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Stop & Shop parent to buy Eastside Marketplace [The Providence Journal, R.I. :: ](Providence Journal (RI) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) July 23--PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Dutch company that operates the Stop and Shop supermarket chain on Tuesday announced it is buying Eastside Marketplace in what one industry analyst described as a "coup" for the grocery giant. "Eastside is a very well-known store; that's a coup for Stop & Shop," said Mike Berger, senior editor at The Griffin Report of Food Marketing. The well-respected Providence independent is being sold to a subsidiary of Ahold USA, which operates the Stop & Shop chain. Eastside Marketplace, a local leader in marketing organic, prepared and international foods, is being sold by Scott B. Laurans, who has owned it since 1981. Laurans said in an interview Monday that Eastside will retain the name, carry the same variety of products, and all 168 employees will keep their jobs and seniority. The management team, led by general manager Brian Pacheco, will remain in place. It will not go under the Stop & Shop banner, but rather will be a new brand, he said. Ahold USA, a Dutch company, owns 775 stores in the U.S. and 3,000 in Europe. Laurans would not disclose the sale price. He expects the deal to close on or about Aug. 2. He will stay on with the company as an adviser. "I think it can be a good, symbiotic deal; we can learn from each other," Laurans said. Many of Eastside's employees have been with the company for 15 to 20 years. Eastside Marketplace started life as a First National (Finast) supermarket and then became an IGA. In Laurans' hands, it became a special kind of store, one with a post office, a bakery, a prepared food department with 300-plus recipes, a café and an extensive produce department, long before such things were common in supermarkets. In 1996, Laurans expanded the store with a $2.5-million renovation that boosted its sales floor and service offerings. Laurans said he thinks the sale is the best way to provide stability for customers and employees. "We've been proud of it," he said, referring to the Eastside Marketplace. "It's a testament to the employees that Ahold will not take away the name or change management." "It's not about the money," he said about his turning over the keys. "Nothing can go on forever." "I'm not old yet," said Laurans, 67, "but I'm getting older." Eastside Marketplace was a sideline business, Laurans said. "We used it as a way to give back to charities," he said. The store often hosted fundraisers to support charities, and it offers a 5-percent discount one day each week for seniors, students and school faculty members. Laurans was a partner with the Providence Group Investment Advisory Co. He remained with the company when it became a branch of Mellon Financial Corp., and still is with that company. He is also chairman of Lifespan. His family started in the food distribution business in 1928, according to Journal files. Laurans' father, William G. Laurans, bought the wholesale grocery division of Brownell & Field Co. in 1945 and formed Roger Williams Foods. At its peak, annual sales at Roger Williams rose to $450 million and were New England's fourth-largest food wholesaler. Among the holdings was the Pitman Street grocery store, one of 22 former First National supermarkets the company acquired in 1980. Laurans sold the wholesale business in 1988 but kept the store in his East Side neighborhood. His neighborhood connections, including friends who live on the East Side, are one of his motivations for seeing that the quality at the grocery store doesn't change. "For me, it's very personal," Laurans said. Ahold USA includes four regional divisions -- Stop & Shop New England, Stop & Shop New York Metro, Giant Landover, and Giant Carlisle. James McCann, chief operating officer of Ahold USA, said in a news release: "We are very happy to welcome Eastside Marketplace to the Ahold family of stores. We have a great deal of respect for Scott, Brian and their team. "Eastside Marketplace is a terrific community asset and, with this transaction, Ahold USA is looking forward to working with the Eastside Marketplace team to do great things together." McCann's statement raises the question: What "great things" does Ahold have in mind? "Stop & Shop is a good chain; they're not a company that's well-known for new-format development," said Kevin Coupe, who runs the MorningNewsBeat blog. Still, Coupe said, the chain operator recently named an executive to head its format-development efforts. "They could use it as a sort of living laboratory," Coupe said. It could be a place where the chain learns how to improve its ready-to-eat offerings and how to cater to urban residents such as the professionals who populate the East Side, Coupe said. The store's workers may be instructive in those lessons. "Our interest is to learn from them," Ahold USA spokesperson Tracy Pawelski said. The Griffin Report's Berger suggested the purchase provides a straightforward benefit to the chain -- gaining more customers in Providence. Stop & Shop operates two stores in Providence -- on West River Street near the city's main post office, and on Manton Avenue -- as well as others that ring the capital city. "It tells me they're interested in increasing market share in Providence," Griffin said. ___ (c)2014 The Providence Journal (Providence, R.I.) Visit The Providence Journal (Providence, R.I.) at www.projo.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |