers.
LB: That is a great example. They took over a space that isn’t a typical Save A Lot space, because it had a lot of prepared food stations. What better way to give back to the community than to have local vendors on those areas?
PG: How does the transition to becoming a licensed wholesaler ultimately help provide value to consumers who are really seeking it right now?
LB: It’s a great partnership between Save A Lot as an entity, giving people what they need to run a great store. Our portfolio of private label brands, for example, is an excellent quality national brand equivalent or better and it’s a great way for shoppers to easily save money while also feeling good about what they feed their families. I have been in different trade areas where I literally have people coming up to me and thanking me for what we are doing for the community – if that doesn’t give you goosebumps, I don’t know what does.
PG: Is it fitting in a way that the last owned stores went to Leevers, which is a longtime partner of yours?
LB: We’ve had a good level of interest in those stores. It’s always great when you can do business with a known partner, and Leevers is a great organization with the capacity for growth.
PG: Isn’t that in your own backyard, too, near the Save A Lot headquarters?
LB: I live roughly 10 minutes from the office and my home store is in Overland – it’s a great store and I get the vast majority of what I need there.
PG: Do you find you’re cooking more at home in recent years, like many people have done since the pandemic?
LB: Absolutely!
PG: Save A Lot recently shared that it will team up with its retail partners to test innovations – can you share an example of such an innovation and how this model benefits all stakeholders?
LB: One of the things we’ve done is roll out a new POS retail back office system. We have involved our retail partners in every step in that process, taking them through the discovery phase, getting their input and making decisions on what platform we chose. When we began rolling it out, we picked some retail partners in relatively close proximity to St. Louis and they were the first pilot stores for the transition.
If there is a store I own, I can tell them I need them to do something and they’ll do it. A retail partner will push back a bit more than a store that is owned, so we learn more. It’s great when we can learn together and support each other.
