Supervalu Consolidates HQ

Aiming to streamline administrative operations and save some money, Supervalu Inc. is consolidating 2,400 of its corporate employees into two Minneapolis-area buildings while closing two others.

Supervalu will close a 155,000-square-foot office in Chanhassen, used for marketing and IT staff, and a 30,000-square-foot office in Eden Prairie used by the grocer’s design group, the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal reported. Supervalu has two years remaining on the lease of the Chanhassen building; the company plans to sublease the space, the Journal reported.

All employees will be relocated into Supervalu’s two remaining Eden Prairie offices – its headquarters building, a leased property known as the East View Innovation Center, and a company-owned office building that until recently had been the company’s headquarters.

“The changes are being made to help us modernize our workplace, while bringing employees together in a better aligned space that will improve communication and collaboration,” Supervalu spokesman Mike Siemienas told the Journal, noting that the moves also should save the company money.

Supervalu is apparently looking for all possible means to trim costs. The grocer recently reported third quarter fiscal 2011 retail food net sales of $6.6 billion, compared to $7.1 billion last year, a decrease of 7.7 percent. The company is offering all its corporate employees unpaid time off between now and Feb. 26, an offer extended to all Supervalu-owned supermarket chains, including Jewel-Osco, Save-a-Lot, Acme, Cub Foods and Albertson’s. And Supervalu has closed or soon will be closing about 20 underperforming stores in New England, Philadelphia and the West Coast, including those part of its Shaw’s and Acme chains.

Supervalu was one of several grocers in recent weeks announcing multiple store closings in response to increased competition from other regional and national chains.