Kroger lays out plans for 11 former Marsh grocery stores
Kroger said it will first focus on reopening seven of the stores, spending $20 million on renovations.
Kroger said it will first focus on reopening seven of the stores, spending $20 million on renovations.
Plans are taking shape to revamp dilapidated and underdeveloped properties in the Maple Crossing area, north of 38th at Illinois and Meridian streets.
The store was one of 18 of 44 remaining Marsh groceries that wasn’t acquired last month to either Kroger or Fresh Encounter, as part of Marsh Supermarket’s bankruptcy process.
Rather than featuring long, tall aisles like traditional groceries, the new-format stores featured a courtyard in the center with a dozen “boutiques” around the perimeter, each selling a certain category of goods.
The biggest U.S. supermarket chain lost more than $7 billion in market value combined on Thursday and Friday, the biggest two-day loss for the company since December 1999.
A lawsuit alleging Kroger stores in Indiana have for years knowingly failed to collect and remit state sales tax on hundreds of non-exempt food items and other goods will be heard in state court after a judge denied the grocers’ bid to transfer the suit to federal court.
Investors worry that Amazon, which has wreaked havoc on department stores and other brick-and-mortar retailers, will do the same thing with groceries.
Amazon.com Inc. plans to buy Whole Foods Market Inc. in the biggest transaction ever for the e-commerce giant as it pushes deeper into groceries.
Aldi is doubling the amount of space it devotes to fresh produce; carrying fresh fish to complement its beef, steak and chicken offerings; expanding its wine selection and adding more shelves in its frozen food section.
Sales to liquidate inventory at the 18 stores that weren’t sold at auction to other grocers this week could last until early July, said a Marsh spokesman.
Under the agreement, prospective store buyers Kroger and Fresh Encounter would be able to operate pharmacies at the locations much sooner than rival CVS expected.
CVS wants to prevent buyers from operating pharmacies. Lockerbie Marketplace's owners say Fresh Encounter has failed to demonstrate it has the financial wherewithal to "fully perform" under the Marsh lease it wants to take over in that shopping center.
For decades, Marsh Supermarkets has had a lock on the downtown grocery market. Proposed store sales disclosed Tuesday, combined with the impending opening of Whole Foods, set the stage for three-way showdown.
The 26 stores that the Kroger and Fresh Encounter chains have agreed to acquire span Indiana, as well as four cities in Ohio. Here’s the whole list.
The Fishers-based company would not provide details on the offers, which it is evaluating with creditors. The fate of its 44 remaining stores likely will be determined next week.
Fishers-based Marsh Supermarkets has received offers for at least some of its remaining 44 stores “from numerous bidders,” the company said Wednesday evening, less than two hours after the bid deadline set by bankruptcy court.
The deadline was Monday for the company to identify a so-called stalking horse bidder, which would make an initial offer for the grocer's assets that any other suitor would have to beat. Bidders for the business still could emerge, but time is running out.
The plan, approved by a bankruptcy judge, allows 10 employees to collectively receive up to $1.1 million in bonuses if certain conditions of a sale are met.
Sun Capital Partners has relinquished controlling ownership of Marsh Supermarkets to a limited liability company that plans to sell the assets of remaining stores at auction a month from now, bankruptcy papers show.