Laurel Grocery Co. Picks Up Carnival Foods Account

LONDON, Ky. -- Laurel Grocery Co. here has singed on to be the primary wholesaler for three-store independent Carnival Foods, which had been a customer of Nash Finch.

The Lancaster, Ohio-based Carnival Foods operates three large-volume stores range in size from 44,000 to 70,000 sq. ft., in Lancaster, Heath, and Circleville, Ohio. Before the change, Carnival had been a customer of Nash Finch, according to the most recent edition of Trade Dimensions’ Marketing Guidebook.

“We chose Laurel Grocery because of their outstanding reputation in the industry of helping independent retailers grow their sales and profits,” said Dan Bay, Carnival Foods’ president and c.e.o. Bay said one of the reasons for choosing Laurel was the wholesaler’s Strategic Marketing Initiative (SMI), which enables independents to be within 5 percent to 10 percent of Wal-Mart’s prices on more than 4,000 items every day. And by including a loyalty card with a kick, shoppers are given individualized coupons for extra savings on the products they buy most. He said he was also impressed by the wholesaler’s “overall ‘Think Retail’ attitude.”

Laurel Grocery Co. has seen steady growing during the last several years, the most recent spate of which has come from retail accounts in northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania.

Laurel Grocery Co. serves over 500 independent retailers in eight states and has been owned by the Chesnut and Griffin families since 1922.

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