Struggling Foodland chain losing presence in Western Pennsylvania

Foodland's "close to home" advertising slogan applies to fewer shoppers these days, because many stores have closed or switched to Shop 'N Save and other brands.

The chain had about 68 supermarkets in Western Pennsylvania and parts of nearby states in its heyday, but soon, there will be just 20. A Foodland in West Mifflin converted to a Shop 'N Save on Thursday, and a Mt. Washington store will take the same step this week in what industry experts say is a move to build strength in numbers, as they face stiff competition.

"Either you move to Shop 'N Save and move forward, or you stay a Foodland" and don't, said Barb Algeri, whose father, Dan Ritter, owns the West Mifflin store on Buttermilk Hollow Road.

In recent years, "Many stores have switched, and they're doing quite well" with increased sales, said Algeri, the store manager.

Foodland and Shop 'N Save stores are independently owned, and both sell groceries supplied by food wholesaler Supervalu Inc. The struggling Minnesota-based food company cut back on staff and operations after losing $1.04 billion last year on lower sales of $36.1 billion. It operates Albertsons and Jewel-Osco chains in western states.

Shop 'N Save officials contacted Foodland owners in late January, asking them to consider joining forces, Algeri said.

She said she was told that Bottom Dollar Food, which opened 14 discount supermarkets in the region early this year, "took a chunk" out of several stores' sales, and that Wal-mart is expected to bring its new, smaller-store concept with groceries to the region within five years.

"That is really scary. A lot of our customers don't like to go to big stores," she said.

Shop 'N Save has a more advanced marketing effort than Foodland, more products and lower prices, Algeri said. Shop 'N Save representatives told the Foodland owners their group of stores was down to 76 locations, from 100, and that building up the Shop 'N Save brand would strengthen buying power for all the stores, and cut each owners' costs for advertising and other shared expenses, she said.

Bill Lipsky, Supervalu's director of merchandising, said the independent retailers decide on their own whether to change banners, and that Shop 'N Save isn't recruiting the Foodland owners.

Bob Christopher, who handles merchandising out of Supervalu's New Stanton offices and warehouse, said more Foodlands could convert to Shop 'N Saves in coming years, "to the point, somewhere in the future, that there may not be any Foodland stores left.

"As more competitors move into the region, it becomes more difficult for the independent store owners to survive, unless they are part of a larger group."

Some are determined to stick with Foodland.

"We had an option to become a Shop 'N Save but decided to remain a Foodland," said Gary Muska, who owns the Mars store with his father-in-law, Ray Power. The store opened in 1973 and has been a Super Dollar, A&P and IGA.

"We've had great success as a Foodland store." Muska said. "We like the logo that says 'close to home,' which we find our customers also like. That's why they shop here." Muska said he's grooming his son, Kevin, a store manager, to take over the business someday.

Traditional, independent grocers are "kind of betwixt and between" as they face new competitors, said John Stanton, professor of food marketing at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia.

Acme supermarkets, another Supervalu brand, has been losing business in Philadelphia, he said.

"They are all kind of stuck in the middle," Stanton said. "They're not as cheap as Bottom Dollar Food. They don't have as many products as Wal-mart, and they don't have the variety (of unique, specialty items) of a Wegman's." In Western Pennsylvania, Giant Eagle provides more product choices, he said.

Foodland's group of owners is less formal than Shop 'N Save's, but Supervalu drafts an advertising circular each week and invites the owners to a Thursday meeting in New Stanton to discuss it. Owners' suggestions are added, and Supervalu sends out the final version to be printed and mailed.

Jim Kaczarowski, who owns the Mt. Washington supermarket said his decision to switch from Foodland to Shop 'N Save was purely financial.

"There are fewer Foodland stores, and that means my portion of the Foodland advertising cost increases and the cost of buying (groceries) in bulk costs each owner more," he said.

Kaczarowski's Virginia Avenue store officially will change on Thursday, following a "soft week" when he'll reprice items. Shop 'N Save's prices may be slightly lower, he said, and more Foodlands may switch over the next year.

Foodland's history isn't well documented, but the first local store appears to have opened in 1961 on South Braddock Avenue in Swissvale. That store closed in 1996.

Some well-known grocery chains have vanished from the region in the past five decades. Kroger left in 1984 after a labor strike, and A&P closed its stores here.

Shop 'N Save, which debuted locally in 1968, will have 55 Western Pennsylvania stores, with Mt. Washington and West Mifflin added, spokesman Dan Ayer said.

Algeri said her family spent $35,000 to convert their store, but that included sprucing up the building by cleaning brick and sealing the parking lot. The Shop 'N Save group offered Foodland owners $8,000 toward expenses, but actual payments may have varied, she said.

Customers like the change. "You get a lot more foods that Foodland never carried," said Tom Brogan of Lincoln Place, a longtime shopper at the Buttermilk Hollow store.

Meat selections seemed to improve at a former Foodland in the Duquesne Village shops and at the Buttermilk Hollow stores, after they became Shop 'N Saves, said Idajean Purda of West Mifflin. "They have a lot of competition now," she said.

Signs that say, "Closed, sorry" are in the windows of Ken Krall's Foodland in a Baldwin Borough shopping center.

Sales sank 18 percent after a Value City store closed in the center, ongoing construction on Curry Hollow Road and vacancies in a nearby apartment complex made matters worse and "the icing on the cake" was a Bottom Dollar Food store that opened on nearby Brownsville Road, Krall said. He owned the store for five years and closed it about a week ago.

John Spagnolo of Spagnolo Inc. said his company owns the Foodland in Ford City and Shop 'N Save supermarkets in Beaver and Glassport. "I am taking care of my customers regardless of which brand I'm part of," he said when asked about Foodland.

And Don DiGuglielmo's Foodland in Grindstone took on that brand in 1973, after several years as a Del Farm store, and business has been steady.

"Right now, it will stay a Foodland," he said.