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Greenbax says stores will remain under Piggly Wiggly brand after company sale [The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.]
[October 09, 2014]

Greenbax says stores will remain under Piggly Wiggly brand after company sale [The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.]


(Post & Courier (Charleston, SC) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Oct. 08--Greenbax Enterprises Inc.'s remaining supermarkets will continue to operate under the Piggly Wiggly name if a deal to sell the stores is approved.

"Piggly Wiggly is not going away," Greenbax CEO David Schools said in a written statement Wednesday.

Independent buyers formerly associated with Piggly Wiggly have agreed to buy 17 of the 19 stores in South Carolina and Georgia, company spokeswoman Christy Boudolf said. They have not expressed an interest in changing the brand, she said.



Schools said the supermarkets would be operated "by entrepreneurs who will operate them as truly local businesses." He also said Greenbax and New England-based C&S Wholesale Grocers, which owns the Piggly Wiggly brand, will be providing financing for many of the store purchases.

"Piggly Wiggly has gone back to its roots as a group of independently owned Piggly Wiggly stores joined by a common brand, collaborative marketing, and the flexibility of individual ownership," Schools said.


He added that the stores are doing business as usual and "will be operating tomorrow and beyond under different ownership but with the same great people and products that we enjoy today." He also urged customers to continue shopping at the supermarkets. The Charleston area Greenbax-owned Piggly Wiggly stores are in Hollywood, Moncks Corner and North Charleston.

Privately held Greenbax is asking its shareholders to approve a plan to exit the retail and wholesale grocery businesses by the end of this year and to dissolve the rest of the company within three years.

Details of the proposal were provided to The Post and Courier on Tuesday.

C&S has agreed to purchase the wholesale business for $9.3 million, according to a sale notice. The New Hampshire-based company has been supplying groceries to Greenbax's Piggly Wiggly stores since the supermarket chain closed its warehouses in Summerville and North Charleston about a year ago.

The sales of the 17 stores are still being negotiated with undisclosed independent buyers, Greenbax said. The company is seeking buyers for the other two locations.

Greenbax also plans to sell its other assets, including real estate investments and a majority ownership interest in a water bottling company, over the next 18 to 36 months, according to the proposal.

Shareholders must vote on the plan by Oct. 15.

Reach Abigail Darlington at 937-5906 and follow her on Twitter @A_Big_Gail ___ (c)2014 The Post and Courier (Charleston, S.C.) Visit The Post and Courier (Charleston, S.C.) at www.postandcourier.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

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