Fleming to Stop Shipments to Kmart

CHICAGO-Fleming Cos., said it will cease making shipments to the bankrupt retailer on March 8 and will lay out its financial forecast shortly thereafter.
The nation's largest grocery story distributor, which announced earlier this week that shipments to the discounter would end March 7 or March 8, said in a press release Thursday that Kmart asked the company to halt the shipments on March 8.

Fleming, which derived more than 20% of its $15.5 billion in sales last year from the Kmart pact, said it is beginning to whittle down inventory in its distribution network that relates to the Kmart contract.

"We are finalizing our action plan for necessary adjustments to our distribution network and support structure, which will allow us to maintain an efficient supply network for the nearly 50,000 retail locations served by the company across the nation," Fleming Chairman and Chief Executive Mark Hansen said in the statement.

"We look forward to moving ahead with our business strategy."